Professional Disc
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2012) |
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| Media type | Optical disc |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 23 GB per layer |
| Developed by | Sony |
| Usage | Data storage |
| Released | 2003 |
| Optical discs |
|---|
 |
Professional Disc (PFD) is a digital recording optical disc format introduced by Sony in 2003 primarily for XDCAM, its tapeless camcorder system. It was one of the first optical formats to utilize a blue laser, which allowed for a higher density of data to be stored on optical media compared to infrared laser technology used in the CD and red laser technology used in the DVD format.
Technology[]
PFD uses a 405 nm wavelength and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.85 for the laser, allowing 23 GB of data to be stored on one 12 cm disc – the equivalent to nearly five single-layer DVDs, and a 1x speed data transfer rate of 88 Mbit/s for reading and 72 Mbit/s for writing. After the 23GB disc was released, a dual-layer 50 GB was developed and released.
This format is sometimes confused with the Blu-ray Disc format, another optical disc format using blue-violet lasers and supported by Sony. Even the PFD's caddy and Blu-ray's prototype caddy (later dropped) looked very similar. Capabilities differ; single-layer PFD discs have a capacity of 23 GB whereas Blu-ray discs can store 25 GB. However, Blu-ray discs currently allow a 2x data transfer rate of 72 Mbit/s – lower than PFD. This is because PFD discs use much higher quality media and drives use higher quality components, making them prohibitively expensive for the consumer segment to which Blu-ray is aimed. PFD discs can have a capacity of up to 100 GB for rewritable discs, and 128 GB for write-once discs.[1]
Disc Sizes[]
| Disc Size (GB) | Disc Color | Layers of Disc | Storage Time (minutes record using HD422 50 Mbit/s) | Properties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Black | Single | 45 | Rewritable |
| 50 | Red | Dual | 90 | Rewritable |
| 100 | Yellow | Triple | 180 | Rewritable |
| 128 | White | Quad | 240 | Write once |
Applications/products[]
XDCAM video system[]
The PFD format is used as the recording medium in Sony's XDCAM professional video devices, both for standard definition and high definition applications.
Professional Disc for Data (PDD)[]
Professional Disc for DATA (PDD or ProDATA) was a general-use recording media variant of PFD, aimed primarily at small and medium-sized enterprise for data archival and backup. PDD drives and media became available in mid-2004. The BW-RS101 external SCSI-3 drive originally retailed in the UK at £2,344 (excl. VAT) directly from Sony, and 23 GB write-once and re-writeable media retailed for £30 each. Two other drives – the BW-F101/A internal SCSI drive and the BW-RU101 external USB 2.0 drive also became available around the same time.
On March 31, 2007, Professional Disc for DATA reached their "end of life".[2] PFD are still being manufactured and used in Sony XDCAM devices. Sony states that PDD and PFD media are not compatible,[citation needed] but does not specify the exact differences between products.
Sony's PDW-U1 Professional Disc drive is an external drive that connects via USB 2.0 to Windows or Mac OS X computers using the included free software from Sony. In a firmware and software upgrade in late July 2009, Sony added the ability for computer users to store any computer files on the Professional Disc into the dedicated "User Data" folder.[citation needed]
See also[]
- Blu-ray Disc
- HD DVD
- Ultra Density Optical
- Optical disc
References[]
External links[]
- Audiovisual introductions in 2003
- Optical computer storage media