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- Home Entertainment
In 2009, Blu-ray title prices have declined rapidly and the pricing gap is narrowing, according to Futuresource Consulting’s price tracking service. The service shows that in February the average Blu-ray price for new release movies in the UK was £27.29. By the beginning of August this had dropped to £16.74 – a sizeable decline of 40%.
Catalogue pricing has also fallen, but not by such a significant amount. From an average price of £16.87 in February, this dropped to £14.25 in August; representing a decline of 15%. When looking at the average catalogue price across the three largest etailers, (Amazon, Play and HMV), the price drop is far more significant, with the average catalogue price hitting £11.22.
Back in Q4 2008, both in the USA and the UK the premium for purchasing a new release title on Blu-ray compared to DVD was between 30% and 80%. However, for catalogue BD titles this premium was considerably higher, and in some instances was as much as 300%. Although it has never been disputed that consumers will pay more for Blu-ray, the premium in the market in 2008 was clearly not sustainable.
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- Home Entertainment
NEC Electronics today announced the availability of a new image-processing solution, the EMMA3TMSL/P system-on-chip (SoC) based on NEC Electronics' enhanced multimedia architecture (EMMA) platform. EMMA3SL/P SoC is a set-top box (STB) device compliant with H.264 high definition (HD), the next-generation image-compression standard, as well as the multi-format video support used for the increasing number of worldwide internet-protocol television (IP TV) STBs, such as DivX®, VC-1, and WMV. The new SoC is also the first among the company's EMMA products to support China's audio/video standard (AVS).
The EMMA3SL/P device is an image-processing SoC that integrates key functions needed to receive and decode digital broadcasts, including MPEG-2 HD audio/video decoders, transport-stream demultiplexers, as well as display controllers for enhanced display and graphics features.
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- Flash Memory
Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and WWF series USB drives, today announced the new Executive I dual function ball point pen with USB flash drive that features a carbon fiber barrel for strength and style.
"In the Executive I we fused a high quality writing instrument with a USB storage device. Unlike other multi-function devices, this drive is sleek, elegant and well balanced. It provides two basic functions that most people use every day." commented Jerry Thomson, Active Media Products' vice president of sales.
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- Other
AeroCool V12 and Touch-2000 Fan Controller Panels @ TestSeek.com
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz AM3 Processor @ TweakTown
Canon PowerShot D10 Camera @ InsideHW
CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 Heatsink @ OCModShop
CoolerMaster Sileo 500 RC-500-KKR3-GP @ Benchmark Reviews
Corsair Hydro H50 Water Cooling Unit @ Metku
Kingston Data Traveler 200 32GB Flash Drive @ Everything USB
Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 64GB Solid State Disk @ TweakTown
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 Netbook @ ThinkComputers.org
Lenovo IdeaPad U350 Notebook @ Hardware Zone
Mophie Hard Case Plus for iPhone @ ThinkComputers.org
NZXT Sentry 2 LCD Touchscreen Fan Controller @ Benchmark Reviews
Patriot Memory PCXL25SR Convoy XL 2.5 inch Dual Hot Swappable RAID Enclosure @ Futurelooks
Seagate BlackArmor NAS 440 @ HotHardware.com
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4770 Video Card @ I4U
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- Other
DivX, Inc., a digital media company, and NEC Electronics Corporation, a leading provider of semiconductor solutions, today announced a multi-year licensing agreement covering the integration of DivX Plus(TM) HD technology into NEC Electronics' 'Enhanced Multi-Media Architecture' (EMMA(TM)). NEC Electronics' EMMA chips are designed to power next-generation Blu-ray players, digital televisions (DTVs) and set-top boxes, to enable consumer electronics manufacturers to deliver a high-quality and comprehensive high definition digital media experience to consumers.
Only DivX Plus HD Certified devices support playback of DivX Plus content (H.264 video with AAC audio in an MKV file container) created with DivX(®) 7 software, while also supporting previous versions of DivX video up to 1080p and Hollywood content in the DivX format. Available on www.divx.com, DivX 7 software enables DivX Plus content creation.
