Skip to main content

Sony Shipping 50 GB Blu-ray Media

Sony Shipping 50 GB Blu-ray Media

Sony Electronics announced today that is has begun shipping 50 GB Blu-ray media in the United States. The current media are write-once technology; Sony says it plans to ship rewritable Blu-ray media later this year.

“The arrival of 50 GB Blu-ray Disc media is an important milestone in the evolution of this new format,” said Mike Lucas, Sony Electronics’ director of marketing for Media and Application Solutions Division, in a statement. “The capacity represents more than four hours of HD quality video, at a 24 Mbps transfer rate, allowing users to take full advantage of Sony’s Blu-ray Disc burners and VAIO desktop and notebook computers.”

Recommended Videos

Each 50 GB disk carries a suggested retail price of about $48, so users there are more efficient ways to store media and data on a cost-per-megabyte basis, including “plain jane” 25 GB Blu-ray media. But who are we to complain? If Sony wants a revolution, they have to be willing to burn a few discs.

Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
You asked: Should you buy a 70-inch TV, do you really need a Blu-ray player, and more?
You Asked Ep 18

In this You Asked: Why buy a more expensive Blu-ray player? Blu-ray players vs. game consoles. Are 70-inch TVs any good? Is all eARC HDMI 2.1, and is all HDMI 2.1 eARC? And will we ever get QD-OLED with MLA?

Are all Blu-ray players the same?

Read more
Where to rent DVDs and Blu-rays as Netflix ends disc rentals
Redbox DVD rentals.

After a formidable 25-year run, Netflix has announced that it will shutter its DVD-to-mail rental service, DVD Netflix, aka DVD.com. Citing the shrinking DVD business, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told shareholders on April 18 that the rental service would be shipping its last DVD on September 29, 2023.
And while most of the 230 million Netflix subscribers won’t miss the service -- or perhaps even knew it still existed in the first place -- DVDs and Blu-rays are still a preferred method for watching movies and TV series if you really care about quality or just don't have broadband internet.
But now that DVD Netflix is out of the game, where can people turn to rent DVDs and Blu-rays?
Well, as the news hit Twitter, two of the best alternatives chimed in, reminding their followers that they, too, still existed. GameFly -- which primarily rents video games, but also has a selection of movies for rent -- tweeted at popular kiosk-rental company Redbox with a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid gif and the text “Out here with @redbox like … .” The two services exchanged clever gifs and tweets (Redbox and Blockbuster even exchanged jabs) about being the last ones standing, but it still might be unclear to many DVD Netflix renters where they can go to fill the void.
That’s where we come in with this rundown of where you can rent DVDs and Blu-rays now that Netflix is shutting down its DVD rental service. Oh, and if you need a Blu-ray player, check out our roundup of the best ones to buy.

Redbox

Read more
How to rip a Blu-ray or DVD
optical discs

Clinging to a heavy DVD or Blu-ray collection can make for some trying times when your collection grows too large. What if you have to move? After all, finding a place to keep hundreds (or thousands) of discs and cases is hard work, as is keeping all your discs in tip-top shape while making the move.

Read more