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Yeeehaaww.. It's roundup time! Tom's Hardware has taken five "cheap" DVD writers from LG, Pioneer, Samsung and Optiarc and put them head to head to see which is the best. Here's a sample of what they had to say:
It has been over a year since we last took a look at DVD burners. One reason for the delay is that there were few developments on which to report ever since the write speeds hit 16X. Manufacturers then focused on value-added features such as built-in disc labeling called LightScribe. Another reason is the incredibly cheap price level: It is absolutely possible to purchase a DVD burner for as little as $25. But there still are differences in quality.
Sadly, like most big review websites, Tom's forgets to look at two very important things: writing quality and media compatibility. All the speed in the world doesn't mean much if a disc isn't readable. Anyway, if you'd like to check it out, the entire roundup can be found here. Add a comment

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PowerColor X1650 Pro Year of the Pig Edition @Overclockers Online
ViewSonic VX2235 22-inch HD Widescreen Monitor @ThinkComputers.org
Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 nForce 680i Motherboard @TweakTown
Mushkin XP2-8500 2GB Kit DDR2-1066 Memory @Redaktion ocinside.de
Motorola Moto Q Smartphone @Project PDA
Plantronics Explorer 350 Bluetooth Headset @BlueTomorrow.com
Ultra X-Pro 600 Watt ATX Power Supply @Tweaknews.net
SuperTalent 2GB DDR-1000 Kit @BCCHardware
Overclocking the Intel X6800 With Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) @Madshrimps
Jetart HCA06 HDD Guard at Overclockers Online @Overclockers Online
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Optical Storage
Plextor LLC has officially announced their new 18x Super-Multi drive, the TurboPlex PX-800A. According to their press release, the PX-800A sports 18x DVD±R and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and is fully compatible with Windows Vista.

Plextor LLC, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the immediate availability of the TurboPlex PX-800A DVD Super Multi Drive. Fully compatible with the new Windows Vista(TM) operating system, the new DVD+/-R/RW CD-R/RW drive introduces a new level of performance and features, including 12X DVD-RAM and a software bundle that includes Roxio Easy Media Creator 9.

The Plextor PX-800A drive features an E-IDE ATAPI interface for easy connectivity with personal computers running the Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista operating systems. The PX-800A drive also supports industry-leading 12X-speed DVD-RAM functionality for removable data storage applications. A user simply inserts a blank DVD-RAM disc and the system automatically formats the disc and assigns a driver letter. Users can drag-and-drop files, use the "save as" command, and remove the disc, which can then be read in any PC or desktop player with a drive that supports the DVD-RAM format.
The PX-800A is expected to ship later this month for a suggested retail price of $79.99. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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In February, Lite-On announced that they would be taking the place of BenQ in a joint venture with Philips. This new joint venture, named Philips Lite-On Digital Solutions Corporation (PLDS), was recently given the green light by the European Commission and will go into operation on May 1st.
The earlier announced joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics (Philips) and Lite-On IT Corporation (Lite-On) is starting to take shape. The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the entry by Lite-On IT into Philips & BenQ Digital Storage Corporation (PBDS) of Taiwan. Lite-On IT has taken over BenQ's shares in PBDS and the name has now changed to Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS).

PLDS will be effective in Europe from 1st of May 2007. Lite-On IT BV, the European head office of Lite-On IT Corporation, will continue to provide the same service to it's customers under the new flag of PLDS. The company will handle sales, marketing, service, finance and logistics of Optical Disc Drives (ODD). PLDS will continue to sell ODD under the brand names Lite-On and HP (under exclusive license from Hewlett-Packard).
If you'd like to read more, Lite-On Europe's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Earlier this year, Steve Jobs posted an open letter on Apple's website, urging record companies to abandon DRM technologies. Apparently, someone at EFI took this to heart as the company recently signed a deal with Apple, allowing them to sell DRM-free versions of their music through iTunes.
Apple today announced that EMI Music's entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today -- 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM -- at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available.
While some may not paying a premium for DRM-free music ($1.29 vs. $0.99 per song), this is definitely a step in the right direction. Hopefully, other record companies will see the light and offer DRM-free music through iTunes as well. If you'd like to read more, Apple's entire announcement can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
Last week, there were reports that the HD DVD version of 'Children of Men' failed to play on some Toshiba players and the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive. Apparently, these issues aren't limited to just this title. According to TheManRoom, the HD DVD/DVD combo version of 'The Good Shepherd' has similar playback issues.
A couple days ago I cautiously approached Universal's next Combo Format HD DVD with U-Control functionality, 'The Good Shepherd.' My gut suspected the disc would suffer from the same playback issues as 'Children of Men,' but given how that disc's errors have been random across various players, there was at minimum a shot for success. Sadly, my gut was correct. 'The Good Shepherd' disc failed to play on both the HD-A1 and Xbox 360 HD DVD players with the exact same error messages 'Children of Men' returned. Whether my experience will be shared by the greater HD DVD community remains to be seen; however, it's our duty to pass along this caveat to those having pre-ordered the disc or plan to pick it up on Tuesday. Keep those receipts!
Universal has not officially acknowledged these issues. However, the company has already discontinued the combo versions of some titles and has retooled a few upcoming releases to be HD DVD-only. Needless to say, this doesn't look good for the combo format or HD DVD in general. If you'd like to read more, head on over to TheManRoom. Add a comment

