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OCZ Technology Group, Inc. today unveiled the OCZ Onyx SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, an ultra-affordable MultiLevel Cell (MLC)-based solid state storage solution designed for consumers looking to take advantage of flash-based storage technology. Offering a faster and more durable alternative to traditional hard drives in a cost-efficient SSD, the Onyx delivers reliable performance without the high price normally associated with SSD drives.

“As new technologies become available, OCZ continues to expand both our enterprise and consumer SSD lines, and one of our goals is to make SSDs more affordable to end-users. Our new Onyx series SSD does exactly that and is a perfect solution for netbooks, laptops, or home desktop PCs,” commented Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “Designed to offer the best of both worlds, the new OCZ Onyx SSD delivers the speed and reliability of solid state storage to mainstream consumers at an aggressive price point that makes the technology more accessible to customers who want to take advantage of all the benefits of the SSDs without incurring the high cost normally associated with the solution.”

I-O Data Japan sent out a press release this morning, announcing its new 12x Blu-ray Disc writer, the BRD-SH12B. Based on the LG BH12N, the BRD-SH12B is capable of 12x BD-R, 12x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 10x. The drive is also backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats and comes bundled with Corel's WinDVD BD and DVD MovieWriter 7 BD software as well as Nero Express Essentials.  The BRD-SH12B is expected to ship in late March for a suggested retail price of 28,500 Yen ($315US).

Today, CDRLabs brings you an in depth look at Leadtek's MPEG-2/H.264 transcoding card, the WinFast PxVC1100. This low profile PCI Express card features Toshiba’s SpursEngine SE1000 processor which allows it to encode HD content in less than real time and improve the quality of upconverted video. The PxVC1100 also comes bundled with TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. Using this software, the card is able to encode virtually any video file at resolutions ranging from iPod to HD and at bit rates as high as 50Mb/s. 

Silicon Power, one of the world’s leading flash memory manufacturers announced today the “Metal Aesthetic” Touch 830. The design of Touch 830 inherits Silicon Power’s Touch series good looks, class and ultra thin design. However, the new Touch 830 has been given an extra touch of Northern European flavor. Combining art and technology, its design features icy-silver casing, natural looks and simplicity, it complies with Europe designer’s conception of “A Mature Design is the Perfection Design”. The simplicity and humble design of Touch 830 reflects the Northern European’s way of life, attracting just the right amount of attention while keeping it simple and elegant!

For the perfect combination of looks and function practicality, the Touch 830 utilizes a reinforced one-body stainless steel casing construction. The one body construction allows for a small and rugged design. Practicality wise, the Touch 830 is plug and play compatible, users need not push lids, slide lids or supply additional power to operate. It is light, ultra small and comes with a jewelry lace for users to carry. Especially suited for people constantly on the go, Silicon Power’s Touch 830 is available up to 16 GB of storage space so users can store data at will. For users who fancy the Northern European styling, Silicon Power’s Touch 830 is the perfect storage you just got to get your hands on!