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Optical Storage

10 July 2006

DigiTimes has reported that Lite-On and BenQ are concerned that a tight supply of laser diodes may delay the release of their Blu-ray Disc burners.

Optical disc drive (ODD) makers such as Lite-On IT and BenQ recently expressed concerns that a tight supply of key component laser diodes may affect the release of Blu-ray Disc burners, according to the Chinese-language Commercial Times.

The yields for Blu-ray laser diodes are still low due to a high technical barrier, with only Sony and Nichia being the only suppliers, stated the paper. In addition, Sony is setting aside a major proportion of its laser diode capacity for its upcoming PS3, which may also affect the availability of its Blu-ray laser diodes, the paper said. Sony is currently the major supplier of laser diodes for Royal Philips Electronics, BenQ and Lite-on IT, the paper indicated.

If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

07 July 2006

The German magazine c't has found a gaping hole in the copyright protection used by Blu-ray and HD DVD movies. When testing the Sony Vaio VGC-RC 204 and Toshiba Qosmio G30 they discovered that they were able to copy each frame of a movie by simply pressing the Print Screen button.

Blu-ray and HD DVD are supposed to be highly secure. There is AACS and HDCP, which when enforced make it impossible to copy movie data from a disc.

The premier German computer magazine found now out that you can make copy each frame of a movie by just pushing print screen on a computer. They tested this with the Blu-ray Sony Vaio VGC-RC 204 and the HD DVD Toshiba Qosmio G30 notebook.

Toshiba has reportedly acknowledged the copy protection hole and has stated that future versions of the player software will not have this issue. If you'd like to read more, head on over to I4U News. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

07 July 2006

Here's an interesting bit of news. According to the Japanese newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Ricoh has developed a device that can read both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

Ricoh Co has developed a device that can read both the Blu-ray and HD DVD next-generation DVD formats, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

The newspaper, without identifying any sources, said Ricoh was aiming to commercialize this technology as soon as the end of next year.

Blu-ray uses a wider blue laser beam than HD DVD and records data at a distance of 0.1 mm from the surface, while HD DVD records at a distance of 0.6 mm.

If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

06 July 2006

Here's an interesting bit of news. According to DigiTimes, Foxconn has landed OEM orders from Matsushita (Panasonic) for half-height(H/H) DVD burners. Volume shipments are expected to begin later this quarter.

The sources said the orders that Foxconn landed are mainly for H/H DVD burners and this is the first time that Foxconn has landed such orders from Matsushita. As Matsushita mainly focuses on slim-type ODDs, the company has sunk to number six in the global H/H DVD burner market, trailing Hitachi LG Data Storage (HLDS), Pioneer, NEC, Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology (TSST) and Lite-On IT, the sources commented.

It will be interesting to see if they use Matsushita's own designs or the ones Foxconn was using for BTC's drives. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment