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Microsoft plans to launch external HD-DVD drives for Xbox 360 consoles in North America, around the end of this year, but the drive will be not be made available in Asia, according to Microsoft Taiwan.If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
This is because the external HD-DVD drive is designed to play back movies pre-recorded on HD-DVD blue-laser discs, and the supply of HD-DVD movies in Asia is not sufficient to support the sale of such hardware, for the time being at least, Microsoft Taiwan pointed out.
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Microsoft Taiwan, in response to questions raised by Taiwan-based developers of on-line, PC and console games, has confirmed that the HD-DVD drive to be used with its Xbox 360 game console is to merely play back HD-DVD movies and not to support games on HD-DVD, according to industry sources.The article also mentions that Microsoft is concerned that by putting games on HD DVD it may increase costs and decrease the stability of the software. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Taiwan-based game developers think blue-laser support for games is key for the Xbox 360 to be competitive with the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) which will have a built-in Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive, the sources pointed out. These developers are disappointed that the external drive will not support games and feel unwelcomed by the HD-DVD interest group, the sources indicated.
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Lite-On IT is ready for the High Definition era and will show their next generation products for the first time in Europe at IFA 2006. Lite-On will show a Blu-ray Disc (BD) playback device as well as a Blu-ray Disc compatible optical drive at IFA 2006 in Berlin, from 1-6 September. The company can be found in Hall 26, at booth 103, just like last year.More information can be found on Lite-On Europe's website. Add a comment
On this year's IFA there will be an important role for High Definition and its related products, like the successors of DVD. Lite-On IT will show their first BD-player, a product for the home entertainment market that will be launched in Europe in 2007. Also, the company will show their next generation HDD / DVD-recorders, with HDMI-output.
Of course Lite-On will also present their latest Optical Disk Drives (ODD) at IFA. Also in this market Lite-On is ready for the next generation of optical storage formats. The first Lite-On Blu-ray writer, LH-2B1S, is ready to hit the market and will be shown on IFA for the first time. Other technologies in ODD that will be presented at the Lite-On stand are LightScribe for direct disc labeling and EZ-DUB for easy copying.
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Blu-ray Disc players and movies expected on sale later this year in Japan and the US will share the same region code, Sony said Thursday.If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Current DVD discs and players on sale in the two countries use different region codes so that software bought in one country will not work on players purchased in the other country. The system was designed to allow content producers to better manage release and sale of content around the world.
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Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, and Akimbo Systems, creator of the first Internet video-on-demand service for television, announced today a marketing and licensing partnership that will significantly expand the audience reach of the Akimbo Service. Akimbo will be integrated with Roxio Venue, Sonic's powerful media application, providing service access for the first time to a broad base of PC users and letting them easily browse, purchase, manage and enjoy Akimbo's growing selection of over 14,000 high-quality programs. In the future, Akimbo plans to also incorporate Sonic AuthorScript DVD-on-Demand technology so participating content partners can enable consumers to record downloaded entertainment to DVD.Under the agreement with Sonic, Akimbo will distribute Roxio Venue directly to consumers and through their service provider partners. Sonic will include Akimbo as a premier service provider in the retail version of Roxio Venue. More information can be found here. Add a comment
