Panasonic Corporation, a market and technology leader in HDTV, announced today the creation of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory Advanced Authoring Center (PHL-AC) which will begin operations effective February 1, 2009. The center, which will be located within Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) in Universal City, CA, will accelerate 3D Full HD (3D FHD) Blu-ray format-establishment and development and will work directly with Hollywood studios providing 3D title development services for 3D FHD Blu-ray titles.

PHL-AC will feature a Plasma 3D Full HD home theater system, a 3D-ready digital cinema projector (Theatrical Dolby 3-D system) with a 380-inch screen theater for 3D HD picture quality evaluation, and a 3-D ready MPEG-4 AVC High Profile encoder. Panasonic is demonstrating its 3D Full HD Plasma Home Theater System (3D FHD) this week at CES 2009. The system made its world debut in Japan at CEATEC 2008 last October to rave reviews.

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CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected media lifestyle, launches today the new PowerDirector 7 optimized for NVIDIA® CUDA™ technology with enhanced H.264 video encoding and transcoding performance. The new version is now available on CyberLink’s online store. Existing PowerDirector 7 users can download an update for free to enjoy the fast and smooth HD video editing experience.

CyberLink PowerDirector 7 designed with NVIDIA CUDA Encoder technology achieves up to 274% performance gain when transcoding H.264 videos. By leveraging the multi-core parallel power of the GPU, PowerDirector 7 provides consumers with an accelerated video editing experience resulting in faster rendering of H.264 HD videos to AVCHD, M2T format and for viewing on iPod® and PSP®. PowerDirector 7 supports CUDA-enabled NVIDIA GeForce® processors with NVIDIA graphics drivers version 181.20 or higher.

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Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today unveils a complete series of BD-Live Blu-ray Disc players for entertainment junkies who seek cinematic-quality performance along with a premium and unique user experience. The two Pioneer® BDP-120 and BDP-320 models and the Elite® BDP-23FD are outfitted with expandable or built-in memory to deliver on the promise of BD-Live™ right out of the box. Pioneer’s players combine supreme features, sophisticated internal construction with a rigid chassis design ensuring the highest quality playback of Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD entertainment. With RS-232, the Elite BDP-23FD offers seamless home automation design that simplifies custom installation projects.

“In our relentless pursuit to envelop home audiences in their movie and music selections, Pioneer designed a new Blu-ray Disc player lineup that incorporates an extensive series of customization capabilities and best-in-class performance features that compliment consumers’ entertainment and installation needs,” said Chris Walker, senior manager of Blu-ray Disc marketing and product planning for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

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SanDisk sent out a press release today, announcing its G3 Series of solid-state drives (SSDs). These MLC-based SSDs are available in 60, 120 and 240GB capacities and are capable of 200MB/s read and 140MB/s write speeds.

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SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today unveiled its third-generation family of solid-state drives (SSDs). Using multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory technology, SanDisk’s G3 Series establishes new benchmarks in performance and price-performance leadership in the SSD industry.

Designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs) in notebook PCs, the initial members in the SanDisk G3 family are SSD C25-G3 and SSD C18-G3 in the standard 2.5” and 1.8” form factors respectively, each available with a SATA-II interface. Available in capacities of 60, 120 and 240GB*, the unit MSRPs are $149, $249 and $499, respectively.

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Seagate (NASDAQ: STX), the world’s leading provider of storage solutions, today unveiled the new Seagate® FreeAgent® Theater™ HD media player, a complete home theater solution designed to enhance the experience of enjoying digital media by providing an easy way to play your favorite videos, movies and photos on your TV. The Seagate FreeAgent Theater media player is a new accessory designed to work with the company’s award-winning FreeAgent® Go™ portable hard drive, enabling people to easily enjoy stored digital media on their TV screens rather than their computer monitors. Just tuck the media player next to your TV, pop in your FreeAgent Go hard drive, point, click, and enjoy as your personal memories and favorite movies come to life before your eyes in HD quality video with surround sound. The announcement was made at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show, taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada.  

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Available in March, the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD media player can be purchased as a stand-alone unit for use with any USB storage device, or a complete solution with a FreeAgent Go portable drive included, starting at just $129.99.

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LG announced this week that it will have its new Blu-ray equipped Network Attached Storage (NAS) device on display at CES 2009. Originally unveiled at IFA 2008, the N4B1 has four bays and can be configured for up to 4TB of storage. It also comes with built in Blu-ray drive which allows users to archive their data and create a virtual library by storing and sharing disc images.

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Designed for the sophisticated tech consumer and the small office-home office (SoHo) user, LG’s CES Innovations Award-winning NAS device combines a secure storage option for large amounts of data with the capability to read and write in high definition. LG’s full line of information technology (IT) products is on display at the 2009 International CES (Booth #8214, Central Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center).

