Toshiba issued a brief statement this morning, denying reports that it plans to drop support for HD DVD. While the company admits that it is currently "assessing its business strategies", it has not decided to pull the plug on HD DVD quite yet.
"The media reported that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business. Toshiba has not made any announcement concerning this. Although Toshiba is currently assessing its business strategies, no decision has been made at this moment."
According to a report by the Associated Press, Toshiba could hold a board meeting as soon as Tuesday, where a decision is likely. Add a comment
While Toshiba has not officially admitted defeat, the format war is pretty much over. In an odd twist, Toshiba has been rewarded for its rumored plan to axe the HD DVD format. According to Bloomberg.com, the price of Toshiba shares rose by 5.7% percent, reaching a seven-week high, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Toshiba climbed 5.7 percent to 829 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a level not seen since Dec. 28. Toshiba is reviewing whether to completely end HD DVD production, said a person familiar with the plan, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private, confirming a report by Kyodo news on Feb. 16.

The shares also rose after Nikko Citigroup Ltd. upgraded the stock, saying a withdrawal may add 50 billion yen ($464 million) to earnings next fiscal year. U.S. retailers said last week they'll stop selling HD DVD products after Warner Bros. Entertainment, the top DVD publisher, sided with Blu-ray.
If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Earlier today, Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, reported that Toshiba was going to pull the plug on the HD DVD format. An anonymous source at Toshiba has now told Reuters that the company is working on an exit plan and an official announcedment could come as early as next week.
A source at Toshiba confirmed an earlier report by public broadcaster NHK that it was getting ready to pull the plug.

"We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business," said the source, who asked not to be identified. He added that an official announcement could come as early as next week.
According to the original report, Toshiba will continue to sell HD DVD players for a while but will stop further development of the format. Add a comment
Adesso Wireless Keyboard And Remote For HTPC @BCCHardware
Aeneon Xtune DDR3-1333 2GB Memory Kit @ThinkComputers.org
AeroCool SilverWind Heatpipe Cooler @Hi-Tech Reviews
ASUS Triton 77 CPU Cooler @HardwareLogic
Maingear Ephex 3-Way SLI Gaming System @HotHardware.com
PowerColor Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB @Hardware Zone
Razer Boomslang Collector's Edition 2007 Gaming Mouse @I4U
Razer Destructor Gaming Surface @Virtual-Hideout
SilverStone Decathlon DA800 800W Modular Power Supply @ThinkComputers.org
Tagan 900Watt BZ900 Power Supply @TechwareLabs
Add a comment
The Japanese company, Buffalo, has announced a new series drives based on the Panasonic's 4x Blu-ray Disc writer, the SW-5583. The internal BR-416FBS and external BR-416U2 feature 4x BD-R, 4x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 4x. Here are some of the specs:



Writing Speeds:
BD-R: 4x
BD-R DL: 4x
BD-RE: 2x
DVD±R: 16x
DVD±R DL: 8x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-RW: 6x
DVD-RAM: 5x
CD-R: 40x
CD-RW: 24x

Read Speeds:
BD-ROM: 4x
BD-R: 4x
BD-R DL: 4x
BD-RE: 2x
DVD-ROM (Single): 16x Max
DVD-ROM (Dual): 8x Max
DVD±R: 16x Max
DVD±RW: 8x Max
DVD±R DL: 8x Max
DVD-RAM: 5x Max
CD-R/ROM: 40x Max
CD-RW: 32x Max


The BR-416FBS and BR-416U2 will ship in late February and are priced at 48,500 Yen ($450US) and 53,000 Yen ($492US) respectively. More information can be found here. Add a comment
HD DVD was dealt another major blow today. According to CNN, Wal-Mart has decided to phase out HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray. Starting in June, the retailer will only stock Blu-ray titles and movies in its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores.
National discount retailer Wal-Mart announced Friday that it had decided to only sell Sony's Blu-ray hi-definition movie discs, and will phase out Toshiba's competing HD-DVD formatted discs over the next several months.

