Transcend recently announced an 8GB Ultra Speed version of its Industrial-Grade CompactFlash Memory Card. The card is resistant to shock, vibration and dust and can operate at temperatures ranging from -40ºC to 85ºC.

Transcend, a worldwide leader in flash memory cards, today announced a new Ultra Speed version of its successful Industrial CompactFlash memory card lineup with capacities up to 8GB. Transcend’s Industrial CF cards are specially designed to meet the strict demands of high-end equipment and machines that run at extreme temperatures. The operating temperature range of Industrial CF cards is much better than normal CF cards, with full functionality down to -40ºC and as hot as 85ºC (normal CF Cards are only rated at -25ºC to 85ºC). Aside from their excellent temperature flexibility, these cards are exceptionally resistant to shock, vibration and dust, while consuming less power and maintaining ultra fast data transfer speeds. Their superb compatibility and durability makes them suitable for use in standard PCMCIA-ATA equipped devices such as industrial PCs, embedded systems, medical instruments, factory automation systems, network infrastructures and other industrial equipment. In addition, Industrial CF cards can even be used as bootable disks in place of conventional hard drives that cannot withstand the harsh conditions of an industrial environment.
No word on pricing or availability. If you'd like to read more, Transcend's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
For the last few months, the Blu-ray Disc Association has been giving away 5 free Blu-ray movies with the purchase of one of the 18 eligible Blu-ray players. While this promotion was supposed to end on September 30th, the BDA has announced that it will continue through January 31, 2008.
Six major Hollywood studios and six leading consumer electronics manufacturers are extending the highly successful 5 FREE BLU-RAY MOVIES promotion through the busy holiday season, when consumer purchase interest in high definition is expected to be at a record high. Consumers who purchase any qualifying Blu-ray player, including PLAYSTATION3, between October 1, 2007 and January 31, 2008, will be able to choose five free Blu-ray movies from among 18 titles offered by the six participating studios.

The program is intended to encourage consumers to join the millions of high-definition households who are now experiencing Blu-ray Disc. This exciting promotion will be supported with a significant ad spend - more than double that of the summer wave - including major online, gaming, men’s lifestyle, entertainment and business outlets.
If you'd like to read more about the BDA's promotion, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced today that the HD DVD release of "Evan Almighty" will include a number of new web-enabled features. Along with the ability to set a Best Buddies list, viewers will be able to download exclusive trailers, content and games from the Download Center and purchase items from the movie through U-Shop, Universal's new online store.
Today, Universal Studios Home Entertainment raised the bar on HD DVD’s unique web-enabled experiences by unveiling an Internet infrastructure that allows it to take advantage of the guaranteed Internet connection in every HD DVD player and deliver compelling, title specific features. Heroes: Season 1 on HD DVD was the first title to take advantage of web-enabled capabilities, but with the forthcoming availability of Evan Almighty on HD DVD, Universal is setting the stage for new home entertainment experiences with web-enabled features such as the Download Center, U-Shop, and much more. Taking advantage of the infinite possibilities of web-enabled experiences, Universal is utilizing HD DVD to explore the promise of digitally distributed scenarios and infusing movie content with e-commerce and social media capabilities.

“HD DVD provides a consistent platform that allows us to go beyond DVD to deliver the best possible next generation HD experiences and begins to introduce consumers to the infinite potential of web-enabled content,” said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms. “With our web-enabled features, we wanted to deliver capabilities that compliment the HD movie watching experience while also offering a destination online that gives users the opportunity to dive deeper into their favorite movies and TV shows. We’ve just begun to explore HD DVD’s potential and this infrastructure lays the foundation for us to easily evolve with consumer preferences.”
While I can't see myself buying anything through my HD DVD player, the ability to download exclusive content is definitely a nice feature. If you'd like to read more Universal's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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With a population of more than 1.3 billion people, it was only a matter of time before the Blu-ray Disc Association set its sights on the Chinese market. According to ContentAgenda.com, the group recently announced that they are evaluating the AVS (Advanced Video System) and DRA (Digital Rise Audio) codecs for use in Blu-ray players made and sold in China.
After initially turning a cold shoulder to China, the Blu-ray Disc Assn. is warming up to Chinese OEMs and consumers, BDA spokesman and Pioneer Electronics senior VP Andy Parsons tells Content Agenda.

The BDA has begun formal evaluation of AVS (Advanced Video System), a Chinese-developed video codec, and DRA (Digital Rise Audio), a Chinese audio format, for possible inclusion in Blu-ray players made and sold in China.

The decision to evaluate the codecs was announced at a press conference held in Beijing on Sept. 28.
If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Sony DADC sent out a press release this morning, announcing that they've produced their 10 millionth 50GB Blu-ray Disc. The ten millionth disc was manufactured at Sony DADC's Terre Haute facility and was "Spider-Man 3."
Sony DADC today announced theproduction of its 10 millionth 50 Gigabyte Blu-ray Disc (BD50). Sony DADCmanufactures BD50s in its three plants, located in Terre Haute, Indiana;Salzburg, Austria; and Shizuoka, Japan. The ten millionth BD50 wasmanufactured at Sony DADC's Terre Haute facility, and was "Spider-Man(TM)3" from Columbia Pictures.

Since the launch of this High Definition format, Sony DADC has producedmore than 50 million Blu-ray Discs in its three plants, In addition, thesethree plants have a combined Blu-ray manufacturing capacity of 21 milliondiscs per month.
The press release also points out that Sony DADC is seeing a yields of about 85% for 25GB Blu-ray Discs and between 75% and 79% for 50GB Blu-ray Discs. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
Sonic and Pioneer announced today that they have begun a joint licensing program for CSS recording. With this new program, the two companies hope to make it easier to for content distributors as well as media and drive manufacturers to bring managed recording products to market.
PioneerCorporation, a leading global manufacturer of consumer and business-useelectronics products, and Sonic Solutions(R), the leader in digital mediasoftware, have begun a worldwide joint licensing program of patents andother related IP for the encryption and burning of video content torecordable DVD media for playback on DVD players. To respond to consumerand industry interest in "electronic sell-through" of video content and tofacilitate the adoption of secure download and burn applications inaccordance with the approved industry specifications for recordingdownloads set by the DVD Forum and the DVD Copy Control Association,Pioneer and Sonic have established a royalty-bearing licensing program thatwill be administered by Sonic under the Qflix(TM) name. The program willbroadly license the companies' combined intellectual property that allowsDVD recording technologies to use CSS (Content Scramble System), which isthe same content protection found on commercially released DVD movies.
If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Panasonic unveiled three new hard drive equipped Blu-ray Disc recorders at CEATEC JAPAN 2007. The DMR-BW900, DMR-BW800 and DMR-BW700 offer support for 50GB BD-R/RE DL media and, by using an MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoder, can store up to 18 hours of full HD video onto a single disc.

The new recorders can store up to 18 hours of full HD video onto a 50 gigabyte (GB) double-layer Blu-ray Disc or up to 381 hours of full HD videos onto a 1 terabyte (TB) built-in hard disk drive (HDD). In terms of BS digital HD broadcasts, the new recorders can record four times more than previous MPEG-2 TS recorders (DR mode). In addition to video, the new DIGAs can record 5.1 channel surround sound broadcasts without deterioration in sound quality or surround effects.

Panasonic accomplished these achievements through innovative technologies including the new generation UniPhier system LSI based on the 45-nm process technology. A single chip supports real-time encoding of full HD videos. Additionally, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 High Profile HD video compression technology contributed to the significant increase in HD video recording hours. Panasonic also drew from the advanced technology cultivated by its Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) that offers BD-ROM authoring service to major Hollywood movie studios.
While Panasonic has not announced how much their Blu-ray Disc recorders will be, AV Watch expects them to cost anywhere from 180,000 Yen ($1,554US) to 300,000 Yen ($2,590US), depending on the model. If you'd like to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Nero released a new version of Nero 8 this morning. There is no change log yet. However, this new update brings the version count up to 8.1.1.0 . If you'd like to check it out, the update can be downloaded here. As usual, feel free to share your experiences in our forum. Add a comment