Fujitsu has announced that they will be demonstrating its new MB86H50 encoder/decoder IC at this year's CES. According to their press release, the MB86H50 is the industry's first large-scale IC for real-time compression and decompression of HD video in H.264 format.
The Fujitsu MB86H50 is the first H.264 format video-processing IC to support the H.264 High Profile, Level 4.0 standard used in next-generation DVDs. It enables high-resolution recording, playback and transmission of high-definition video on audio-visual products such as portable A/V products, hard disk recorders, and home network equipment. The new device has been sampled to selected customers who will provide new products during the first quarter of 2007. The chip sample will become available in March 2007.
If you'd like to read more, Fujitsu's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Philips sent out a press release earlier today, announcing that they've agreed to sell its Automotive Playback Modules (APM) business to Lite-On. The remaining APM operations will be transferred to a new joint-venture, Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS).
Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) today announced an agreement to sell the manufacturing operations of the Philips Automotive Playback Modules (APM) business to Lite-On IT Corporation of Taiwan for an undisclosed amount. The remaining APM operations will be transferred to a joint-venture between the two companies, which will operate under the name Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions, or PLDS.

APM is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of CD and DVD playback modules to suppliers of automotive entertainment systems. The manufacturing operations that will be sold to Lite-On IT are mainly located in Györ, Hungary. The activities that will be transferred to PLDS include research & development, marketing & sales and product management activities, which are primarily located in Wetzlar, Germany.
According to the press release, PLBS will develop, market and sell products to store digital information such as DVD burners and optical drives for the automotive market. More information can be found here. Add a comment
A person going by the name "muslix64" on the Doom9 Forums has released a new java based utility that can decrypt and rip HD DVD movies. Here's a video of the utility in action:

-What is "Backup HDDVD" for?

It can do backup copies of HD DVD movies that YOU OWN! I don't want anyone to do piracy here! This software is a good way to protect your investment, because I have notice that this type of media seems very fragile, if it's scratched a little or dirty, it won't play. It seems less tolerent than DVD format. (Higher density!)

-What "Backup HDDVD" is doing exactly?

This is a java based command line utility that decrypt video files (.evo) from a HD DVD disk that you own, to your hard drive and you can play them back with a HD DVD player software.
If you'd like to check it out, Backup HDDVD can be downloaded here. Feel free to leave your comments in our forum.
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On behalf of the staff here at CDRLabs, I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Drive safe, eat lots of food and hopefully you'll get that new drive you asked Santa for.


Like last year, I'll be out of town for a few days visiting my family and the wife's. Rest assured though, the news and reviews will continue when I get back. Add a comment

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The guys at CD Freaks have put together a review of LG's 18x "Super Multi" drive, the GSA-H22N. Here's a sample of what they had to say:
The LG GSA-H22N is a Super Multi DVD burner supporting nine types of DVD and CD media: DVD+R/RW/DL, DVD-R/RW/DL, DVD-RAM, and CD-R/RW.

High-speed 16x and 18x DVD+R and DVD-R writing works very well and produces discs of very good quality, in record time.

48x CD-R writing is equally fast, with very good disc quality as well.
We too have a review of the GSA-H22N in the works. Unfortunately, our test unit refuses to work at UDMA Mode 4, which has caused some problems when writing at 18x. If you'd like to read more, CD Freaks entire review can be found here. Add a comment

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Sharp announced on Tuesday that it has started started the commercial production of blue laser diodes. According to an article at Digit Magazine, the company will initially produce 150,000 units a month, with plans to boost capacity to 500,000 units by late 2007.
Sharp has begun mass production of blue-laser diodes at a new factory in Japan -- a move that should help reduce the cost of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD players.

The company kicked off production at a new line at its factory in Mihama, Hiroshima prefecture, at an initial level of 150,000 per month, said Miyuki Nakayama, a spokeswoman for Sharp in Tokyo.

The first products are low-power diodes suitable for disc players, but in late 2007 Sharp aims to increase production to around 500,000 diodes per month and also begin making higher power models for use in disc writers, she said.
If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment