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Optical Storage

23 May 2007

According to report by Tech-On, Sony recently presented their results on four-layer Micro-Reflector recording at this year's ODS meeting. A type of holographic recording, Micro-Reflector irradiates a disc on both sides, creating a set of virtual layers. Sony claims that this method is affected less by heat and is cheaper implement due to the use of existing blue-violet laser diodes.

In the Micro-Reflector recording, light beams are irradiated on both sides of the recording medium. Two light beams are then interfered on the recording layer by aligning their focal points, thereby recording an interference fringe which corresponds to 1-bit information capacity. The information is reproduced by emitting light on the front side of the medium. Interference fringes with different depths can be recorded by changing the depth of the focal points as in the case of recording on a multilayered medium.

In addition to multilayer recording, the company points out advantages in that the method is less likely to be influenced by the expansion/contraction of photopolymer due to heat, thus preventing signal reading errors. This is because the interference fringes are smaller than those used in other holographic recording methods where recording is performed on a page basis. The company expects that the Micro-Reflector system will easily facilitate reductions in equipment cost because it can utilize existing blue-violet semiconductor laser diodes and eliminate the need of a spatial phase modulator, CMOS sensor or other parts.

Micro-Reflector isn't without its problems. Along with slow data transfer rates, Sony has found that when recording to deeper layers, the signal gets weaker. Once Sony resolves these problems, they plan to introduce 20 layer discs with a total capacity of 500GB. If you'd like to read more, Tech-On's entire report can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

23 May 2007

The Japanese company, Buffalo, has announced two new Blu-ray combo drives based on the Pioneer BDC-202. The internal BRC-5125FBS-BK and external BRC-5125U2 can read and write to most CD and DVD formats and can be used to play back Blu-ray Disc movies. Here is a full list of specs:

Writing Speeds: DVD±R: 12x DVD±R DL: 4x DVD±RW: 6x DVD-RAM: 5x CD-R: 24x CD-RW: 24x

Read Speeds: BD-ROM (Single): 5x Max BD-ROM (Dual): 2x Max BD-R/RE (Single): 5x Max BD-R/RE (Dual): 2x Max DVD-ROM (Single): 12x Max DVD-ROM (Dual): 8x Max DVD±R: 12x Max DVD±RW: 8x Max DVD±R DL: 8x Max DVD-RAM: 5x Max CD-ROM/CD-R: 32x Max CD-RW: 24x Max

The BRC-5125FBS-BK and BRC-5125U2 will ship in late June and are priced at 53,000 Yen ($435US) and 63,700 Yen ($523US)respectively. This isn't a very good deal considering you can get Blu-ray Disc writers for as little as $400 these days. If you'd like to read more, Buffalo's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Software

23 May 2007

CyberLink sent out a press release this morning, announcing that PowerDVD Ultra now supports the AMD UVD (Unified Video Decoder) technology found on the ATI Radeon HD 2000 series of graphics cards.

CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, announces today that PowerDVD Ultra〞the leading high-definition movie playback software - now supports AMD UVD (Unified Video Decoder) technology on the newly released ATI Radeon HD 2400 series and ATI Radeon 2600 series graphics cards.

CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra, which supports playback of Blu-ray Discs, HD DVDs, and DVDs, now offers support for AMD UVD Technology ensuring a high-quality playback experience with minimal power consumption on both Windows XP and Vista operating systems. With support for AMD UVD features like VC-1, MPEG-4 H.264 CABAC (Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding), Motion Compensation and iDCT (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform), both desktop PC and notebook users will be able to enjoy enhanced video quality with incredibly low CPU consumption.

CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra with support for AMD UVD technology is available now for $99.95. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

23 May 2007

Earlier this year, we reported that Moser Baer had purchased Philips' R&D subsidiary, OM&T, with the hope that it would jumpstart their Blu-ray media business. This acquisition has apparently paid off as Moser Baer is claiming that they've developed the world's first 8x Blu-ray Disc.

