When will double-sided, dual-layer discs (DVD-18) be available?
Not as soon as most people hope (including Jim Cameron). DVD-18 technology is not yet out of the laboratory. It requires a completely different way of creating two layers. Single-sided, dual-layer discs are produced by putting one data layer on each substrate and gluing the halves together with transparent adhesive so that the pickup laser can read both layers from one side. But in order to get four layers, each substrate needs to hold two. This requires stamping a second data layer on top of the first, a much more complicated prospect. Even after new equipment is developed and installed in production lines, the yield (number of usable discs compared to bad discs) will be quite low until the process is fine tuned.
The first commercial DVD-18 title, The Stand, was released in October 1999. It will still take a while for these super-size discs to become common. A DVD-18 requires a completely different way of creating two layers. A single-sided, dual-layer disc (DVD-9) is produced by putting one data layer on each substrate and gluing the halves together with transparent adhesive so that the pickup laser can read both layers from one side. But in order to get four layers, each substrate needs to hold two. This requires stamping a second data layer on top of the first, a much more complicated prospect. Even after new equipment is developed and installed in production lines, the yield (number of usable discs compared to bad discs) will be quite low until the process is fine tuned. WAMO and others continue to announce progress with DVD-18 processes, but given how long it took for production of dual-layer, single-sided discs to become practical, it will take even longer before the yields of DS/DL discs
Not as soon as most people hope (including Jim Cameron). DVD-18 technology is not yet out of the laboratory. It requires a completely different way of creating two layers. Single-sided, dual-layer discs are produced by putting one data layer on each substrate and gluing the halves together with transparent adhesive so that the pickup laser can read both layers from one side. But in order to get four layers, each substrate needs to hold two. This requires stamping a second data layer on top of the first, a much more complicated prospect. Even after new equipment is developed and installed in production lines, the yield (number of usable discs compared to bad discs) will be quite low until the process is fine tuned. WAMO and others have announced progress with DVD-18 processes, but given how long it took for production of dual-layer, single-sided discs to become practical, it will take even longer before the yields of DS/DL discs can meet the replication demands of mainstream movie distr