Known for developing DivX Certified® devices that offer great performance, interoperability and visual quality, DivX gives consumers a complete digital media solution for enjoying highly compressed, high-quality Internet video from the PC to the TV and beyond. NEC Electronics is actively promoting EMMA chips for digital audio/visual (AV) appliances as a strategic business segment. Having released world's first digital broadcasting STB system-on-a-chip (SoC) in 1998 under the brand name "EMMA", the company has built a formidable range of successful AV SoC devices since then covering three main areas -- STBs, digital TVs and DVD recorders.
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- Flash Memory
OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today introduced the Zee USB 2.0 flash drive, perfect for users seeking a simple and portable way to tote their multi-media files and documents. For the on-the-go student, gamer, or professional, the OCZ Zee is the ideal companion for a busy digital lifestyle at an affordable price point.
“Designed for the consumer on the go, the compact Zee is an economical USB drive that makes it easy to transfer images, multimedia and essential data between multiple computers,” commented Alex Mei, CMO of the OCZ Technology Group. “The Zee is designed to be affordable to the complete range of consumers, and is available in large capacities up to 16GB yet is both lightweight and compact so that it highly portable.”
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- Software
Pegasys, Inc. the company that makes digital video easy, and DivX, Inc., a digital media company, today announced the availability of the newly updated version of TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. The new update adds DivX® HD support for full HD output at video resolutions up to 1080p. The update is available now and is free for existing users. New users can download a trial version and find more information at the product webpage. Pricing for the full version of TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress starts from US $59.95.
"With the latest support for DivX HD, users can output in full 1920x1080p resolutions without the huge file sizes associated with HD video. With the versatility and portability of the DivX format, they can play DivX HD files on a number of DivX Certified® devices such as Blu-ray disc players, digital TVs or any computer," commented Tak EBINE, Pegasys CEO.
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- Hard Disks
Apricorn, an innovative provider of secure mobile storage, today released the Aegis Padlock Secure Hard Drive, a portable hardware encrypted drive and secure storage system. With an easy-to-use keypad and software-free design, the Aegis Padlock offers customers immediate secure access to the drive using a customized personal identification number. Offering a choice of AES-128 or 256 bit hardware encryption, the Aegis Padlock provides seamless real-time encryption to keep data secure even if the hard drive is removed from its enclosure.
In designing the Aegis Padlock, Apricorn had three goals in mind: security, simplicity and affordability. With a one page Quick Start Guide and software-free setup, the Aegis Padlock enables you to be up and running with your own unique PIN in minutes. The Aegis Padlock’s pricing is competitive with many standard USB portable drives. Therefore, the premium for secure, real-time, hardware encrypted storage solutions is less of an issue and affordable for most consumers.
With its software-free design and ability to run on any platform, the Aegis Padlock is easy to deploy in corporate environments and is perfect for business travelers looking to secure their data on the road. Its “Administrator Feature” recognizes enrollment of up to ten unique user IDs and one administrator, further allowing it to function as a secure business collaboration tool.
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- Optical Storage
Buffalo Japan has announced a pair of 10x Blu-ray Disc writers based on the LG BH10NS30. The internal BR-H1016FBS-BK and external BR-H1016SU2 are capable of 10x BD-R, 8x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 10x. The BR-H1016SU2 can be connected via eSATA or USB 2.0. However, as Buffalo is quick to point out, the drive's BD-R writing speed is limited to 8x when USB is used. The BR-H1016FBS-BK and BR-H1016SU2 are expected to ship at the beginning of September and are priced at 28,500 Yen ($303US) and 33,800 Yen ($360US), respectively.
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- Network Storage
Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking, network and direct attached storage solutions today built on its fourth year of market leadership in the SMB NAS market by announcing the TeraStation III Rackmount, Buffalo’s newest, most feature-rich SMB network storage solution in market to date. Delivering hot swap capabilities, higher capacities and unbeatable redundancy in a new slim, space saving 1U chassis, the TeraStation III Rackmount offers a high performance hardware platform in a cost-effective package.
Incorporating a new hardware platform shared by the previously announced TeraStation III and TeraStation Duo, the TeraStation III Rackmount features dependable backup, eco-conscious power management, as well as enhanced business and reliability features. Along with higher capacities, the new TeraStation devices allow businesses to transfer digital assets at faster rates to quickly and securely backup large amounts of data on multiple servers.
