Disc Makers has announced a new CD/DVD duplicator called the Pico. What makes the Pico special is that it can also be used to rip up to 25 CD's at a time.
With the new enhanced Riptastic software loaded into the Pico, users simply stack up to 25 of their favorite CDs, click to start the process, and the system will automatically covert CDs to MP3 files or any other file type of your choice. The user-friendly software even looks up artist, album, and track titles automatically.

The Pico doubles as the world's smallest automated DVD/CD duplicator and allows any small business owner, musician, filmmaker, teacher, or salesperson to duplicate (burn) up to 25 copies at a time for projects or presentations.
The Pico is available now for $699. If you'd like to rip your audio CD's using the duplicator, the Riptastic software is an additional $99. More information can be found here. Add a comment
The RAM Promotion Group sent out a press release yesterday announcing that the DVD-RAM format made a strong showing at this year's International CES.
The RAM Promotion Group (RAMPRG), an industry organization formed to promote the awareness and adoption of the DVD-RAM format, today announced that DVD-RAM made a strong push into 2006, as evidenced by over 50 DVD-RAM compatible products debuted at this year's International CES. RAMPRG member companies including Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc., Hitachi Maxell, Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., TEAC Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC), all announced or exhibited innovative product lines featuring DVD-RAM compatible recorders, camcorders, players, PC drives and media.
If you'd like to read more, the RAMPRG's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Wow, those guys at heise online sure are lucky. First Samsung's Blu-ray writer and now NEC's new HD DVD-ROM drive, the HR-1100A. Translated from German:
While Samsung in its BD drive assembly blocks two lenses (one for CDs and DVDs, one for the BD), NEC uses a particular in the HR-1100A only for all three formats. It is however substantially heavier obviously with so a combination lens to select the old CDs and DVDs. The test sample, which corresponds to the level of development of the past summer according to NEC, was noticeable by very high access times, which varied between 142 ms with the CD-R, 370 ms with the HD DVD and 1057 ms with a DVD-9. NEC promises that this with the final version smaller are to fail.

HD DVDs reads the drive assembly with double speed and comes thereby on an average transfer rate of 8,7 MByte/s. With a DVD-9 it reaches 6.2 MByte/s, with an DVD-R 7.4 MByte/s and with an CD-R 3.7 MByte/s - not towering above, but acceptable.
NEC obviously has some work to do before the HR-1100A is released later this year. If you'd like to read more, head on over to heise online. Add a comment
Before I forget, our friends over at CD Freaks have taken a look at Philips' latest DVD±RW, the DVDR1648. Here's a sample of what they had to say about it:
The two new features - SolidBurn and Overspeed introduced with this drive seems to be an excellent combination. If a DVD±R is good enough for 16x, it will write them at 16x. If not it will adjust and lower the writing speed, until a new suitable speed have been found and learned.
The DVDR1648 impressed CD Freaks enough to earn their "Safe Buy" award. If you'd like to read more, their entire review can be found here. Add a comment
CDRLabs finishes up the week with an in depth look at ASUS's new 16x DVD±RW, the DRW-1608P2. Based on the Pioneer DVR-110D, DW-1608P2 is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. More importantly, it's one of the first drives with the ability to write to both DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x. The DRW-1608P2 also includes features like 40x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds, and support for technologies like FlextraLink and FlextraSpeed.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the DRW-1608P2 and see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does ASUS's new drive have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.


ASUS DRW-1608P2 16x DVD±RW
As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the ASUS DRW-1608P2, please post them in the forum by clicking the link below.
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Philips has announced that they have been showcasing their Blu-ray Disc products at the Sundance Film Festival. By doing so, they hope that filmmakers, actors and other members of the entertainment industry will see the benefits of this new technology.
At the nation's premiere film festival this week, film industry executives and dozens of celebrities received a glimpse at the future of storage and playback technology for high-definition (HD) video content through demonstrations of Blu-ray Disc media in Philips' Simplicity Lounge. Its third year at the festival, Philips created the Simplicity Lounge in order to showcase current and future technology to industry VIPs and media, with an emphasis on products that enhance the viewing experience of TV and movie content for consumers.
If you'd like to read more, Philips' entire press release can be found here, Add a comment
Ritek has posted a warning on their website, letting consumers know that counterfeit DVD media has shown up on the Japanese market.
Recently there are piracy products in Japan market and below picture is to help you verify the product you bought. Please contact authorized distributor for the Ritek trade mark and standard packaging and make sure product is distributed by RITEK Japan Branch-Ritek Japan Incorporation.

