Audio Video News

If Constellation 3D, Inc. succeeds with its ambitious plan to develop a high-density optical disc, "FMD" will be the next acronym to enter the technophile lexicon. The letters stand for Fluorescent Multilayer Disc, a recordable format under development that promises 100 gigabytes of storage on a disc no bigger than an ordinary DVD.

C3D, as the company is known, hopes the technology will find its way into many related information and entertainment appliances, such as computer disc drives, digital video cameras, and personal video recorders. Prototype equipment now in development is based on the typical red laser used to play CDs and DVDs, and will be demonstrated to broadcast and movie industry executives sometime next year.

The company is also developing a credit-card size storage device called the "ClearCard" with 5GB of storage per side, more than the 4.7GB capacity of a DVD. C3D will present a demonstration of a prototype FMD video playback machine at the upcoming COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas in mid-November. The demo will be part of a press conference at the Bellagio Hotel on November 16.

C3D has applied for more than 80 patents worldwide on its technologies. On October 26, the company announced that it had signed a letter of intent with Louisville, KY-based Zeon Chemicals LP to produce the polymers needed for FMDs. "Zeon Chemicals will immediately commence a development program with C3D, under which it will endeavor to provide to C3D the polymers and associated chemicals needed for mass production of recordable FMD media," the announcement stated. Zeon and C3D are exploring a strategic partnership in regard to the production of FMD media. C3D has offices in New York and Massachusetts, with laboratories in California, Israel, and Russia.