Wal-Mart said that by June, its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores would sell only Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray hardware players. Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD-DVD format are not compatible.

"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's Senior Vice President of Home Entertainment in a statement.
With Wal-mart going Blu-ray, I think its safe to say that the format war is truly over. Without the support of the nation's largest retailer, there is little chance of HD DVD making a comeback. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Samsung announced this week that it has begun mass production of its new 64GB SATA II SSD. With the ability to read at 100MB/s and write at 80MB/s, Samsung's new SATA II SSD is 60% faster than SATA I drives and 2-5x faster than conventional hard disk drives.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing 64 GB solid state drives (SSDs) with its new SATA II interface, offering the highest performance rates in the industry for premium notebook PCs.

Able to read data at 100 megabytes per second and write it at 80 megabytes per second, Samsung’s SATA II SSD is up to 60 percent faster than SATA I drives and performs two to five times faster than conventional hard disk drives (HDDs). It also consumes nearly 75 percent less power than typical HDDs (1.45 watts compared to 2.1 watts) and at 73 grams, SSDs are much lighter than HDDs.
If you'd like to read more, Samsung's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Sharp has announced that it will begin volume production of two new blue-violet semiconductor lasers in April. With an output of 250mW, the GH04P25A2G and GH04P25A4G are capable of writing to dual layer Blu-ray Disc media at speeds as high as 6x. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:

Sharp will mass-produce two models of the blue purple high power semiconductor laser that achieve the output of 250mW pulse of the top level in the industry that can be recorded about BD etc. two layer 4-6 X speed in April.

Best laptop industry's top small package adopted φ3.3 mm , and BD recorders for the PC desktop package φ5.6 mm commercialize the rapidly rising demand for recording BD market Lineup for strengthening.
Once the get rolling, Sharp plans to produce 700,000 blue-violet lasers per month. If you'd like to read more, Sharp's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Verbatim Europe has announced the launch of its new line of 2.5” portable hard drives. These palm-sized drives come in sizes ranging from 120GB up to 320GB and offer your choice of a USB interface or Combo USB/FireWire interface.

Verbatim launches a whole new line of Verbatim 2.5” Portable Hard Drives (HDDs). With the new, elegantly designed External Hard Drives, consumers and businesses can immediately add 120, 160, 250, or 320GB removable capacity to their computer. The palm-sized external drives will be available for both Windows and Mac users in specialist stores from February.

The need for a fast, easy way to store, backup, share and transport data and multimedia files is fueling explosive growth in the worldwide removable storage industry. As a result, the market research company GfK predicted sales of around 10 million external hard drives in Western Europe in 2007 - an increase of just under 90 percent compared to 2006, when 5.2 million external hard drives were sold. For 2008, GfK anticipates a total sales volume of over 14 million 2.5" and 3.5" External Hard Drives in Western Europe.
If you'd like to read more, Verbatim's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
ASUS announced two new DVD-ROM's today. Along with 18x DVD-ROM and and 48x CD-ROM read speeds, the DVD-E818A2 and DVD-E818A2T are the first drives to support the 5x DVD-RW DL format.

Catering to users who require high quality multimedia experiences, ASUS, producer of top-notch optical drives, has today released the ASUS DVD-E818A2/A2T. This series of optical drives is the world’s first ODD that supports 5X DVD-RW DL, and provides users with cutting-edge multimedia experiences backed with superior playback capabilities and high-speed data transfers; while built-in advanced ASUS exclusive technologies will provide a quieter, more stable and higher performance multimedia environment.

The ASUS DVD-E818A2 and ASUS DVD-E818A2T provide leading-edge multimedia experiences with the ability to read 5X DVD-RW DL - the brand new industry format. With this support, users will be able to view high quality videos directly burnt into DVDs from camcorders and obtain fabulous playback capacities. It also allows users to access all CDs, DVD-ROM/DVD±R/ DVD±RW/DVD-RAM and DVD-Video discs.
No word yet on pricing or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, ASUS's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment