Sony has begun shipping 50-gigabyte recordable Blu-ray Disc media to the United States, the company announced Wednesday. A prominent backer of the next-generation media format, Sony shipped its first Blu-ray titles in June and has re-engineered the AccuCore technology used in its recordable DVDs to fit the high-definition technology. Additionally, Wednesday's announcement confirmed that Sony will ship rewritable Blu-ray media later this year.
The new recordable discs are dual-layer, meaning that a total of 25 gigabytes can be recorded on each side, and Sony estimates that they can hold about four hours of HD video. They will retail for about $48.