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Ritek, one of the top two makers of optical discs in Taiwan, on January 24 announced it obtained certification for 8x DVD+R DL (single-sided double-layer) discs from Royal Philips Electronics last week, becoming the only the third company to receive such certification.I could have sworn that Ritek got their 8x DVD+R DL discs certified back in October but I guess that wasn't the case. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical) and Ricoh in Japan are the only other two companies to have received the certification.
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InterVideo(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:IVII), an industry leader in DVD, MPEG and high-definition (HD) multimedia software technology, announced today that its H.264 Codec now supports the new NVIDIA PureVideo(TM) H.264 decode acceleration available on GeForce(TM) 6 and 7 Series graphics processors from NVIDIA(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).NVIDIA's PureVideo enabled drivers will be available in Q1'06. More information on PureVideo and InterVideo's H.264 codec can be found here. Add a comment
H.264 is the digital video codec specified for the Blu-ray (BD) and High-definition DVD (HD DVD) formats. The H.264 specification, which is also known as the Advanced Video Codec (AVC) specification or MPEG 4-Part 10, delivers two to three times the compression efficiency of solutions such as the MPEG-2 standard, which is used in DVD video. H.264 also delivers high-definition video with six times the resolution of standard definition DVDs.
InterVideo's H.264 codec technology leverages highly advanced algorithms to deliver superior quality and performance on today's personal computers. One of the key new features is the ability to divide the decoding tasks among several hardware cores and hardware threads on both the CPU and the GPU. Using traditional single thread decoding techniques, H.264 with high definition would not be feasible on today's personal computers because much of the overall processing power is unused. InterVideo's H.264 codec partitions the decoding tasks through algorithm and data decomposition into multiple threads to use all the processing power of the dual core and hyper threading technologies from Intel(R) and AMD(R) CPUs, as well as the GPU acceleration from NVIDIA graphics hardware.
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Postech, a second-tier producer of optical discs in Taiwan, has decided to stop production of DVD+R/-R discs in the first half of this year and shift to other products, according to industry sources. Postech declined to comment on the report.I don't think many will be saddened by this as Postech had a very small market share, especially here in North America. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Postech made the decision because its 8x DVD+R/-R discs are not competitive and the company has had difficulties upgrading to production of 16x DVD+R/-R or 8x DVD+R/-R DL (single-sided double-layer) discs, the sources pointed out.
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In a deal reached this week after tense negotiations, the eight-company consortium behind the Advanced Access Content System, created for use by both high-def formats to prevent unauthorized copying, has agreed to require hardware makers to bar some high-def signals from being sent from players to displays over analog connections, sources said.It's hard to say at this point just how many people will be affected, but I think it's fair to say that many current HDTV owners will not be happy with this news. For more information, the whole article can be found here. Add a comment
Instead, the affected analog signal must be "down-converted" from the full 1920x1080 lines of resolution the players are capable of outputting to 960x540 lines—a resolution closer to standard DVDs than to high-def. Standard DVDs are typically encoded at 720 horizontal by 480 vertical lines of resolution.
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Imation Corp (NYSE: IMN - News) and Memorex International, Inc, today jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Imation will acquire Memorex International in an all cash transaction for $330 million. Additional cash consideration ranging between $5 million and $45 million would be paid out over a period of up to three years after close, contingent on financial performance of the purchased business. The Boards of both companies have approved the transaction...At this point, I really don't know how this will affect Memorex's product line. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, Imation's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
..."This acquisition is a major strategic milestone for Imation, as we implement our profitable growth strategy. It is also a win-win for both companies' customers and shareholders," said Bruce Henderson, Imation Chairman and CEO. "We are gaining a powerful consumer brand and global market share leader in recordable CDs and DVDs as well as an experienced management team under the leadership of Mike Golacinski. Added to our technology expertise, strong B2B brand, global footprint, broad product portfolio and industry experience, we are creating a new global powerhouse in the data storage industry."
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TSST Korea (Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation) announced today that it has completed the technical development of its Blu Ray Disc Drives. These revolutionary products for the Optical Disc Drive market offer a massive storage capacity up to 25GB at a single layer disc.According to Samsung's press release, the company plans to simultaneously launch both internal and external Blu Ray drives later this year. More information can be found here. Add a comment
"As a global technology leader, Samsung is always on the forefront of cutting-edge technologies, working to provide consumers with best-of-breed products," said Albert Kim, national sales manger, Storage Systems for Samsung SSI. "Samsung's announcement of the completion of its Blu Ray disc drive is a major step ahead in the ODD technology battleground."
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Veeza makes it simple for everyone involved in the trade of CD-R discs to recognize unlicensed goods. With traditional patent licensing methods traders and retail companies tend to have difficulty in verifying that the goods they have purchased, are licensed and royalties have been paid. Veeza will make it easier to sell licensed CD-R discs and more difficult to sell unlicensed discs. Discs distributed under a Veeza-license can easily be traced and recognized by three clear marks: a logo that is embedded in the disc, a serial number on each package carton and an authenticity document, called Licensed Status Confirmation Document (LSCD). These three marks provide simple proof that a shipment with CD-R discs is licensed under Philips' patents.To help promote their Veeza system, Philips will be reducing the royalty costs for Veeza-compliant companies by 44%. If you'd like to read more, additional information on Veeza can be found here. Add a comment
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Jon "DVD Jon" Johansen, who popularized the means to crack the CSS system protecting DVDs, has committed to launching a tool to crack the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) used in next-generation DVDs.I can't imagine the movie industry is going to be happy with "DVD Jon" if he succeeds. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
In a blog posting earlier this month, Johansen announced that he had registered the Deaacs.com site, which cites a "winter 2006/2007" release date for the software.
"AACS, like CSS, will be a success," Johansen wrote. "Not at preventing piracy. That's not the primary objective of any DRM system. Anyone who has read the CSS license agreement knows that the primary objective is to control the market for players. Don't you just love when your DVD player tells you 'This operation is prohibited' when you try to skip the intro?"
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Lite-On IT is cooperating with Japanese clients to develop DVD camcorders using 8cm DVD+R/-R discs and expects to begin OEM production in small volumes next quarter and shipments in large volume in the second half of this year, according to the company.It will be interesting to see if Lite-On sells these camcorders under their own brand. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Hard disk drives (HDDs) or small memory cards such as SD and MS entail trans-recording, whereas 8cm DVD+R/-R discs do not, Lite-On IT pointed out. Many Japanese brands will also offer DVD camcorder models following Hitachi, Sony, JVC, Panasonic, and Canon, Lite-On IT indicated.
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Last week we reported that Microsoft would leave open the possibility that its next-gen console could one day support Blu-ray if that format ended up winning the war against HD DVD. This was based upon comments made by Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment Business Peter Moore to Japanese website ITmedia during CES.Microsoft would be smart to release both HD DVD and Blu-ray drives and let consumers decide which is best. Then again, that's not really the Microsoft way. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
However, Moore's comments, which made the rounds not long after MS announced plans for an external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, were taken out of context, the company insists. To clear up any confusion, MS has issued a statement to the effect that they are 100 percent behind Toshiba's HD DVD format.