Optical and magnetic storage manufacturer Moser Baer India has developed the world’s first high speed 8x Blu-ray disc (BDR), which is a major advance in next generation optical media formats. The 8x Blu-ray disc (BDR) technology has been jointly developed with newly acquired OM&T, the former R&D subsidiary of Philips.

With the latest development, end users will be able to have a faster media that can record a 2-hour transmission equivalent of HD (High Definition) quality data in less than 15 minutes. The next generation formats have a capacity ranging from 15 GB to 50 GB and offer over five to ten times the data storage capacity of standard DVD media. These next generation formats are best suited for reliable business backup, such as medical and government imaging, photography, videography, as well as high definition video recording.

No word on pricing or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, Moser Baer's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Software

22 May 2007

Nero released a new version of Nero 7 this morning. According to the release notes, version 7.9.6.0 includes a number of changes and bug fixes as well as new features like SecurDisc PDF copy protection. If you'd like to check it out, the update can be downloaded here or via BitTorrent. As usual, feel free to share your experiences in our forum. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

22 May 2007

DigiTimes has reported that Ritek recently received certification for their HD DVD-R and HD DVD-RW media. According to the article, they are the first Taiwanese manufacturer to do so.

Ritek on May 21 announced it has received the certification for both HD DVD-R (recordable, write once) and HD DVD-RW (rewritable) formats, becoming the only Taiwan-based producer of optical discs to receive certification.

The technological barrier for HD DVD-R is quite high and that for HD DVD-RW is higher, Ritek indicated. Ritek's manufacturing capability for DVD+R/-R DL (single-sided double-layer) discs was helpful in obtaining the certification, the company pointed out.

The article also mentions that volume production of the two formats will begin during second half of this year at the earliest. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Other

21 May 2007

Razer Pro|Type Keyboard @ThinkComputers.org
Cyber Snipa Scout Webcam @Tweaknews.net
Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External Hard Drive @Everything USB
Thermaltake V1 CPU Cooler @HardwareLogic
SteelSound 3H Gamers (Folding) Headset @BCCHardware
Ideazon Fang Gamepad @BCCHardware
Biostar TA690G Motherboard @Overclockers Online

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Duplicators

21 May 2007

Aleratec sent out a press release this morning, announcing the 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS and 1:7 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS. These new Copy Towers feature a removable 160GB hard disk drive and can copy DVDs at speeds up to 20x with no computer required.

Aleratec, Inc., developer and manufacturer of Aleratec Award Winning DVD/CD Duplicating and Publishing Solutions, is announcing its next generation of its Award Winning DVD/CD Duplicator Solutions, the new high speed 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS(tm) and 1:7 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS(tm), stand alone DVD/CD Duplicators that copy DVDs at up to 20x with no computer required. The new Aleratec Copy Towers feature fast, 160GB, removable Hard Disk Drives for secure storage of frequently used source discs.

The 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower HS and 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower HS are available now for $899 and $1399 respectively. More information on these two duplicators can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment

21 May 2007

Fujitsu has announced a new one-chip LSI that can compress and decompress HD H.264 video in real-time. According to their press release, the MB86H51 is industry's first one-chip full HD H.264 High Profile LSI with embedded memory.

Fujitsu Limited today announced a new large-scaled integrated (LSI) chip that can compress and decompress full High-Definition (HD) video (1,920 dots x 1,080 lines) in the H.264 format(1) in real-time. The new chip, the MB86H51, is the industry's first one-chip LSI for full HD H.264 High Profile(2) video processing with embedded memory. Sample shipments will start from July 1, 2007.

This new chip enables high image quality recording, playback, and transmission of full high-definition video over a wide range of fields from consumer to industrial applications, such as for digital video cameras (camcorders), hard disk digital video recorders (DVRs), home network devices, security cameras, and broadcasting equipment.

Samples of the MB86H51 will start shipping on July 1st and are expected to cost about 30,000 Yen ($247US). More information can be found on Fujitsu's website. Add a comment