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Home Entertainment
While Toshiba's promotions has helped HD DVD capture 60% of the HD set-top market, sales are still coming up short of expectations. According to Reuters, Toshiba has had to lower its U.S. sales forecast. Instead of 1.8 million units, the company now expects to sell 1 million players by the end of 2007.
Japan's Toshiba Corp. has slashed its sales target for high definition DVD players and recorders after disappointing sales in the U.S., putting a damper on prospects for one of its growth businesses.

"Sales in the U.S. have been slower than expected, and we are going to have to lower our U.S. sales forecast," said Yoshihide Fujii, head of Toshiba's digital consumer business.

The electronics group now expects to sell 1 million next-generation optical disc players in North America by the end of calendar 2007, down 44 percent from its previous estimate of 1.8 million unit sales, a Toshiba executive said on Tuesday.
While the price of HD DVD players have come down considerably, most consumers are still holding off, waiting to see which format wins. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Flash Memory
Transcend has announced the launch of its new Ultra-Speed JetFlash Drives. These new USB 2.0 flash drives come equipped with dual Hi-Speed SLC NAND Flash chips, giving them 30MB/s read and 25MB/s write speeds.

Transcend Information Inc. (Transcend) released today its Ultra-Speed USB2.0 Flash Drives, the JetFlash 160, the JetFlash 168, the JetFlash 110 and the JetFlash 2A. These JetFlash models are equipped with dual Hi-Speed SLC NAND Flash chips (Max. Read 30MB/s, Max. Write 25MB/s), and are engineered using top quality components to ensure better performance and a longer lifespan. This device is a combination of style and superior performance that will be appreciated by those who need high-speed data transfer rates. The Ultra-Speed JetFlash Drives conveniently plug into the USB port on any desktop, or notebook computer, so you can fast transfer, store, and share files.
Transcend's Ultra-Speed JetFlash Drives are available now in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB (JetFlash 2A only) capacities. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
As most of you know, Blu-ray has been dominating the next-gen DVD market since the beginning of the year. To help give HD DVD a boost, Toshiba has been offering various promotions, including a $100 price drop on many of their players. These promotions have apparently paid off. According to the HD DVD Promotional Group, consumers have purchased more than 150,000 players, giving HD DVD 60% of the HD set-top market.
Three weeks into its aggressivespring retail and marketing campaigns, the North American HD DVDPromotional Group today announced HD DVD is significantly ahead in thededicated consumer electronics player market with 60% of all highdefinition set-top players sold. At the same time, high definition moviesales for HD DVD reached an all time high for the month of May, exceeding75,000 movies the last week of May alone.

Overall high definition sales hit a record last week as well, hitting$5.2 million in actual consumer spending, which was 31% higher than theprevious record for the two formats. This highlights the growing consumerappetite for HD content across the board.

Sales of dedicated consumer electronics players are a criticalindicator in the adoption of the high definition formats, given the highattach rates to these players. With the successive price drops by Toshiba,weekly player sales doubled in April when the price dropped from $499 to$399, doubled again during the first week of the latest promotion in lateMay, and increased again last week.
While these numbers are impressive, its going to be interesting to see what happens when Blu-ray backers respond with their own price cuts. If you'd like to read more, Toshiba's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Hard Disks
We've gotten word through one of our industry contacts that Verbatim and its parent company, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM), recently agreed to purchase SmartDisk's portable hard disk drive and digital imaging business. To help smooth the transition, several SmartDisk employees will also be joining Verbatim. While neither company has officially announced the deal, the transaction is expected to close in mid to late June. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, feel free to leave your comments in the forum. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
ASUS doesn't appear to be choosing a side in the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD. At this year's Computex, the company unveiled the BC-1205PT Blu-ray Disc drive and HR-0205T HD DVD drive. As Tech-On reports, these drives will be priced at $270 and $180 respectively.

At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2007 being held in Taipei, Taiwan, Asustec computer Inc. (ASUS) of Taiwan is exhibiting the BC-1205PT Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive and HR-0205T HD DVD drive, both for a desktop PC.

These models are available at very low prices of about $270 and $180 (USD), respectively, because they do not have data writing functionality for BD and HD DVD. Reportedly, the company is also planning to launch the products in Japan, targeting the release as early as summer 2007.

The BC-1205PT boasts a high reading speed of 5x from BD-ROM/R/RE. It is capable of both reading and writing various types of DVD and CD formats. The HR-0205T can read at 2.4x speed from HD DVD-ROMs.
If I had to guess, I'd say that the BC-1205PT and HR-0205T are based on the Pioneer BDC-S02 and Toshiba SD-H802A. I'm sure we'll find out when they ship later this year. In the mean time, you can read more about ASUS's new drives here. Add a comment

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Software
Corel announced today that WinDVD 8 has been approved by Dolby Laboratories for Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus playback. Here's part of their press release:
Corel Corporation, a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today announced that Dolby Laboratories, Inc. has approved its InterVideo WinDVD 8 HD DVD/Blu-ray software for Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus playback.

Dolby TrueHD unlocks the ultimate high-definition audio experience, delivering studio-master-quality sound from HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats, while Dolby Digital Plus delivers up to 7.1 channels of dramatic surround sound for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players and home theater systems.
If you'd like to read more, Corel's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Other
If you've tried to play Blu-ray or HD DVD movies on your computer, you've probably found that you need a relatively high end system. Broadcom is hoping to change this with their new media PC solutions. Available as an addin card or motherboard chipset, these solutions enable flawless HD video playback on a wide range of PCs, include those with integrated graphics chipsets.
Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced new media PC solutions that enable flawless playback of high definition (HD) video content across the widest range of PCs in the industry. By lowering CPU utilization, and integrating seamlessly into Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows XP environments, Broadcom's media PC solutions enable mainstream PCs featuring integrated graphics to play back high definition content from either a Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD, as well as from HD downloaded or broadcast content. The new Broadcom media PC solutions are available in three add-in card formats (including desktop PCI Express, PCI Express mini-card or ExpressCard 34), and as a chipset solution for PC motherboard applications.
Broadcom's media PC solutions are in full production today and are priced at less than $40 each. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
While the GGW-H10N has just started to ship, LG already has a new "Super Multi Blue" drive in the works. Details are still a bit sketchy. However, Tech-On reports that the GGW-H20N is an upgraded version of the GGW-H10N capable of writing to BD-R/RE media and reading HD DVD's.

Hitachi LG Data Storage, Inc. (Hitachi LG) has exhibited "GGW-H20N" prototype optical disc drive for desktop PCs that supports both Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD at its booth as a reference presentation at "COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2007" being held in Taipei, Taiwan.

"We have already started sample shipments and plan volume production and shipments for the second half of 2007," a booth attendant said.
Tech-On also reports that LG will be offering the GGC-H20N. This lower priced drive will lack the GGW-H20N's BD-R/RE recording capabilities. If you'd like to read more, Tech-On's entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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