Japan's Sharp to release biggest-capacity disc

Japanese electronics maker Sharp said Friday it will release a recordable Blu-ray disc this month that can store as much as four seasons of a television drama series.

The world's first triple-layer disc has a capacity of 100 gigabytes, twice as much as the dual-layer discs now on the market, Sharp said.

The write-once disc will be available in Japan from July 30, with the price expected to be about 5,000 yen (60 dollars) each. Sharp will also sell recording machines compatible with the format.

The format allows users to record about 12 hours of terrestrial digital television broadcasts, or 8.6 hours of satellite digital broadcasts, at their original high-definition image quality, the company said.

If the image quality is lowered, recording time can be boosted by up to 10 times to make it possible to store a library of four entire seasons of a TV drama series on a single disc.