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Optical Storage

06 September 2007

ASUS has officially announced their new Blu-ray Disc drive, the BC-1205PT. With its support for Blu-ray, the BC-1205PT can be used to play back high-def movies as well as read and write to most existing CD and DVD formats.

To cater to users who require high-performance optical drives that can enable high resolution movie playback and high capacity data backup, ASUS has released the next generation high-speed DVD rewriter - the ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray Drive. The BC-1205PT is a BD-ROM/DVD±R/RW/CD-RW drive that is capable of reading data from and writing data at 12X DVD+/- write, 4X DVD+/-R (DL) and 5X DVD-RAM speeds. This innovative drive utilizes a with a SATA interface that provides users with five times faster data transfer rates when compared with current DMA33 standards.

No word yet on when the BC-1205PT will hit the US or how much it will be. As we find out more, we'll let you know. More information, including a full list of specs, is available on ASUS's website. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

05 September 2007

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling announced today that they have made some enhancements to their system software to improve the image quality of CD and DVD labels. Available through a free upgrade, these enhancements do not impact LightScribe labeling time and work with all LightScribe media.

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling today announced enhancements that reduce graininess and improve fine detail reproduction for LightScribe's DVD / CD labeling. The stunning results are instantly visible on photos, graphics and text on LightScribe CDs and DVDs. The enhanced image quality is available immediately through a free upgrade of the LightScribe system software and requires no additional changes to customers' systems or new hardware and media. LightScribe customers will experience the image quality improvement when they update to the latest version of the LightScribe system software, available for download on www.lightscribe.com.

The LightScribe system software will also be preloaded on LightScribe-enabled personal computers and included with DVD writers. The new enhancements do not impact LightScribe labeling time and work with all LightScribe media -- CDs, DVDs, and color background CDs.

If you'd like to try out these enhancements, you can download the latest system software from LightScribe's website. More information can also be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

04 September 2007

Since it was introduced, Philips' Veeza licensing scheme hasn't been well received by Taiwan's CD-R media manufacturers. Philips has had a hard time enforcing it in India and China, which has made it hard for manufacturers in Taiwan to compete. In response, CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc and Daxon have filed a lawsuit against Philips, claiming that Veeza's licensing is unreasonable.

CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc Technology and Daxon Technology, four major Taiwan-based producers of blank CD-R discs, are poised to jointly file legal proceedings in Taiwan to accuse Royal Philips Electronics of imposing its unreasonable and discriminating Veeza licensing program upon them, according to a press release issued on September 3 by the Taiwan Information Storage Association (TISA) on behalf of the four companies.

The four companies' key argument in the lawsuit is that Veeza's high royalty charge rates have severely limited the companies' ability to operate in the market for blank CD-R discs and that the licensing system discriminates against them because Philips has been unable to subject India-based maker Moser Baer India (MBI) and fellow makers in China to Veeza, TISA secretary general Tzuang-ren Jeng pointed out.

According to DigiTimes, the four companies are asking Philips to return paid royalty fees in excess of reasonable amounts and compensate them for lost business due to the discrimination of Veeza licensing. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

04 September 2007

Verbatim's parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical, has announced a new mastering disc called the "Green Tune" DVD-R. To maximize sound reproduction quality, these 4.7GB discs utilize a gold reflective layer and AZO dye. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:

Mitsubishi chemical media corporation (head office: The tokyo Minato-ku, president: Otsuka heavily virtue), postscript type DVD for the mastering and Green Tune we sell DVD-R in the middle of October. As for Green Tune DVD-R, for the music production of the professional, it is the disk which reproduces the highest sound quality...

...As for the largest point, in the reflected membrane the high sound quality it is to adopt the pure gold reflected membrane which actualizes high endurance. The transparent impression and the depth impression of sound were actualized not only, long-term conservation (long-lived) the improvement it could point the pure gold reflected membrane. In addition, the AZO pigment where the reliability which this corporation developed is high was adopted to the record aspect. Furthermore, also the high accuracy formation technical which is applied to the next generation disk of royal purple laser correspondence has contributed to disk quality improvement largely.

Mitsubishi has not announced a price. However, AV Watch expects the discs to cost about 1,000 Yen ($8.60US). If you'd like to read more, Mitsubishi's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

03 September 2007

Toshiba has reportedly placed an OEM order with Ritek for blank 2x HD DVD-R discs. According to DigiTimes, Toshiba plans to bundle five blank HD DVD-R discs with it HD DVD recorders sold during the holiday shopping season.

