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Optical Storage
The Nichia Corporation has announced that they've developed a high power blue-violet laser diode for Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD recording. According to their press release, the new diode can write to dual layer media at speeds up to 10x and quad layer media at 2x.
Nichia Corporation succeeded in developing high power blue-violet semiconductor laser diodes corresponding to a double-layer disc at more than 10 X record speed/ a quad-layer disc at more than 2 X record speed applied for the next generation DVD recorders.

We confirmed that estimated life time exceeded 10,000 hours and stable operation was achieved for 1000 hours with the condition of 320 mW pulsed operation at 80°Ccase temperature.
While quad layer media is aways off, this new diode should help boost the recording speed of Blu-ray and HD DVD writers. More information can be found on Nichia's website. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
New Medium Enterprises (NME) has announced that they've been chosen to speak about HD VMD at this year's MEDIA-TECH Conference. According to their press release, NME's CTO, Dr. Eugene Levich, will also demonstrate how a 20GB HD VMD disc can be played back using an "off the shelf" DVD drive.
As one of the invited keynote speakers at MEDIA-TECH, Dr. Levich will educate attendants on VMD technology as the quality and value-driven solution for the mass market. Dr. Levich will cover the benefits of HD VMD to consumers, PC drive and media player manufacturers, disc replicators and content providers, and discuss why this proprietary optical storage solution is a major development for the packaged media industry. Dr. Levich will speak on Wednesday, March 7 at 11:30 a.m. and will illustrate his lecture with a live demonstration of the true HD VMD 20 (GB) disc played back in a regular "off the shelf" DVD drive. He will also display a new HD VMD Media Player based on this "off the shelf" DVD loader.
While its good to see HD VMD get some recognition, the format is going to need support from a few major movie studios if it is to succeed. If you'd like to read more, NME's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Duplicators
Aleratec has unveiled the latest version of its Super Copy Tower, the 1:11 DVD/CD Super Copy Tower HS. With a maximum writing speed of 20x, this new DVD/CD duplicator can turn out 120 DVDs an hour.

Aleratec, Inc., developer and manufacturer of Aleratec Award Winning DVD/CD Duplicating and Publishing Solutions, unveils its next generation of the Super Copy Tower, the new high speed 1:11 DVD/CD Super Copy Tower HS stand alone DVD/CD Duplicator. This all new DVD/CD duplicator can make up to 11 simultaneous DVD copies at up to 20x or 11 simultaneous CD copies at up to 48x without a computer. The Aleratec 1:11 DVD/CD Super Copy Tower HS can produce more than 120 typical DVDs per hour, a truly impressive throughput capacity. This Super Copy Tower supports DVD-RAM and 8.5GB Double Layer technology. Also featured is a new removable 160GB hard disk drive for secure storage of frequently used source discs.
The 1:11 DVD/CD Super Copy Tower HS is available now for an estimated street price of $1999. More information is available on Aleratec's website. Add a comment

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Software
NetBlender has announced that they've released their new advanced content authoring tool, DoStudio. Thanks to DoStudio's graphical user interface, content for HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and DVD's can be created in half the time.
Features of DoStudio include: adding picture-in-picture of streaming video over the primary DVD video stream for live commentary, creating translucent pop-up menus that can be navigated without interruption of video playback, adding web connectivity to DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray titles, and more. And DVD One can apply the same interactive features to standard DVDs through NetBlender's Blended DVD solution.

Featuring a graphical user interface that handles many development tasks visually, DoStudio frees the developer from hand-writing hundreds of lines of code. And when code-tweaking is required, the developer uses an easy-to-learn adaptation of XML called DoML, or DVD One Markup Language. When the Advanced Content is ready for viewing, the DVD One compiler writes the final code in any next generation format. The compiler currently supports HDi and netBlender for DVD-Rom. BD-J support will be released later in 2007.
DoStudio is available now and can be license for $99/month. More information is available on NetBlender's website. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Doug Carson & Associates, Inc. has announced that the first 3X DVD-ROM was cut using their equipment. A variant of the DVD-ROM format, 3X DVD-ROM supports UDF 2.5 and HD video, allowing the discs to be played back on an HD DVD player.
Doug Carson & Associates, Inc. (DCA) is proud to announce that the first 3X DVD-ROM disc was successfully mastered & replicated at Sonopress' North Carolina facility using DCA's MIS 8.5 DVD formatter software on January 17, 2007.

The title was produced through a partnership with Sonic Solutions, the leader in authoring products.

3X DVD-ROM is a variant of DVD-ROM, allowing for HD video & UDF 2.5 on the DVD format. 3X DVD-ROM discs are played back in HD DVD players. Several manufacturers are looking to 3X DVD-ROM as a low cost entry into the HD video market.
If you'd like to read more, DCA's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Software
Over the weekend, Slysoft announced the first official release of AnyDVD HD. Here's part of their press release:

At first look, the mention of "Added HD DVD and AACS Support" appears rather "so-so" but behind this annoucement exists a real revolution. For the first time, it is possible for the average user to get around the previously uncrackable AACS copy protection of the new HD-DVD generation with a few simple clicks of the mouse.

Officially, the film industry and the AACS consortium is, of course, not very happy about this development. However, behind closed doors, they are likely pleased to have learned from past experiences with the CD and DVD that the users are now finally able to make unlimited use of this new medium HD DVD, i.e to enjoy his "fair-use rights". It is expected that a real "boom" will occur with HD-DVDs.
If you'd like to check out the latest version of AnyDVD HD, you can download it directly here. Otherwise, more information can be found on Slysoft's website. Add a comment

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Other
ESS Technology has reportedly sold its HD-DVD and Blu-ray technologies to the Hong Kong-based electronics distributor, SiS Holding Ltd., for $13.5 million. The agreement includes the sale of certain tangible assets, licensing of related intellectual property and the transfer of associated employees.
Digital video processor vendor ESS Technology Inc. has sold its HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc DVD technologies and related assets to SiS Holding Ltd., a Hong Kong-based electronics distributor, for $13.5 million, ESS said Friday (Feb. 16).

ESS (Fremont, Calif.) said it would cease operation of its camera phone business and pursue licensing of its image sensor technology and patents. The company said this action would reduce operating expenses by roughly $2 million per quarter.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to EETimes. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Plextor Europe has announced a new 18x multi-format DVD writer, the PX-800A. Along with 18x DVD±R and 8x DVD±R DL writing speeds, the drive can write to DVD-RAM media at 12x. Best of all, Plextor claims that the PX-800A will be "priced cost-effectively."

Plextor, the personal storage and high reliability optical drive manufacturer, today announces the first DVD-RW drive from its new PX-800 series: the ATAPI/IDE PX-800A. At 18x it is still one of the fastest drives in the world (Plextor was the first to launch 18x products with the PX-760 series).

It also incorporates multi-format (DVD+/-R & DVD-RAM) technology to satisfy the demand for high end drives from enthusiast/professional users. In fact, it is Plextor's first drive capable of 12x DVD-RAM.

Even though this high reliability drive comes from Plextor, the market leaders in quality, it will be priced cost-effectively. The drive is in line with Plextor's high quality product requirements, and supports burning quality technologies like Buffer Underrun proof technology, which prevents buffer underrun errors.
Is the PX-800A a new design or one of the Lite-On manufactured drives we've been hearing rumors about? I guess we'll have to wait until the end of March when they hit store shelves. In the mean time, Plextor's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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PowerColor X1550 512MB @Overclockers Online
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