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The German website heise online has gotten their hands on Samsung's upcoming Blu-ray writer, the SH-B022. According to the article, they were able to burn an entire 25GB BD-R disc in 43:40 minutes. Translated from German:
The combustion with 2X (corresponds to a transfer rate of 8990 KByte/s) lasted 43:40 minutes. The drive assembly described but announced a once recordable blank (Bd-r) from the fundus of the editorship meanwhile not, that the mark was not supported by the write strategies in the firmware.

Our bench mark program h2benchw could address the drive assembly without problems and determined quite good transfer rates. A Bd-RH is picked out with on the average 8.6 MByte/s, a Dvd-9 with 6,0 MByte/s, an Dvd r with 11,6 MByte/s and an CD-r with 4,4 MByte/s. The middle access times moved between 259 ms with the Bd-RH and 114 ms with an CD-r. The error correction during the reading worked with a badly burned test DVD r very well and with one scratches test CD Rome well. Badly pressed Dvd Rome did not recognize the Sh-b022 however. With a scratched audio CD we heard starting from 1.2 mm scratch width of interferences, copy-protected music CDs however with an exception everything were already played.
The drive Heise used was a preproduction sample and was lacking support for things like CD/DVD writing and AACS. Expect to see the drive on the US market in April for about $500. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Pioneer Japan has released yet another set of firmware updates for their latest series of 16x DVD±RW drives, the DVR-110, DVR-110D and DVR-A10XL. Here is the change log for firmware v1.39:
Support New 8x DVD-R Media
( 8x writing:KINGDISC, INFOMEDIA, POSTECH, RITEK, MUST, INTERAXIA, UMEDISC, VANGUARD, TCL, MEGANMEDIA, GIGASTRAGE, INFOSOURCE, INFOSMART, DST )
Support New 16x DVD-R Media
( 12x writing:FUJIFILM, BEALL, LEADDATA, OPTDISC, MBI, AMC, PRODISC, INTERAXIA, GIGASTRAGE, MJC, FTI, PRINCO, KINGDISC, RITEK, CMC, DAXON )
Support New 4x DVD-R DL Media
( 4x writing:CMC )
Support New 6x DVD-RW Media
( 6x writing:TDK )
Support New 8x +R Media
( 8x writing:PHILIPS, INFODISC, UMEDISC, WEALTH FAIR, MAM-E, INTERAXIA, AMC )
Support New 16x +R Media
( 12x writing:MUST TECH, OPTDISC, DAXON, LEADDATA, LGE, GIGASTRAGE, FTI, RITEK )
( 8x writing:E-TOP )
Support New 8x +R DL Media
( 8x writing:Verbatim )
Support New 8x +RW Media
( 8x writing:Verbatim )
( 6x writing:SONY )
DVD-R/+R Writability has improved.
DVD-R/+R DL Writability has improved.
DVD-RW/+RW Writability has improved.
DVD-RAM Writability has improved.
DVD-RAM Readability has improved.
¥Problems which unable to set up some of the CD-Extra media are solved.
¥Format error problem on +RW media combined with specific applications under the conditions Matsushita DVD-RAM driver installed in Windows ME or Windows 2000 are solved.

DVR-A10XL v1.39 - Download

DVR-110 v1.39 - Download

DVR-110D v1.39 - Download
Pioneer has also updated their list of supported media to reflect the changes in the new 1.39 firmware. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them in our forum. Add a comment
The Japanese company Buffalo has announced a new series of drives based on Pioneer's upcoming 16x DVD±RW, the DVR-111D. Here are some of the specs for Buffalo's new DVM-RXG16 series:


DVD Writing Speeds:
DVD+R: 16x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD+R DL: 8x
DVD-R: 16x
DVD-RW: 6x
DVD-R DL: 8x
CD-R: 40x
CD-RW: 32x

Read Speeds:
DVD-ROM (Single Layer): 16x Max
DVD-ROM (Dual Layer): 12x Max
DVD±R: 12x Max
DVD±RW: 8x Max
DVD±R DL: 8x Max
DVD-Video: 5x Max
DVD-RAM: 5X Max
CD-ROM: 40x Max

While the case, or chassis, has gone through some changes, the specs are very similar to the DVR-110D. We have not heard when Pioneer plans to ship the DVR-111D. However, Buffalo's new drives should hit store shelves by the middle of February. More information can be found here. Add a comment