InterVideo sent out a press release today, announcing that their WinDVD HD software is being bundled with Toshiba's new HD DVD read laptop, the Qosmio G30.
InterVideo, Inc. (NASDAQ:IVII - News) announced today that InterVideo WinDVD HD(TM) is being bundled with Toshiba Corporation's new Dynabook Qosmio G30/697HS Series Notebook PCs -- the world's first notebook PC with an integrated HD DVD-ROM drive. The new Qosmio G30 will be available throughout Japan in mid-May.

Offering all of the benefits of the high-definition experience without the complexity, InterVideo's WinDVD HD can be used to navigate and play back the crystal-clear, interactive content on HD DVD discs. The universal player also supports all DVD/video/audio in any format, eliminating media compatibility issues. With WinDVD HD, the viewing experience is further enhanced with a mixture of unprecedented audio effects, including Dolby surround sound and DTS(TM)-HD audio support for the highest-quality audio performance available.
If you'd like to read more, InterVideo's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
The DVD+RW Alliance has announced that version 1.0 of the Double Layer DVD+RW specifications have been finalized and are ready to be distributed to licensees. Here's part of their press release:
The DVD+RW Alliance, a voluntary association of industry-leading personal computer, optical storage and consumer electronics manufacturers that support the Plus format for DVD recording, has announced the release of version 1.0 specifications for 2.4X rewriting on Double Layer DVD+RW media by HP, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media/Verbatim, Royal Philips Electronics, Ricoh, Sony Corporation, Thomson Inc. and Yamaha.

DVD+RW media and writers are designed to rewrite up to a full 8.5 GB DVD+RW. The new 2.4X DVD+RW Double Layer discs will be based on new phase-change materials, which enable writing on both the semi-transparent layer 0 and the more reflective layer 1.

Due to its special characteristics, the new DVD+RW Double Layer media will only be read and write compatible with new specially designed recorders and read out devices. The read out reflectivity on both layers of the new media is very low when compared with traditional single layer DVD+RW media. Red laser reflectivity is specified between 5 and 10 percent for the new media and 15 to 20 percent for traditional single layer media.
The DVD+RW Alliance has not announced when Double Layer DVD+RW media will be available, but now that the specifications have been completed, it will only be a matter of time. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Sony Japan unveiled its new mid-year PC line-up yesterday. While their Blu-ray Disc-based machines were absent from the list, the company revealed a few details about them.
The Vaio RC300-series machines will include reader/writer Blu-ray Disc drives that support single-layer 25GB discs or double-layer 50GB discs, according to information posted on the U.S. version of its Sony Style Internet shop.

They'll be high performance computers based around an Intel Pentium D dual-core processor and include RAID 0 Serial ATA hard-disk drives, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) memory and PCI Express x16 graphics. The computers will be based on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and include Sony's Giga Pocket TV recording software, according to the site.
No word on price or availability yet. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Roxio has announced the release of their new Mac DVD backup software, Popcorn 2. This new version features a number of improvements including the ability to convert videos for play back on the iPod, PSP and other portable video players.
Roxio, a division of Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today released Popcorn 2, which makes it easy for Mac users to transfer their favorite personal video entertainment to DVDs and portable devices such as an iPod, PSP or mobile phone. These innovations enhance the already highly regarded features for creating backup copies of non-copy protected personal DVDs. Popcorn 2, a Universal application, is available in retail stores across North America and direct at www.roxio.com for a suggested price of $49.99. Popcorn 2 is also being simultaneously released in Europe and Asia. Previous owners of Toast and Popcorn may be eligible for special upgrade pricing direct from Roxio.

"To keep pace with the growing demand for portable media devices, the new mobile capabilities of Popcorn 2 provide an excellent solution for those who want the flexibility to enjoy personal video wherever and whenever they choose," said Stan Wong, general manager, Roxio division, Sonic Solutions. "Now consumers can make the most of their players by easily creating mobile-friendly versions of their video."