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Back in July, we reported that Matsushita had filed a lawsuit against CMC Magnetics, claiming that they infringed upon three of their DVD patents. According to an article at Reuters.com, Matsushita and CMC have settled their suit. As part of the settlement, the two companies have formed a cross licensing agreement, with CMC paying royalties to Matsushita for 10 years.
Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and Taiwan's CMC Magnetics Corp. said on Monday they have reached a settlement on a DVD-related patent infringement lawsuit.

Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, last year filed a patent suit against CMC, charging that the Taiwanese disc maker's DVD discs infringed its patents.

As part of the settlement, they have formed a patent cross licencing agreement on manufacturing and sales of DVD discs, and CMC is set to pay royalties to Matsushita, both companies said.
If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Earlier this week, CyberLink announced support for the AVCHD standard. According to their press release, PowerDVD Ultra already supports AVCHD playback and disc authoring will be added to PowerProducer later this year.
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, today announced support for the Advanced Video Codec High Definition Standard (AVCHD) for video playback and authoring. CyberLink has already incorporated AVCHD support in high-definition disc player software PowerDVD Ultra, and will launch support for disc authoring software PowerProducer mid-year.

"The AVCHD format offers exceptional quality for the recording, storage and playback of high-definition video content," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "With our expertise in developing leading playback and authoring products, CyberLink's support of the AVCHD format delivers greater flexibility for our hardware partners and even more choice for consumers."
If you'd like to read more, CyberLink's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
High-Def Digest has reported that Xbox 360 owners are having a hard time playing Universal's latest HD DVD release, 'Children of Men.' While this problem doesn't seem to affect everyone, many people can't play parts of the disc or in some cases, get the drive to recognize it at all.
'Children of Men' hit stores earlier this week on March 27, as one of the most highly-anticipated HD DVD releases on the format thus far, and as our Kenneth Brown wrote in his recent review of the disc, it apparently boasts stellar video and audio. Unfortunately, more than a few Xbox 360 owners have had issues playing it on the device's popular HD DVD add-on drive, with many of our readers writing in to say that the disc simply won't play, and that even multiple returns of the disc have produced the same issue.
If you check out the posts in High-Def Digest's forum, you can see that 'Children of Men' isn't the only title people are having problems with. Lets hope that Microsoft can address these issues in the next Xbox 360 update. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Sony has released some details on their new LightScribe capable 18x DVD writer, the DRU-835A. Along with support for LightScribe, the DRU-835A features 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds. Here are some of the drives' specs:


Writing Speeds:

DVD+R: 4X CLV, 8X P-CAV, 16X, 18X CAV
DVD+RW: 2.4X, 4X CLV, 6X, 8X Z-CLV
DVD+R DL: 2.4X, 4X, 6X, 8X Z-CLV
DVD-R: 4X CLV, 8X P-CAV, 16X CAV, 18X CAV
DVD-RW: 2X, 4X, CLV, 6X Z-CLV
DVD-R DL: 2X, 4X CLV, 6X, 8X Z-CLV
DVD-RAM: 5X, 6X CLV, 8X, 10X, 12x P-CAV
CD-R: 8X, 16X CLV, 24X, 32X, 40X P-CAV, 48X CAV
CD-RW: 4X, 10X, 16X CLV, 24X, 32X Z-CLV

Buffer Size: 2MB 		Read Speeds:

DVD-ROM: 16X Max
DVD±R: 12X Max
DVD±R DL : 8X Max
DVD±RW: 8X Max
DVD-Video: 6x Max
DVD-RAM: 12x Max
CD-ROM/CD-R: 48X Max
CD-RW: 40X Max

Access Times:

CD-ROM: 130ms
DVD-ROM: 140ms
The DRU-835A is most likely based on a drive from Samsung or Lite-On but at this point, I'm not even going to guess which one. No word on when the DRU-835A will ship. However, Sony's website lists the price as being $79.99. More information, including a full list of specs, can also be found here. Add a comment

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