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Lite-On IT, Taiwan's No.1 manufacturer of optical disk drives (ODD), today announced the company would support the HD DVD format, the next-generation DVD standard for the high-definition era, and that it has started development of a half-height HD DVD drive, aiming for commercialization in March 2007. The participation of Lite-On IT, in the fast growing ranks of HD DVD supporters adds to the momentum propelling the market growth and success of HD DVD by expanding the number of ODD suppliers working to sustain the HD DVD industry. HD DVD products are expected to see a rapid boost in demand during the Christmas and year-end shopping season, and Toshiba Corporation of Japan has already launched an Notebook PC with HD DVD-ROM in selected markets, HD DVD players in the U.S. and Japanese markets, and a hard disk recorder with HD DVD for the Japanese market.Keep in mind Lite-On is supporting Blu-ray as well with their own line of BD players and PC based drives. If you'd like to read more, Lite-On's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Lite-On IT has undertaken an extensive evaluation of HD DVD technologies, and concluded that HD DVD will be a major driving force in connection with the coming generation of ODD with blue laser pick-up heads, because of its cost advantage and its proven technical reliability, including superior backward compatibility with DVD. By joining the HD DVD market ahead of many other suppliers of ODD drives, Lite-On IT intends to take full advantage of the excellent market opportunities provided by HD DVD and contribute to the sound growth of the next generation DVD industry.
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We have not heard when these drives will ship or if they will be available in the US. Considering BenQ has already pulled out of the European market, I wouldn't hold my breath. If you'd like to talk about BenQ's new drives, feel free to join the discussion in our forum.
Update: For some reason BenQ has removed both drives from their website. Add a comment
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Contrary to CNET's claims, the BWU-100A will be able to play back commercial Blu-ray movies. Of course, you'll still need HDCP compliant hardware if you plan to view your movies at higher resolutions. If you'd like to read more, Sony's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Sony Europe's IT Peripherals division today announced the launch of its first Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive retail kit for PCs. The Sony BWU-100A drive reads and records single and dual layer Blu-ray Disc Recordable (BD-R) and Rewritable (BD-RE) media, providing up to 50GB capacity per disc for recording personal High Definition media content as well as for general data storage, back-up and archiving. With a free software upgrade and a suitably-specified playback environment, the BWU-100A is also capable of playing back commercial Blu-ray movies. Backward read and write compatibility with all major DVD and CD formats make the BWU-100A a true multi-format burner and the ideal upgrade option for any computer - including single-bay barebone or media centre PCs. The stylish Sony BWU-100A drive comes bundled with the CyberLink BD Solution software suite making it a complete out-of-the-box solution.
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TDK, a world leader in digital recording solutions, today announced that it has begun shipping 50GB dual layer recordable Blu-ray Disc media. Retail pricing is set at $47.99 for a 50GB BD-R (recordable). TDK 50GB BD-RE (rewritable) media will be available in the first quarter of 2007 with retail pricing set at $59.99...If you'd like to read more, TDK's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
..."The launch of 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Disc media is a significant achievement for this revolutionary new format and for TDK," noted Bruce Youmans, TDK Vice President of Product Research & Development. "By doubling the format's capacity, the 50GB discs provide users with the opportunity to store an unprecedented amount of data on convenient and cost-effective removable media. From hard drive backups to HD video authoring, these discs offer new possibilities." He continued, "TDK innovations such as the company's CuSi inorganic dye formulation and our exclusive DURABIS 2 hard coating technology have played a key role in enabling the achievement of remarkable capacities, fast transfer rates and revolutionary durability for TDK Blu-ray Discs."
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Verbatim Corporation, the market leader in premium-quality printable media, has announced the immediate availability of a new family of glossy white inkjet printable 52X CDR and 16X DVD+/-R media. The new discs combine a shiny white printable surface with ultra-reliable, high-speed recording technology and broad read compatibility. With Verbatim's unique glossy media, users can make their recordings look distinctive with vibrant, full-colour images and crystal-clear text.More information, including prices, is available on Verbatim's website. Add a comment
The new glossy discs feature an exceptional inkjet-printable surface that provides superior ink absorption and excellent drying properties. When combined with any colour inkjet printer, users can print photo-quality images directly to the disc surface to customise their CDs and DVDs. Both DVD-R and DVD+R discs feature full surface, edge to edge printing capabilities.
