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- Optical Storage
Sony Optiarc has beaten Lite-On to the punch, releasing the world's first 24x DVD writer, the AD-7240S. Available now through various online retailers, including Newegg and Buy.com, the Serial ATA equipped AD-7240S offers 24x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds as well as features like Optiarc's Auto Strategy and Adaptive Self Tuning technologies.
Thanks to the fine folks at Optiarc America, we were able to get our hands on the AD-7240S and run some tests. So far things look very promising. When writing to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 24x, it took the drive about four minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD, beating most 22x DVD writers by 20-30 seconds. It's writing quality was also surprisingly good, considering the speeds.
A full review of the AD-7240S is currently in the works. In the mean time, please post any comments or questions you may have in our forum.
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- Hard Disks
WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, today expanded its My Book® family of external hard drives to include a 2 TB capacity, the largest available capacity in a single-drive system. With its wide variety of models, WD offers a solution for every type of user, whether they're a creative power user on a Mac® or a home user on a PC. The new 2 TB My Book family includes: My Book Studio Edition™, My Book Mac Edition, My Book Home Edition™ and My Book Essential Edition™ models.
Market research shows that consumer creation and acquisition of digital media is growing rapidly, driving demand for increasing storage capacities. According to market research firm IDC, the number of digital cameras and camera phones in the world surpassed 1 billion (Mar. 2008). Separately, market research firm GfK reports that HD (high definition) video camcorders are experiencing record growth and now account for 42 percent of total camcorder sales (Aug. 2008). HD video requires massive amounts of drive space: at least 8 GB per hour of video. Since 2006, when Apple® began offering movie downloads, the Apple store has already sold more than 250 million TV episodes and sold or rented more than 33 million movies (Apple, Mar. 2009).
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ArcSoft announced today the release of its newest version of TotalMedia Theatre. ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 is a powerful, easy-to-use Blu-ray and high-definition multimedia player with enhanced features. The player now supports Xonar HDAV series audio card to bring true, lossless 7.1 channel output to your home.
TotalMedia Theatre 3 is packed with new features; including enhanced video display results, robust Blu-ray interactive features support, DTS Surround Sensation Ultra PC capability, MKV, FLV and HE-AAC audio support, and direct playback from camcorders to mention a few, providing users with the ultimate movie-viewing experience.
Utilizing ASUS Xonar HDAV series audio card, TotalMedia Theatre 3 enables lossless digital audio pass-through such as DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital Plus, to AV receivers for high-fidelity sounds up to 192 kHz sampling frequency and 24-bit audio resolution, offering an exceptional audio experience to users when watching Blu-ray movies.
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Plextor chose CeBIT 2009 in Hannover to unveil its latest optical drive with a choice of interfaces - the internal DVD-ReWriter with ATAPI/IDE interface (PX-860A) and SATA (PX-860SA). Each is capable of reaching market-leading writing speeds of 12x DL and 20x DVDR, which means they are both versatile and rapid drives.
Plextor is fast becoming known as the premium personal storage experts, having built up an impressive range of optical and hard disk-based products. The company offers something for every requirement - from home users and small offices, up to SME users. From Blu-ray recorders (eg PX-B920SA/UF, PX-B300SA) to pocket HDDs (eg PX-PPH120U), to wireless HD media players (eg PX-MX1000WL) to NAS drives ideal for businesses (eg PX-NAS2X1000L).
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Seagate sent out a press release this morning, announcing its BlackArmor family of network storage servers. Designed for small businesses, the BlackArmor NAS 420 and 440 have four drive bays and can hold anywhere from 2TB to 8TB of data. The two NAS devices also feature file and volume encryption, secure internet access from any web browser and automatic backups for networked computers.
Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to provide small businesses with solutions that meet both current and future storage needs, Seagate (Nasdaq: STX - News), the world's leading provider of storage solutions, today announced a complete portfolio of products designed to protect data for sustained business continuity and optimum uptime. First introduced in 2008 as a portable Full Disk Encryption drive, the new Seagate(R) BlackArmor(R) product line is the family name for a suite of network-attached, workstation and portable storage solutions designed to meet the digital asset management needs of small business professionals.
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Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today introduced its second-generation small form factor enterprise hard drive, the 10K RPM Ultrastar™ C10K300. The new Hitachi drive is optimized for the power and performance requirements of rack-mounted servers and networked storage arrays. Built using proven Hitachi power management technology, the Ultrastar C10K300 delivers the low power specifications that are of primary importance in today’s data centers. The new drives are offered in 147GB and 300GB capacities and ship with a dual-port 6Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface, which delivers 100 percent faster data throughput than its 3Gb/s predecessor. The new industry-standard SAS interface also improves signal strength over greater physical distances, allowing IT managers to deploy larger, more complex storage infrastructures.
The Ultrastar C10K300 is designed to provide higher server/storage density through compact 2.5-inch design, a low-power profile and improved thermal characteristics. The small form factor drive occupies 70 percent less physical space and consumes up to 65 percent less power than similar 3.5-inch enterprise drives.
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eMachines G520 and G620 Notebooks @ InsideHW
Hawking HomeRemote Pro Wireless Video Camera @ Rbmods
Microsoft SideWinder X8 Gaming Mouse @ I4U
NZXT Guardian 921 Crafted Series Mid-Tower Steel Chassis @ Futurelooks
Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP @ Benchmark Reviews
Prestigio Data Safe III External Hard Drive @ InsideHW
Starlight Creations LaTosta Laptop Stand @ Virtual-Hideout
Super Talent Pico-C 16GB USB Flash Drive @ HardwareLogic
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"The new generation TS-119 and TS-219 Turbo NAS are the most affordable NAS servers with iSCSI application for personal and business users. The built-in iSCSI target feature allows the users to create an IP-SAN (storage area network) for data backup or storage capacity expansion on the home or office network. The Turbo NAS is also ideal multimedia storage solution for home users," says Laurent Cheng, Product Manager from QNAP. "The built-in UPnP/ DLNA media server (TwonkyMedia) of the TS-119 and TS-219 supports numerous DLNA media players such as Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming consoles and High-Definition media players (compatible with NFS). The users can even use their iPhone and iPod touch to play the music and video or view the photos on the NAS."
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- Home Entertainment
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG), today announced the debut of the “Warner Archive Collection” (www.WarnerArchive.com), a selection of movies spanning more than 60 years of filmmaking never before available on DVD. The world’s largest film and television vault is finally open to consumers who can now purchase authentic DVD and digital downloads of more than 150 classic titles for the first time drawn from Warner Bros. Entertainment’s unparalleled film library consisting of pre-1986 MGM, RKO Radio Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures films. They include Academy Award® nominee “Sunrise at Campobello,” “The Citadel,” “Mr. Lucky,” and many others from the Golden Age of Hollywood and beyond.
To order their movies, fans visit WarnerArchive.com, select their titles, and upon purchase, a state-of-the-art manufacturing on demand (MOD) system creates a made-to-order DVD indistinguishable in quality from a standard pressed DVD. The system places the DVD into a hard plastic Amaray case featuring custom artwork; shrink wraps it and ships the finished package to the customer which arrives in approximately five days. The cost per title is $19.95, plus shipping. Alternatively, movie fans can purchase digital downloads of these classic films to enjoy immediately on their PC. The cost for a digital download is $14.95 per title.
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Thomson, worldwide leader in services to content creators, today introduces mp3HD, the latest addition to the mp3 family.
The new mp3HD format allows mathematically lossless compression of audio material while preserving backward compatibility to the mp3 standard.
Content creators, the music industry and end users are now able to enjoy the ultimate audio quality experience with the same ease of use as the mp3 format. Users and content owners can organize their music library with the simplicity that they are used to with mp3 files.