Ritek, the second largest Taiwan-based producer of blank optical discs, has obtained OEM orders for blank 2x HD DVD-R (recordable, write once) discs from Toshiba, with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2007, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper.

Ritek confirmed receiving orders for HD DVD-R discs but declined to disclose any information due to a non-disclosure agreement, the EDN pointed out.

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

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Optical Storage

31 August 2007

DigiTimes has reported that Qisda (formerly known as BenQ) plans to introduce two new Blu-ray drives later this year. The low cost BR1000 BD-ROM is capable of reading Blu-ray Discs at 4x and is backwards compatible with CD's and DVD's. For those that need to burn their own Blu-ray Discs, Qisda is offering the DW1001. This new drive features a SATA interface and is capable of 4x BD-R and 2x BD-RE writing speeds.

The BR1000 is intended to target users who just want to enjoy high-definition (HD) BD movie discs, the company pointed out. In terms of price, a BR1000 in combination with a DVD burner is significantly less expensive than a BD Combo drive such as the Pioneer BDC-S02 which sells at US$299. In addition, the after-sale maintenance costs for a BD Combo are higher, Qisda noted. Qisda will not consider offering BD Combo drive models, the company indicated.

BW1001 supports writing in the following formats and speeds: 4x BD-R (recordable, write once), 2x BD-RE (rewritable), 12x DVD+R/-R, 4x DVD+R/-R DL (single-sided double-layer), 8x DVD+RW/-RW, 32x CD-R and 24x CD-RW.

According to Qisda's press release, the BR1000 and BW1001 are priced at 1,699 Yuan ($225US) and 4,999 Yuan ($663US) respectively. More information can also be found at DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

30 August 2007

ASUS has officially announced their new 20x "Super Multi" drive, the DRW-2014L1T. Along with support for LightScribe and Serial ATA, the DRW-2014L1T features 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL and 14x DVD-RAM writing speeds.

ASUS, provider of high-performance optical drives, today introduced the DRW-2014 L1T internal DVD rewriter with LightScribe direct disc labeling technology. This innovative DVD RW drive provides a high speed of 20X DVD±R write, 8X DVD±R (DL) and 14X DVD-RAM reading capabilities. In addition, users can expect to enjoy five times faster data transfer rates than the current DMA33 standards with the SATA interface...

...Besides boasting an exceedingly fast speed of 20X for DVDs, the innovative LightScribe technology is also able to provide users with customized disc labeling. The LightScribe technology is comprised of three parts: the DRW-2014 L1T Drive, LightScribe-compatible colored discs and LightScribe enabled burning software. After the data has been burnt onto the disc, users only have to flip the disc over to write the graphic and text on the label side - providing professional-grade labels.

Like ASUS's other drives, the DRW-2014L1T also features their QuieTrack, FlextraLink and FlextraSpeed technologies. No word yet on when the drive will hit the US or how much it will be. As we find out more, we'll let you know. Until then, head on over to ASUS's website. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

30 August 2007

Earlier this year, we reported that Plextor's parent company, Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., was going through a reorganization. At the time, they planned to reduce Plextor's optical drive business to about 10% of what it was at its peak.

According to a post on Plextor Japan's website, the company has now transferred its entire drive manufacturing and sales business to Shinano Kenshi. While the Plextor brand will continue to be used, Shinano Kenshi will handle the development, design, manufacturing, sales and support of their drives.

This will probably have little, to no, effect on Plextor's American and European subsidiaries. If anything, we may see some new designs coming out of Shinano Kenshi instead of the rebadged drives Plextor is currently offering. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

28 August 2007

Since its launch, Pioneer's DVR-A12 series of drives has had its share of problems. There have been numorous reports in our forum and elsewhere about drives failing to recognize CD's. While Pioneer has been quietly replacing these drives, they haven't made an official statement until now.

According to a post on Pioneer Japan's website, drives manufactured before March 2007 are affected by the problem. Those that purchased their drives in Japan, can get theirs repaired by calling Pioneer's contact center.

Unfortunately, this problem also affects a number of Pioneer's OEM customers. Buffalo and Logitec have already provided information on how their customers can get their drives repaired.

Pioneer Electronics (USA) has yet to make a statement about this problem. However, from the reports I've read, their tech support is more than willing to replace a drive experiencing this problem. Add a comment