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Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM)/Verbatim, Memory Tech Corporation (MTC), and Plasmon today announced a technology and business alliance to manufacture and promote a new optical storage format called UDO-DMD (Ultra Density Optical - Digital Master Disk). UDO-DMD has been designed specifically for the secure distribution and long-term storage of high value HD DVD content between authoring studios and disc mastering facilities.According to the press release, DMD will initially be released with a 30GB capacity, growing to 60GB in the second quarter of 2007. More information on DMD can be found here. Add a comment
Based on professional blue laser UDO technology, DMD drives and media have been optimized to meet the stringent security and reliability requirements of the HD DVD content industry. Many studios today depend on magnetic tape and RAID systems to transport and archive valuable content. Video content is often lost on tapes because they are fragile for transport and unreliable for long-term storage, and managing rapidly growing data on RAID is insecure and cost prohibitive for archives that must be maintained for many years. By contrast, UDO-DMD provides an extremely stable media housed in a robust cartridge that has a data life far greater than tape or RAID storage. To minimize the risk of content piracy, the new DMD media cannot be written and read in standard UDO drives. DMD also provides physical WORM (Write Once Read Many) recording for content authenticity and an additional cartridge locking security feature to minimise the risk of valuable content loss.
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At this time we have not heard if or when the DRW-1612BL will be available in the US. As soon as we find out, we'll let you know. In the mean time, ASUS's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), a leading provider of high-performance optical drives, today introduced the DRW-1612BL internal DVD rewriter, which incorporated LightScribe direct disc labeling technology. The innovative feature enables images to be burnt onto disc surfaces as labels using the same drive that wrote in the data. The DRW-1612BL provides high-speed 16X DVD +/-write and 8X DVD+/-R (DL), and supports 12X DVD-RAM read and write as well.
Three unique elements are needed to make LightScribeto possible: the DRW-1612BL Drive, LightScribe-compatible discs and LightScribe enabled burning software. When data writing is completed, just turn over the disc to burn graphics and text onto the disc surface as label.
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The newly announced disc is the latest addition to the DVD TWIN format, discs that support both DVD and HD DVD content and that are fully compatible with both formats. The new disc boosts capacity and expands versatility with a three-layer structure offering support for two HD DVD layers and one DVD layer or two DVD layers and one HD DVD layer. Memory-Tech and Toshiba will propose the new disc to the HD DVD Forum, the industry body that defines DVD standards.
In a two-layer HD DVD configuration, the new TWIN disc has a 30GB HD DVD capacity, plus 4.7GB of standard DVD capacity. Configured to maximize standard DVD content, the disc can support 8.5GB on two layers, plus 15GB of HD DVD content on the third layer. DVD content can be played back on a standard DVD player, while HD DVD players can play back both formats.Memorytech and Toshiba still need to have the new TWIN disc approved by the HD DVD Forum. Once it is, they plan to introduce the new format to content providers. More information on the new TWIN disc can be found here. Add a comment
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As you can see, the LH-20A1H takes a little more than 5 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. The writing quality looks pretty good as well. However, they used another Lite-On drive to test it. If you'd like to see more, head on over to CDbest. If their website is slow, the screenshots have also been mirrored in our forum. Add a comment
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Plextor Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced that the corporate identity of Plextor Corporation will cease to exist effective August 31, 2006. On September 1, 2006, a new corporate identity will be created - Plextor LLC, a partner and merged entity of Shinano Kenshi Corporation (SKC-U.S.). SKC is one of the world's largest electronic motor manufacturers.If you'd like to read more, Plextor's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Plextor LLC will continue to operate under its current structure and business strategies, and the company will remain located in Fremont, California. In essence, Plextor will remain fully autonomous and separate from SKCs Los Angeles-based organization.
