Hitachi Maxell announced a series of Blue Ray discs based on Blu-ray disc rewritable format Ver.1.0. The new discs offer an 23GB capacity which means that they can hold up to 2-hours of high definition video. Availability in the market is expected by 25th of August, at an estimated street price of 25 EUR.

The new discs are placed into a protection cartridge to avoid scratches and dust of the disc surface.

Specifications:

Storage capacity: 23GB
Laser wavelength: 405nm (purple-blue color laser)
Numerical Aperture: 0.85
Data transfer rate: 36Mbps
Disk diameter: 120mm
Protection layer: 0.1mm
Track system: Groove record
Track pitch: 0.32?m
The shortest mark length: 0.16?m
Cartridge size: 129x131x7 mm

TDK has also launched the "BD-RE120N" Blue Ray discs, available in the Japanese market at a price of 26 EUR.