LS-R economically viable. The need for the disc to be meticulously constructed from many layers of different materials, and the need for the drive to be able to electrically address each layer specifically, may make this solution too expensive for commercialization. In the next generation LS-R may compete with other next-generation optical disc format such as the Holographic versatile disc and Protein-coated disc formats. LS-R LS-R, or the Layer-Selection-Type Recordable Optical Disk, is the term coined by Hitachi in 2003 for a next-generation optical disc technology which allows much larger data storage densities than DVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc, by
Optical disc authoring recorders. There are, however, stand-alone devices like personal video recorders which can also author and record discs. Use of optical disc recorders require "optical disc authoring software", sometimes called "burning applications" or "burner applications". Such software is usually sold with the recorder. Some operating systems come bundled with them. Creating an optical disc usually involves first creating an optical disc image with a full file system designed for the optical disc, and then actually burning the image to the disc. Many programs create the disc image and burn in one bundled application (Quick Copy or Copy On-the-fly), such that end-users