“Safe and secure storage of digital content is a top priority for techies and SoHo users alike,” said Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing and strategy, LG Electronics North America. “LG’s NAS device is the perfect complement to our award-winning optical disc drive line as it not only provides data security but also offers large storage capacity and gives users the flexibility to read and write Blu-ray.”

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SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) and Sony Corporation today announced the joint development of two expanded formats that will shape the flash memory landscape for years to come. "Memory Stick format for Extended High Capacity (Tentative name)" expands the "Memory Stick PRO" format series to achieve a maximum storage capacity of 2-terabytes (TB), while the "Memory Stick HG Micro" format enables a maximum data-transfer speed of 60 megabytes per second (MB/s), making it one of the fastest-smallest memory card formats to date. Format licensing corresponding to the "Memory Stick format for Extended High Capacity" and the "Memory Stick HG Micro" is scheduled to start in 2009.

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seagate showcase dvr.jpgSeagate (NASDAQ:STX), the world leader in storage solutions, continues to provide more gigabytes for the living room, announcing that the Seagate® Showcase™ DVR storage expander is now compatible with DISH Network’s (NASDAQ: DISH) Solo ViP® 612 receiver, as well as the DuoDVRs ViP® 622 and ViP® 722, offering more DVR recording capacity. Also, when paired with the high-definition Solo ViP® 211 and 211k receivers, the Seagate Showcase DVR storage expander converts these set-top boxes into DVRs. This latest certification of the 500GB USB-connected DVR expander for one of the largest digital broadcast providers in the U.S. means that many of DISH Network’s nearly 14 million subscribers can benefit from greater capacity to record more of the television shows they love.

The Seagate Showcase solution is available in 500GB which provides up to 100 hours of additional HD or 500 hours of standard definition content. Featuring a Seagate® Pipeline™ HD hard drive developed specifically to meet the HD video demands of today’s digital recording, the Seagate Showcase DVR storage expander is optimized for home entertainment, with a near silent operation, earth-conscious sustainable power management and the ability to operate in high temperature environments common to home entertainment centers.

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Panasonic, a major developer and contributor to the success of the Blu-ray format, today introduced the successors to last year's award winning DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55 players, as well as presenting the world's first Blu-ray-VHS dual player. All three of the new Blu-ray players - DMP-BD60, DMP-BD80, DMP-BD70V - combine high quality images with enhanced networking functions, including VIERA Cast's improved internet functionality that provides access to Amazon VOD's huge selection of titles. Continuing its commitment to producing products that stress ease of use, the 2009 line of Blu-ray Disc(TM) players continue to incorporate VIERA Link(TM), allowing the consumer to operate their audio/video components, via HDMI, with one remote. And, in keeping with Panasonic's pledge to reduce the planet's carbon footprint, the new Blu-ray players have been designed to reduce power consumption.

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Each of the three models employs the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus. Developed in collaboration with Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, this high image processing technology reproduces clear, vivid colors that are faithful to the original film. Recognizing that audio is important to the overall entertainment experience, Panasonic's three 2009 Blu-ray Disc players feature a high definition audio decoder (Dolby(R) Digital Plus, Dolby(R) TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio Essential) to take advantage of the exceptionally high quality 7.1 channel surround sound now integrated in Blu-ray Discs. The DMP-BD70V distinguishes itself as the world's first dual deck VHS-Blu-ray player, providing the consumer with a video product that features multi-format playback allowing the user to play VHS, CD, DVD and 1080p high definition Blu-ray Discs. The BD70V allows for premium 1080p up-conversion for all video formats.

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Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today unveiled the world’s first wall-mountable Blu-ray player, the BD-P4600, as well as the new standard for Blu-ray performance and versatility, the BD-P3600. A 2009 CES “Best of Innovations” Award Winner, the BD-P4600 unites a plethora of multimedia features in a svelte, first-in-class package. The enthusiasts’ choice, the BD-P3600 promises top-notch video playback, comprehensive audio decoding, and unprecedented networking capabilities for an immersive, theater-like experience. Both players set a new direction for the Blu-ray category with wireless networking, access to video and music streaming services, such as Netflix and Pandora, as well as sleek designs. Samsung’s new Blu-ray players will be on display at Booth #11033 during the International Consumer Electronics Show, which will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, January 8 -11, 2009.

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“Samsung is heralding a new direction for the Blu-ray industry with the BD-P4600 and BD-P3600," said Reid Sullivan, vice president of Audio/Video and Digital Imaging Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “The BD-P4600 makes it easier than ever to bring Blu-ray into the living room with its unique, wall-mountable design, while the BD-P3600’s comprehensive specs place it on the short list of even the most discerning home theater consumers.”

The BD-P4600 and BD-P3600 include BD Live™ (Profile 2.0) and Bonus View (Profile 1.1) support, Full HD 1080p Blu-ray playback with DVD upscaling, and total HD soundtrack support. Standard CD playback, with support for JPEG photos and DivX videos, ensure even more entertainment value with the BD-P4600 and BD-P3600.

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