CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected digital lifestyle, announced today that CyberLink PowerDVD has been certified by Blu-ray Disc Testing Center for the playback support of high-definition H.264 video content on recordable Blu-ray Discs BD-R 1.1 and re-recordable Blu-ray Discs BD-RE 2.1

CyberLink PowerDVD featuring support for BD-RE 2.1 and BD-R 1.1 certification allows the playback of Blu-ray recordable and re-recordable discs, providing users with superb video playback performance including recorded HDTV programs on the latest Blu-ray Disc formats.

CyberLink PowerDVD delivers proven quality of HD movie playback on consumer PC’s and has already been certified for significant Blu-ray Disc standards, including BD-Video Profile 1.0, BD-Video Profile 1.1 (Bonus View), BD-Video Profile 2.0 (BD-Live), BD+, BD-RE 3.0, AVCHD, and AVCREC.

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Plextor Europe has announced its first digital TV tuner, the ConvertX PX-DVBT100U. Along with the ability to watch digital TV anywhere, this pocket sized device doubles as a PVR, allowing users to save TV or radio programs to their hard drive with real-time or scheduled recording.

plextor px-dvbt100u.jpgPlextor launches its first Digital TV tuner that enables users to watch digital TV anywhere via their laptop/PC. The Plextor ConvertX PX-DVBT100U doubles as a recorder - turning any laptop into a PVR - enabling digital terrestrial TV or radio programmes to be saved to the hard disk drive with real-time or scheduled recording.

Expanding the company’s portfolio of personal & SMB storage, media player, video converter devices and optical drives, Plextor’s pocket-sized gadget is ideal for ‘Freeview on the move’. Just the size of a memory stick, it is perfect for people who are increasingly carrying around laptops for entertainment and business purposes.

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Lexar announced this week that it has increased the speed of its Professional line of CompactFlash cards from 133x to 233x. This new Lexar Professional 233x CF memory cards are UDMA enabled and are capable of reading and writing at 35MB/s.

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, announced today that it has enhanced the performance of its Professional line of CompactFlash® (CF) memory cards to 233x, a significant speed advancement over the line's previous speed-rating of 133x. The Lexar Professional 233x CF memory cards are now UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) enabled and capable of minimum-sustained read and write speeds of 35MB per second - a considerable improvement over the previous read and write speeds of 20MB per second. These exceptionally fast cards are available in three popular capacities, including 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB, and deliver professional-level performance for a wider range of digital SLR users, including professionals and photo enthusiasts seeking high-capacity and high-speed performance. Lexar Professional 233x CF cards also greatly improve digital imaging workflow and convenience by reducing the time needed to transfer images from the card to the host computer. The new cards are also complemented by the line of Lexar Professional UDMA-compatible high-speed card readers. For more information about Lexar Professional 233x CF cards, please visit www.lexar.com.

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 ASUS GeForce EN9800GT 512MB Video Card @ ThinkComputers.org
 AXP Hard Disk Docking Station with eSATA and USB @ TweakPC
 Cooler Master HAF 932 Case @ HardwareLogic
 LG GGW-H20L Super Multi Blue Rewriter @ EMedialive.com
 iStarUSA HDD Docking Station + HDD Reader @ Virtual-Hideout
 iStarUSA T5F-SS 5.25in Trayless SATA/SAS Rack @ BCCHardware
 Kingston HyperX DDR2-1200 Dual Channel Kit @ InsideHW
 Lian-Li Tyr PC-X2000 Gaming and HTPC Case @ Metku.net
 Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition @ Hardware Zone
 Plextor PX-B920SA Blu-ray Writer @ BHmag.fr
 PowerColor PCS+ HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 @ HotHardware.com
 Rosewill RX630-S-B Xtreme Series 630W Power Supply @ Bigbruin.com
 Samsung LN-T4681F 46 Inch 1080P LED Backlit LCD TV @ Tweaknews.net
 Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB @ Phoronix
 Thermaltake Soprano Aluminum Keyboard @ ThinkComputers.org
 Thermaltake V14 Pro CPU Cooler @ TweakTown
 Vizo Ninja HS Notebook Cooler @ Futurelooks Add a comment

SanDisk announced today that it has added a 16GB model to its Extreme IV series of CompactFlash cards. Developed for the latest UDMA-enabled readers and cameras, the 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash card  is capable of 45MB/s (300x) read and write speeds.

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SanDisk today announced that it is now shipping an upgraded family of SanDisk Extreme® IV CompactFlash® (CF) memory cards to better meet the needs of professional digital photographers. The entire series of SanDisk Extreme IV high-performance memory cards has received a 12.5-percent speed boost up to 45 megabytes per second (MB/s)1 and the newly-released 16-gigabyte (GB)2 card is twice as large as previous capacities. The announcement was made at the Photokina trade show where SanDisk is demonstrating products in Hall 5.1, Stand A20.

SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash 45MB/s (300X) memory cards offer advanced technologies that are fully compatible with all CompactFlash cameras including the latest UDMA-enabled cameras. SanDisk Extreme IV CF cards have undergone internal testing with many leading manufacturers’ cameras and DSLRs, such as Canon’s EOS series, Nikon’s D300 and D3 cameras, the Sony Alpha A700, and the Olympus E500 and E3 cameras. Depending on the camera used, the increased performance of the SanDisk Extreme IV memory card line may help reduce the delay between shots, enabling photographers to take more photos overall. The high-speed cards let all photographers save time and improve their workflow with faster card-to-computer data transfer speeds.

