Blu-ray fans may soon be treated to bigger and better discs. Well, by soon, we mean in the next few years.

Sanyo says that they’ve developed a new blue laser diode that could double the capacity of Blu-ray media. PC World says that the new diode can emit a beam of 450 milliwatts, which could write and read up to four layers at speeds of 12X.

In case you are keeping score, current Blu-ray discs have a maximum of two 25GB layers. The new technology would add another two layers, for a total of 100GB per disc. That’s eight hours of HD to you and me. Also, Sanyo says the new speeds mean you could burn up that entire disc in about 10 minutes.

Don’t get too excited, though. The company says it should be at least two years before we see any drives or recorders that include the new diode.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.