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Home Entertainment
New Medium Enterprises (NME) has announced that they've signed a deal with PC Rush, giving them the ability to distribute and market the HD VMD Media Player Duo and HD VMD Media Player Quattro in the US. Both players will be available in the 2Q of 2007.

New Medium Enterprises (NME) (OTC BB:NMEN.OB - News) today announced its first U.S.-based distribution deal with PC Rush to bring its HD Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) players to the U.S. market for the first time. Through this three-year distribution deal, PC Rush will distribute and market the HD VMD Media Player Duo and HD VMD Media Player Quattro, which will allow consumers to play their existing standard-definition DVD collections up-converted to HD, as well as allow consumers entrance into the HD playback market with the high quality, and high value VMD disc format. The HD VMD Media Player Duo, starting at $199 (MSRP) and the HD VMD Media Player Quattro, starting at just $249 (MSRP), will both be available from PC Rush in Q2 2007.

The HD VMD Media Players Duo and Quattro will fill the market need by delivering high-definition discs and players at an affordable price for a broad consumer base. With HDTV adoption continuing to grow, consumers need a proven technology and affordable solution for content storage and playback. Utilizing red laser technology, the same technology used to produce today's global DVDs, NME is bringing consumers an HD option at a comparable cost to the current consumer DVD market.
While I don't think Blu-ray or HD DVD have anything to worry about (yet), HD VMD does offer an affordable alternative. Of course, NME will need to get the support of Hollywood for the format to really take off. If you'd like to read more, NME's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Alienware Aurora m9700 17-inch Laptop @ThinkComputers.org
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Home Entertainment
Sony has announced plans to introduce a new Blu-ray Disc player this summer. Smaller and more affordable than Sony's first generation player, the BDP-S300 is expected to cost only $599.
Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). said Monday it is bringing out a cheaper player for Blu-ray discs early this summer, a crucial step in its battle to make the high-definition format the replacement for DVDs.

The BDP-S300 will cost $599, yet will have the same capabilities as the $999 BDP-S1 Sony is currently selling, said Randy Waynick, senior vice president of the home products division of Sony Electronics.

Sony and Samsung Corp., which also makes a Blu-ray player, have been undersold by Toshiba Corp.'s players for the rival HD DVD format. Toshiba has a model on the market for $499.
Sony still has a way to go in regards to price if they want to compete with Toshiba. You can already get the Toshiba HD-A2 for less than $400 and by summer, it will probably drop even more. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Software
The folks at BHA sent us an email this morning, letting us know that B's Recorder GOLD8 and B's CLiP6 now support Windows Vista. One of the more recent updates to B's CLiP6 also adds support for DVD-RAM media. If you'd like to try them out, the updates for B's Recorder GOLD8 and B's CLiP6 can be downloaded for free from BHA's website. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
Home Media Magazine has reported that overall sales have finally tipped in favor of Blu-ray. As of February 18th, Blu-ray had sold 100 units to every 98.71 units of HD DVD.
The scales tipped in favor of Blu-ray Disc the week ended Feb. 18, according to preliminary data.

Since the inception of both formats, the Sony-backed Blu-ray disc has now sold more units than its Toshiba-backed HD DVD competitor, according to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data.

Buoyed by a rush of titles this year, Blu-ray has racked up a slight lead in unit sales — 100 units to every 98.71 units of HD DVD — since the inception of both formats, according to First Alert data.
HD DVD has pretty much blown its lead and with Amazon.com stocking 50% more Blu-ray titles, you really have to wonder what's going to happen with the format. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
The RW Products Promotion Initiative (RWPPI) has announced that they've completed the fourth round of DVD compatibility tests. According to their press release, forty seven companies have participated with a total of 164 product models being tested.
The RW Products Promotion Initiative (RWPPI, Representative Director: Koki Aizawa) and the Recordable DVD Council) RDVDC, Chairman: Bon-Guk Koo) have completed their DVD compatibility tests jointly conducted since June 2006. These tests were conducted on products compatible with recordable DVD: 6x to 12x DVD-RAM, 8cm DVD-RW, 16x speed DVD-R, and 4x and 8x DVD-R DL (Dual Layer). The test results were jointly announced on 23rd February at Conference Square M+ (M plus) (Marunouchi, Tokyo). The current round of compatibility tests was the fourth round of the compatibility tests jointed conducted by RWPPI and RDVDC. In the previous round, tests were conducted on 5x DVD-RAM, 6x to 12x speed DVD-RAM (tester only), 6x speed DVD-RW and 16x speed DVD-R, and their results were announced in April 2006. Detailed results of these tests are available at the website of RWPPI and RDVDC.
The RWPPI and RDVDC plan to continue their compatibility tests when faster DVD media is developed. If you'd like to read more, the RWPPI's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Software
Sonic has announced the availability of a Vista compatible version of Roxio Central. Built upon Vista's design architecture, this new version offers a less cluttered screen environment and faster access to applications and frequent tasks.
Roxio, a division of Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced the availability of a new Windows Vista-compatible version of Roxio Central, which takes full advantage of the new Windows Vista design architecture to deliver a truly intuitive, interactive, and visually-rich software experience. Roxio Central serves as a core access point to digital media tasks across Roxio's software products and offers digital media recording and backup features. The latest version is designed to allow consumers to experience the many benefits of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), the new user interface development architecture that enables the incorporation of rich 3D graphics, animations, transitions, and stunning icons.
Roxio Central can be downloaded for free here. Otherwise, more information can be found on Roxio's website. Add a comment

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For the last year or so, the MPEG LA has been trying to get all the various Blu-ray Disc patent holders to come together and create a joint license. According to their most recent press release, the group has made significant progress in identifying licensing terms.
MPEG LA announced today that the fourth meeting of essential Blu-ray Disc(TM) patent owners, currently consisting of 18 companies, was held in New York on February 6-7 for the purpose of creating a joint license providing fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory access to essential patents, as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses. Significant progress has been made in identifying licensing terms for Blu-ray Disc(TM) products such as players, recorders, drives, software, recordable discs and prerecorded discs. Participating companies include CyberLink Corporation; Dell Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Company; Hitachi Ltd.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.; LG Electronics Inc.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic); Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Pioneer Corporation; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sonic Solutions; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.; and Warner Home Video Inc.
Additional patent holder meetings are planned, and work on the joint license will continue. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro @BCCHardware
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OCZ Technology ProXStream 1000 Watt Power Supply @Tweaknews.net,Overclockers Online
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JVC LT-46FN97 46'' 1080p LCD HDTV @I4U
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