Sony DADC today officially inaugurated Blu-ray Disc BD-ROM production in the U.S.

Sony DADC in the U.S. currently has three Blu-ray replication lines functioning with a capacity of 25,000 single-layer 25GB Blu-ray Discs per day, for a total of 750,000 Blu-ray Discs per month. That capacity is expected to increase to nearly five million discs per month by October as more lines are added. Of these additional lines, six will be capable of manufacturing 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Discs.

"Sony DADC is thrilled to be the leading optical disc manufacturing facility in the U.S. and have a full Blu-ray BD-ROM line ready for production," said Dieter Daum, President, Sony Disc & Digital Solutions. "Blu-ray is going to revolutionize the way consumers enjoy and interact with high definition entertainment content, and we are pleased to play a critical role in this important development."

Sony DADC also has an offset printer and packaging line dedicated to Blu-ray BD-ROM. Additionally, it employs a Phase Transition Mastering (PTM) machine, which can be easily reconfigured to master both BD-ROM and DVD-ROM (video, games, data) on a single system. A second PTM machine will be added this summer, and an additional offset printer and three additional packaging lines will be added by October.

Blu-ray Disc Authoring Services will be offered to customers in July 2006.