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Due to ship to OEMs in December, Maxell's holographic storage technology is in beta tests with several broadcasters. With its first generation cartridges holding 300 GB of data, Maxell -- in conjunction with InPhase Technologies -- is developing 2nd and 3rd generation cartridges to hold 800 GB and 1.6 TB of data respectively...If you'd like to read more, Maxell's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
...Maxell will also display its Blu-ray and HD DVD technology formats, both of which are designed to meet currently expanding digital video requirements for recording and viewing large amounts of data including high definition movies. Maxell's continual advanced developments with this technology will provide for high transfer rates and better rewritability, which will be needed for the video and storage requirements of the future.
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In the "Micro-Reflector recording" demonstrated by Sony, a laser light emitted from a blue violet semiconductor laser diode is split into two so that one of them irradiates the front side of a medium as a reference light while the other is emitted to the backside as a recording light. By precisely aligning focal points of the two lights with a servo technology, a minute interference fringe corresponding to a 1 bit recording mark is formed. When a laser light (reproduction light) is emitted on the front side of the medium having interference fringes, the recording light is reproduced. This light advances from the fringes to the medium front side as if the fringes reflect the reproduction light. This is why the system is called "Micro-Reflector recording".While this new recording system sounds promising, Sony still has a lot of work ahead of them. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The medium comprises a 0.3 mm thick photopolymer sandwiched by 0.6 mm glass substrates. Since the depth of the interference fringes can be controlled by changing the depth of the focal points of the laser lights, multi-layer recording with 10-20 layers can be provided. The recorded interference fringes are small enough to prevent the photopolymer from expanding/contracting due to temperature change. This eliminates the need of adjusting the wavelength of the laser in accordance with the temperature. Therefore, a commercial blue violet semiconductor laser diode is expected to be used as is. Moreover, the setup can easily achieve a reduction in component cost because it requires no spatial light modulators, CMOS sensors or other parts.
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Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. has developed a 4-layer Blu-ray Disc (BD) medium using Te-O-Pd film for inorganic recording layers. Total capacity reaches 100 GB with each layer having 25 GB storage capacity. This is the company's first report of four-layer BD discs. By revising a Te-O-Pd composite proportion, the company reportedly achieved durability that allows data playback after 100 years.I wouldn't get too excited yet. TDK developed their 100GB disc back in 2005 and the technology still has not made it past the prototype stage. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
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Lite-On IT has landed an OEM order from Hewlett-Packard (HP) to produced its HD100 external HD DVD-ROM drive with shipments to begin soon, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN). Lite-On IT confirmed the report on October 18 but declined to release any further information.I can't say I'm too surprised by this. As one of the world's leading manufacturers of optical drives, Lite-On is best suited for this sort of thing. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
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Innovative LightScribe technology enables consumers and businesses to burn silk screen-quality labels on to LightScribe-enabled CDs or DVDs right in the driveno printing supplies are required. LaCie¹s LightScribe Labeler for Linux offers direct-to-disc label burning for projects burned with K3b. New Mac software is Universal and supports simultaneous printing to multiple drives. Free software downloads for Mac and Linux are available at www.lacie.com/lightscribe for anyone with a LightScribe-enabled drive.This is great news for anyone that owns a LightScribe enabled drive, especially considering LaCie is making the software available for free. If you'd like to check it out, LightScribe Labeler for Linux and the Mac can be downloaded here. Otherwise more information is available on LaCie's website. Add a comment
LaCie Product Manager Anne Bordet said, "We're the first company to offer an all-in-one data writing and LightScribe labeling solution for all operating systems. LaCie was first to ship a LightScribe-enabled CD/DVD drive for the Mac, and now our user-friendly LightScribe labeling software is available for free to Mac and Linux users with LightScribe-enabled drives. With LaCie¹s complete burning solution, people can easily and simply create professional looking CDs and DVDs on Mac, Linux or Windows."
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Blu-ray Disc burners have been shipping for months now--why is HD DVD taking so long to catch up? Chalk it up to a philosophical difference, not a technological one, says Brzeski. Toshiba, he says, views HD DVD more as a technology for delivering prepackaged (Hollywood) high-definition video, not for creating your own disc-based content. "I honestly don't believe in these early days that many people will be using HD DVDs and Blu-rays to back up content. If you look at the cost per GB to back up to disc, it's not cost-effective."These specs aren't exactly impressive. Hopefully, second generation HD DVD burners will be faster and include support for rewritable HD media. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The HD DVD specs of the first drive will be limited to recordable, write-once HD DVD-R media at 1X, to both single-layer 15GB and dual layer 30GB discs; the drive won't support any of the HD DVD flavors of rewritable discs. However, the drive will support writing to standard DVD: 4X DVD±R (2X for double- and dual-layer), 4X DVD±RW, 3X DVD-RAM, and 16X CD-R.
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The PlexEraser PX-OE100E is expected to ship in November for a suggested retail price of $249.99. More information can be found here. Add a comment
Plextor LLC, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced PlexEraser (PX-OE100E), the world's first CD/DVD drive to enable security-conscious organizations to destroy discs using a method that is both environmentally friendly and secure.
PlexEraser is a standalone unit that does not require a personal computer to operate. This high-tech alternative to the disc shredder was designed for organizations in such industries as finance, government/military, and research - as well as any company with commercially sensitive data. PlexEraser enables discs to be destroyed without the organic dye leaking from the disc - something not possible with a disc shredder/manual shattering - and leaves them ready to be recycled without any data being recoverable.
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Royal Philips Electronics has scored no additional points in promoting Veeza, a new licensing system for its CD-R disc patents, in Taiwan since Ritek was the first among Taiwan-based makers of CD-R discs to join the program late last month, according to industry sources.The article also mentions that Philips is barring imports of non-Veeza CD-R discs in some of the world's major markets. While they see this as a way to eliminate the competition from manufacturers in China and Hong Kong, it also forces the remaining Taiwanese manufacturers to get on board. If you want to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
The Taiwan Office of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards (PIPS) is negotiating with several companies, including CMC Magnetics, Prodisc Technology and Optodisc Technology, to accept Veeza, the sources indicated. These Taiwanese makers are willing to sign up for Veeza, but are asking for favorable conditions, the sources pointed out.
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Some things I found out, and can talk about is the 360 HD-DVD drive can be plugged into a PC and it will be recognized as an optical drive, but will not play HD-DVD movies. I asked what if you have the proper HD-DVD software on the PC, to that [redacted] said that he didn't know, it hadn't been tried yet- maybe there's something there...I'm guessing the inability to play HD-DVD movies is due to the lack of software. If it is possible, I know I'll be first in line to pick up one of those drives. With a price tag of only $199, they're a cheap way to add HD-DVD playback to an HTPC. If you'd like to read more, the entire report can be found here. Add a comment