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Verbatim recently announced its new PhotoSave DVD. This recordable DVD-R media features integrated software that automatically launches when the disc is inserted into a drive. The software can then be used to find and burn photos located on a user's computer or digital camera.

verbatim photosave dvd.png

Verbatim® Americas, LLC, a global leader and innovator in the digital storage industry, announced today Verbatim PhotoSave™ DVD, a recordable DVD that makes finding and saving photos absolutely effortless—even for consumers who have never burned a disc before.

Verbatim PhotoSave DVDs feature integrated software that launches automatically when the disc is inserted into a DVD-R drive. The process of searching for photos is also automated so users only need to click on the record button to save their memories from a PC.  In the manual mode, PhotoSave DVDs also support “search and burn” from a digital camera connected to a PC.  In addition to offering a long lifespan, each DVD disc provides a useable capacity of 4.5GB (1GB = 1 billion bytes) and can store approximately 2,000 photos.¹

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Sony sent out a press release this morning, announcing its third generation Blu-ray Disc writer, the BWU-300S. The new drive can write to both single and dual layer BD-R media at 8x and, according to Sony's claims, can burn an entire 50GB disc in as little as 30 minutes. To showcase the capabilities of Blu-ray, the BWU-300S also comes bundled with a  copy of “Men in Black”.

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Sony Electronics today announced its third generation internal Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) writer for the computer aftermarket, which at about $400 achieves a new level of affordability for BD enthusiasts.

The new BWU-300S model burns single and dual layer BD-R media at up to 8X speed, recording a full 25GB disc in about 15 minutes and a full 50GB disc in about 30 minutes.  The 8X recording speed is achieved using 6X compatible BD-R media.  The drive also records DVDs at up to 16X, CDs up to 48X, and supports DVD-RAM recording, with an eye towards data backup, making it an excellent replacement burner for a standard DVD drive while offering all the benefits of Blu-ray Disc technology.

To provide consumers with the opportunity to experience high-definition movie playback first-hand, the new drive comes bundled with a “Men in Black” Blu-ray Disc from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.  “Men In Black” stars Will Smith (“Hancock”) and Oscar®-winner Tommy Lee Jones (“The Fugitive”) saving the world from a total intergalactic disaster in Barry Sonnenfeld’s smash-hit sci-fi action comedy.  The “Men In Black” high-definition Blu-ray Disc boasts advanced BD-Live enabled bonus features, including a multiplayer trivia game, an interactive Frank the Pug advice generator, an alien subtitle track and much more.

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Toshiba announced this week that it has expanded its line of portable external hard drives to include a 400GB model. Like previous versions, this pocket sized hard drive is protected by an internal shock sensor and ramp-loading technology  and can be powered off a computer's USB bus.

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Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today added a 400GB(1) model to its line of personal storage devices for consumers seeking high-capacity storage and backup for music libraries, home videos, personal data and other digital memories.

The new 400GB Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive can store up to either 114,000 digital photos, 105,000 MP3 music files, 177 hours of DVD videos or 47 hours of high-definition videos.(1)

Designed for all consumers, Toshiba's personal storage line makes it easy for even digital novices to easily back up their digital content libraries with a hassle-free solution featuring award-winning NTI Shadow(TM) software. The user-friendly solution enables consumers to set back-up parameters a single time and enjoy peace-of-mind in knowing critical and cherished digital files and personal memories are protected.

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Advanced Media, Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of the popular Ridata brand of recordable DVD and Blu-ray Disc media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories, is pleased to announce the addition of Qflix™ DVD media to its product line. Used in conjunction with Qfflix services and hardware including recordable drives, the new media allows digitally distributed entertainment to be recorded to disc in a secure format. The media is manufactured by RITEK®, a Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC) certified Qflix licensee.

"Advanced Media Inc. is pleased to announce it is an official distributor of RITEK manufactured Qflix DVDs. Home entertainment is a heavily targeted market for DVD and Blu-ray media. Now Sonic has taken DVD technology to the next level with Qflix," said Harvey Liu, president of Advanced Media Inc. "RITEK's strong global reputation for producing DVDs of uncompromising quality and compatibility ensures a great consumer entertainment experience regardless of whether content is manufactured on-demand to fulfill an online order, purchased through a retail kiosk, or produced in the home."

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As we reported last week, Plextor has partnered with Lite-On for one of their upcoming DVD writers. Plextor China has released some details on this new drive on their website. While it looks like they simply copied and pasted the specs from PX-810SA, the picture on the page gives us another clue to the PX-806SA's capabilities. If you look closely, you can see a logo for Qflix below the drive's tray. Developed by Sonic, Qflix gives consumers the ability to download and burn movies to DVD with Content Scramble System (CSS) encryption.

plextor px-806sa qflix.jpg

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the price of the PX-806SA. Plextor is known for charging a premium for their drives, including those based on otherwise affordable designs from other companies. With its support for Qflix, I wouldn't be surprised if the PX-806SA was priced at $70 or more.

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