Popcorn 2 enables users to create portable compatible versions of all popular formats including non-protected DVD-Video, QuickTime movies, MPEG files, iMovie projects and other popular video formats. Popcorn 2 includes predefined settings optimized for standard or high-quality video output, or users can define their own custom DivX, MPEG4, or H.264 levels for bit rate, frame rate, and image size.
Popcorn 2 is available now for a suggested retail price of $49.99. More information is available on Roxio's website. Add a comment
The MPAA has claimed another "victory" in the fight against piracy. Thanks to [H]ard|OCP, we've learned that the courts recently ordered Sunplus to comply to the security features of the CSS license.
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today announced that its member companies have successfully resolved yet another breach of contract lawsuit involving non-compliant DVD chips that enable piracy. This is the sixth such lawsuit that has concluded with a court-ordered injunction mandating a DVD chip manufacturer to adhere to the content security features of the CSS license. With the new injunction against Sunplus Technology Co., Inc., the world's second largest DVD chip manufacturer, all of the major DVD chip manufacturers are now bound by court order to honor the CSS license. The studios now plan to focus greater attention on other products, such as DVD players, that may also violate the license and expose copyrighted material to piracy. Investigations have been underway for months, and the studios are considering appropriate enforcement action.
With HD DVD and Blu-ray on the way, the movie industry is making it clear that they do not want companies producing products that can bypass the protection schemes they've put in place. If you'd like to read more, the MPAA's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Atmel has announced the availability of its new ATR0885 laser diode driver IC for use in HD-DVD and Blu-ray players. Here's part of their press release:
Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML - News), a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today the availability of its new ATR0885 laser diode driver IC for use in combined HD-DVD/Blu-ray, DVD, CD players and PC CD-ROM drives. HD-DVD and Blu-ray are new disc standards, which will offer significantly more storage capacity than today's DVD standards. Since the new ATR0885 is available in very small packages, it is particularly suitable for small SLIM drives used in notebook computers, as well as for half-height drives used in desktop PCs and consumer DVD players. The ATR0885 is the industry's first available product for such applications and enables outstanding cost-effectiveness, an important factor for high-volume consumer products.
Hopefully this will help lower the cost of HD DVD and Blu-ray players some. If you'd like to read more, Atmel's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
According to The Boston Globe, a company called Euclid Discoveries has invented a new video-compression technology that can shrink a full-length movie down so that it is only 50MB in size.
As a result, Euclid Discoveries says a full-length movie that requires 700 megabytes of storage when compressed using MPEG-4 would use just 50 megabytes when compressed with EuclidVision. At that size, 14 movies could fit on a standard CD-ROM disk. As for video downloading, it would take an hour for someone with a 1.5 megabit-per-second broadband connection to download a 700-megabyte file. But 50 megabytes would take less than five minutes.
If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
We've learned that Samsung has a new Super-WriteMaster drive on the way. Along with 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds, the SH-S182D can write to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 18x. At this speed, the drive is expected to take only 4 minutes and 48 seconds to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD±R disc.


Writing Speeds:

DVD+R: 18x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-RW: 6x
DVD±R DL: 8x
DVD-RAM: 12x
CD-R: 48x
CD-RW: 32x

Read Speeds:

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

We have not heard if or when the SH-S182D will be available in the US. As we learn more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, feel free to leave your comments in our forum. Add a comment
We've learned that Samsung has a new Super-WriteMaster drive on the way. Along with 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds, the SH-S182D can write to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 18x. At this speed, the drive is expected to take only 4 minutes and 48 seconds to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD±R disc.


Writing Speeds:

DVD+R: 18x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-RW: 6x
DVD±R DL: 8x
DVD-RAM: 12x
CD-R: 48x
CD-RW: 32x

Read Speeds:

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

We have not heard if or when the SH-S182D will be available in the US. As we learn more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, feel free to leave your comments in our forum. Add a comment
Toshiba Japan has announced the launch of their new HD DVD equipped notebook PC, the Qosmio G30/697HS. Designed for multimedia use, the Qosmio G30/697HS ships with a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 17-inch widescreen LCD and HD DVD-ROM drive.

Toshiba Corporation today continued its roll out of next generation HD DVD products with the announcement of the launch of the world's first notebook PC with an HD DVD-ROM drive. "Qosmio G30/697HS" will be available in the Japanese market in mid May, as the latest product in Qosmio line-up of AV notebook PC series. Along with playback of HD DVD content, the new Qosmio can read and write to current DVD and CD discs, including DVD+/-R DL (dual-layer) and DVD-RAM.*2

The groundbreaking Qosmio series has consistently redefined the capabilities and performance of AV notebook computers. "Qosmio G30/697HS" continues this tradition by being first in the world to integrate an HD DVD-ROM drive. The slim-type 12.7mm-thick drive achieves this thin form factor with an optical system requiring only a single objective lens to read HD DVD discs and to read and write to DVDs and CDs. The PC's combination of a high-performance dual-core CPU, the "Intel CoreTM Duo Processor T2500 (operating frequency 2.00GHz)," and high-performance graphics accelerator, the "NVIDIA GeForceTM Go 7600," with advanced PC software technology delivers stunning image quality in playback of HD DVD content.
No word on price yet. However, Toshiba expects to ship the Qosmio G30/697HS by the middle of May. More information can be found here. Add a comment