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The LH-20A1S will be available on the European market mid-February for € 49 including VAT. The LH-20A1P should hit store shelves shortly after for € 69 including VAT. More information, including a full list of specs, can be found on Lite-On's website. Add a comment
The LH-20A1S is an internal drive made for advanced computer enthusiasts. It incorporates, in addition to fast writing speed, a Serial ATA (SATA) interface. The SATA connection eliminates potential information and performance "bottlenecking " by offering at least 150 MB/s data transfer rate which should improve performance significantly compared with the Parallel ATA (PATA) connections you find on most current DVD rewriters. SATA also uses thinner data cables allowing better airflow to the LH-20A1S drive.
The LH-20A1PU is an external drive which can be enjoyed by both advanced and beginning computer enthusiasts. The LH-20A1PU features the Lite-On patented EZ-DUB technology which makes copying and storing of data possible with a single press of a button. The LH-20A1PU can be easily connected to your PC through a USB 2.0 connection.
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It was announced that Shinanokenshi (Ueda city) assumed that the achievement got depressed due to the earnings deterioration of the disk drive business for the personal computer on the 19th, and reorganized the business including the voluntary retirement recruitment that became the first in this company. This business reduces greatly because the price fell sharply because of the competition of South Korea and a Taiwanese manufacturer. The closing of accounts at the period on February, 2007 is expected to fall to the final deficit at two terms, and strengthens the development of the high-value-added commodity such as motors for the car while the review of a domestic and foreign production base and the staff assignment is advanced.According to the article, the Plextor brand will continue but will focus on industrial equipment and audio equipment for the visually handicapped.
While this news doesn't surprise me, we have not heard anything from Plextor's American or European subsidiaries yet. It's possible that they may remain in the optical drive business by rebadging drives or focusing on Blu-ray but at this point, we'll have to wait and see. Thanks to WesleyTech.com for pointing out this news. Add a comment
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In view of Toshiba's recent launch of an inexpensive HD DVD player with a retail price of US$599, Taiwan optical disc drive makers think an entry-level HD DVD player priced at up to US$500 may be available in the second half of 2007.Apparently Taiwan's manufacturers haven't checked the price of Toshiba's second generation HD DVD player, the HD-A2, as you can already buy it for less than $400. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
The increasing upgrade in resolution of large-size LCD TVs and PDP (plasma display panel) TVs to full HD (high definition), 1,920x1,080, will boost demand for Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD players/recorders, the sources indicated. However, the currently available BD and HD DVD drives are very or quite expensive and the critical price level at which demand will begin to take off is estimated to be US$500 based on the development history for DVD drives, the sources pointed out.
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Mitsubishi has not announced a price. However, according to AV Watch, it is expected to cost about 1500 Yen. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
This corporation in 2006 July sold the HD DVD-R disk for video video recording for the first time in the world, hi-vision image such as terrestrial digital broadcast while it was hi-vision picture quality actualized the fact that it leaves to the disk. This time it continues to this, adjusts to the sale of the corresponding equipment and sells the HD DVD-R disk for the PC data. As for this product, we answer the various demands of the customer even in the world of PC where in the future increase of the data quantity is expected more and more the capacity of single sided 1 layer 15GB with, high picture quality including handling the image contents, as the bulk media whose reliability is high.
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No word on pricing or availability yet. As we find out more we'll let you know. Until then, more information can be found on Lite-On's website. Add a comment
Writing Speeds: DVD±R: 20x Max
DVD±R DL: 8x Max
DVD+RW: 8x Max
DVD-RW: 6x Max
DVD-RAM 12x Max
CD-R: 48x Max
CD-RW: 32x MaxRead Speeds: DVD-ROM: 16x Max
Access Times:
CD-ROM: 48x MaxDVD-ROM: 160ms
CD-ROM: 160ms
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The answer is that it hasn't. Once you get past the sensationalist headlines, there's more to it. Big-time porn studio Vivid has announced its first Blu-ray porn movie, so there's obviously a leak somewhere in the Blu-ray condom. Even the Blu-ray disc Association has reacted quickly by saying there is no ban against adult movie content.Vivid isn't the only company putting porn on Blu-ray either. As we reported the other day, the Japanese studio "Glayz" is also publishing adult films in the format. If you'd like to read more, the Inquirer's entire article can be found here. Add a comment
It's true that Sony doesn't care for porn on its devices. It was unhappy when porn started arriving on the UMD disc format for the PSP and from certain quotes by porn makers, Sony is not actually being that helpful with Blu-ray. It's not blocking them but, at the same time, it's not exactly pointing them in the direction of Blu-ray disc manufacturers that can help them out. Many are having to find their own production sources.
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When will Blu-ray players drop in price to become a mainstream product?I'm sure Toshiba and other HD DVD backers are going to eat this up. As it is, you can already get Toshiba's second generation HD DVD player, the HD-A2, for less than $400. If you'd like to read more, News.com's entire interview can be found here. Add a comment
Glasgow: If you go back to when DVDs came into play, it took about three years until they got into price points of $299 to $399. I suspect it's about the same thing here with Blu-ray. I think it's going to take up to three years to get down to those price points, possibly a little longer. But I would assume it's similar to DVD.
We have some control over (the cost of the) components. There are a lot of components in that product. Once you get volumes up, you get yields up, and you get efficiencies up; the prices go down on the components.
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Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced its Scenarist Workgroup authoring systems for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc will support Warner Bros. Total Hi Def disc through a new product called THDassign. With Sonic THDassign, facilities and content providers will have a simple and streamlined way to combine finished high-definition projects created in Scenarist HD DVD and Scenarist Blu-ray Disc authoring systems for release on the Total Hi Def disc, which plays the HD DVD format on one side and the Blu-ray Disc format on the other. THDassign is expected to be available as a separate add-on for Scenarist systems in February 2007...If you'd like to read more, Sonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
...THDassign works by providing essential meta-data and volume tagging information for the CMF outputs from both Scenarist HD DVD and Scenarist BD authoring systems. This information is essential to maintaining volume integrity when combining the format layers in a Total Hi Def disc. Scenarist is the world's only system that provides professional-level authoring for both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats, providing specification-level access and the hands-on control required for advanced interactive title creation.
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Volume production of the EMMA3 series is scheduled to begin in April 2007. More information is available on NEC's website. Add a comment
NEC Electronics has introduced its newest generation of its renowned EMMA series of high performance system LSI chips for digital consumer applications. The EMMA3 series is optimized for systems such as HD DVD players and recorders that handle the processing of next generation DVD content.
The latest EMMA series incorporates in a single chip all the functions necessary to process high definition images, sounds and graphics in HD DVD players. It can process compression formats such as MPEG2, H.264, and VC-1, and offers powerful support for high level applications by way of two built-in CPUs. EMMA3 is already used successfully in HD DVD players sold by Toshiba Corporation such as the HD-XA2 and HD-A2 in North America, the HD-XA2 and HD-XF2 in Japan, as well as other players designed for Europe and Australia.
