While Philips is making headway in Taiwan, DigiTimes has reported that they're still having problems getting Chinese manufacturers to accept their Veeza licensing program.
Royal Philips Electronics' promotion of Veeza, its new licensing system for its essential CD-R disc patents, in Taiwan has scored initial points by successfully persuading Ritek to an agreement, but the effort has been frustrated in China because makers of CD-R discs there have consistently boycotted Veeza and none have signed up for it, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

While Philips' promotion of Veeza in Taiwan is through separate talks with each of the target CD-R disc makers, fellow makers in China have authorized the China Audio & Video Association (CAVA) to negotiate with Philips on behalf of them, the sources pointed out. CAVA thinks the Veeza royalty is too high to be acceptable, the sources indicated.
The article also points out that with most Chinese manufactured CD-R discs ending up on the domestic market, companies in that country do not feel pressured to compromise with Philips. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
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Earlier today, Microsoft announced the availability and pricing of its Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. The player will hit U.S. stores in mid-November for a cool $199.99.
The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player, arriving at retailers in North America, the U.K., France, and Germany in mid-November 2006, will retail for $199.99 in North America (ESRP) and €199.99/£129.99 (ESRP) in the U.K., France, and Germany. The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player comes with both the Universal Pictures blockbuster Peter Jackson's King Kong on HD DVD (for a limited time) and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote.
Between this and upcoming games like Halo Wars, its becoming harder and harder to resist picking up an Xbox 360. If you'd like to read more, Microsoft's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
According to DigiTimes, Lite-On has started volume production of its new LightScribe capable "Super Multi" drive, the LH-18A1H. The company plans to launch the LH-18A1H in the Taiwan market in mid-October.
Lite-On IT, the largest maker of optical disc drives in Taiwan, recently began volume production of an 18x Super Multi LightScribe DVD burner, model LH-18A1H, for OEM clients and will launch the model for own-brand sale in the Taiwan market at a recommended retail price of about NT$2,100 (US$64) in the middle of next month, according to the company.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Otherwise, more information on the LH-18A1H can be found here. Add a comment
RIDATA sent out a press release this afternoon, announcing their new PRO series of CD-R and DVD-R media. Available with shiny silver or inkjet printable surfaces, these discs provide fast read/write capability, reliability, and durability.
Advanced Media, Inc manufactures and markets the popular RIDATA brand of recordable CD and DVD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories to the U.S. market. For years, high quality RIDATA CDs and DVDs have been the global media of choice by leading duplicators, archivists and other professionals. To answer this demand RIDATA has created a line of consistently high quality archival and duplication media called the PRO Series of discs. The new line features RIDATA PRO DVD-R 8X inkjet white, DVD-R 8X shiny silver, PRO 52X CD-R inkjet white, and 52X CD-R shiny silver.
No word yet on pricing or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, RIDATA's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
New Medium Enterprises has reportedly found a way to manufacture cheap, multi-layer DVD's, capable of holding a movie in a number of different formats.
Britain-based New Medium Enterprises (NME) (NMEN.OB: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it had solved a technical production problem that makes it possible to produce a cheap multiple-layer DVD disk containing one film in different, competing formats.

"Current technologies to create multiple layer disks mostly don't work. We've created a technology for mass production of multiple layers that does not suffer from the well known problem of low yields," said NME Chief Technology Officer Eugene Levich. A low yield means that many DVDs coming off the manufacturing lines are not working and have to be discarded.

The production costs of a multi-layer DVD using the new NME technology are estimated to be around 9 cents, compared with the 6 cents for a standard single-layer play-back DVD, according to Dutch company ODMS, one of the world's leading makers of production lines for optical disks.
While NME's new technology probably won't end the format war, it will hopefully lower the cost of multi-format discs. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
As we reported yesterday, Ritek has joined Philips' Veeza licensing system. According to an article DigiTimes, they are the first Taiwanese disc manufacturer to do so.
Royal Philips Electronics on September 25 announced Ritek has joined Veeza, its new licensing system for CD-R disc patents, with Ritek being the first Taiwan-based optical disc maker to sign on. Philips also announced a 41.7% reduction in its royalty charge for recordable DVD discs from US$0.06 to US$0.035, a step toward extending Veeza from CD-R to recordable DVD discs.

Ritek's five-year contract with Philips for licensed use of CD-R patents expired a few months ago and the company agreed to join Veeza to continue licensing the patents, Ritek pointed out. However, optical discs makers in Taiwan had originally boycotted Veeza, so Ritek's sudden reversal may cause some discontent among its fellow makers. As Ritek is currently the second largest maker of optical discs in Taiwan, its action will bring pressure on other makers, industry sources indicated.
With Ritek on board, it will probably be only a matter of time before other manufacturers start using Veeza. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
CyberLink has announced that they will be demonstrating an optimized version of PowerDVD at Intel Developer Forums in the US and Asia. With support for Intel Clear Video Technology, this new version of PowerDVD offers features like true HD video playback and ddvanced digital display support.
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, will share the stage with Intel at developer forums in the United States, Taiwan, and South Korea, showcasing the developmental experience of optimizing PowerDVD for Intel motherboards and personal computers.

Supporting the latest generation of digital video content, discs formats, and technology, CyberLink delivers high-performance high-definition video playback on the PC. To achieve this, CyberLink has optimized PowerDVD 7 for Intel Clear Video Technology, enabling a wide range of features including MPEG-2 hardware acceleration decoding, advanced de-interlacing, and ProcAMP-enabled support on Intel G965 Express Chipset motherboards and personal computers.
If you'd like to read more, CyberLink's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Memorex has announced that they've expanded their line of inkjet printable media, adding quick-drying, water-resistent DVD-R and CD-R discs.
Memorex, the leading brand of optical media at U.S. retail and a portfolio brand of Imation Corp (NYSE: IMN), delivers a superior choice for the design and labeling of keepsake-quality CDs and DVDs. Memorex Inkjet Printable media with AquaGuard technology offers a brilliant white smear- and water-resistant disc surface, ideal for creating personalized video, photo, music and data discs with full-color labels of your own design.

Featuring proprietary nanoparticle technology to grip and hold the ink in place, Memorex Inkjet Printable CDs and DVDs with AquaGuard surface resist smearing and color bleed of printed images, unlike standard inkjet media. Additionally, the bright white surface of each disc provides superior color reproduction and sharper images for eye-catching designs. Consumers can print directly onto the quick-drying surface of the media using inkjet printers that have a disc-printing feature. The discs are uniformly covered with the brilliant white AquaGuard surface from edge to hub, providing maximum real estate for a nearly continuous label.
Memorex Inkjet Printable Media with AquaGuard will be available next month. More information, including pricing, can be found here. Add a comment
Just a reminder that NTI will be releasing their new Ninja software at midnight tonight (Pacific time). To kick off the launch, NTI is offering free downloads for one day only.

Starting at midnight tonight, NewTech Infosystems (NTI) will be making their new Ninja software - a USB data storage and protection software solution - available free on their web site, www.ntius.com. Unlike most fixed partition USB software, NTI Ninja allows users to adjust the size of their public and private partitions on their portable storage device. In addition, the software provides users with complete storage area anti-tamper encryption and password protection.

The new software was developed to meet the dramatic increase in today's mobile workforce, the increased use of USB storage devices and the need to protect content and data from being stolen or compromised on the small, portable devices.
If you miss out on your free download, the software can otherwise be purchased for $24.95. More information on the launch of NTI Ninja can be found here. Add a comment