Buffalo Japan has announced a new external 20x "Super Multi" drive based on the Pioneer DVR-116. The DVSM-SL20U2 features a "Turbo USB" interface and is capable of 20x DVD±R, 10x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds. The drive can also upscale standard DVDs to 1080p using the bundled PowerDVD software. Here are some of the specs:

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Panasonic has officially announced its new 8x Blu-ray Disc writer, the LF-PB371JD. This new drive features 8x BD-R, 8x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds as well as a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 8x. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese.
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Back in July, Pioneer announced that it had developed the world's first 16-layer optical disc with a capacity of 400GB. Following new research conducted by its engineers in Japan, the company has now announced that a 20-layer 500GB disc is feasible.

A 20-layer optical disc is now viable, following research by our team of engineers at Pioneer HQ, Tokyo. Each layer of the disc can store 25GB of information to provide a mammoth 500GB of storage.

The news follows the International Symposium on Optical Memory (ISOM) and Optical Data Storage, held during July in Hawaii, where Pioneer Corporation presented its research, defining draft specifications for the 500 GB disc.

The ISOM had previously outlined the industry objective of creating a 20-layer disc to be available between 2010-2012.

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Antec Twelve Hundred Case @ HardwareLogic
Creative Aurvana X-Fi @ InsideHW
MSI Wind U100 Sub-Notebook @ Futurelooks
OCZ ReaperX HPC 4GB PC2-6400 Memory Kit @ Benchmark Reviews
SilverStone Lascala LC13-E @ Phoronix
Supermicro X7DWA-N Motherboard @ PC Review
Tagan BZ Series 900W Modular Power Supply @ ThinkComputers.org Add a comment
Micron recently announced its next-generation RealSSD solid state drives (SSDs) for enterprise computing and notebook applications. The enterprise-class RealSSD P200 is available in capacities up to 128GB and is capable of sequential read and write speeds of 250MB/s. The client-focused RealSSD C200 is available in 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch form factors in capacities up to 256GB.

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Things aren't looking good for Prodisc. Earlier this week, the company asked a local court in Taiwan for protection against its creditors to prevent them from seizing its assets. According to the China Economic News, Prodisc has also filed for corporate restructuring and will be shutting down its optical disc business. Add a comment
Memorex recently announced its new line of portable hard drives. The Essential TravelDrive delivers up to 320GB of capacity and is available in four nature-inspired colors.

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Memorex, the leading brand of optical media at U.S. retail and a portfolio brand of Imation Corp (NYSE: IMN), today introduces the Essential TravelDrive(TM), the latest addition to its award-winning line of portable storage devices. The USB-based product features 2.5-inch hard drive technology, which delivers up to 320 GB of capacity, is available in several vibrant colors and easily fits into a pocketbook or purse.

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Antec Twelve Hundred Gaming Case @ Virtual-Hideout
ASRock P45R2000-WiFi P45 DDR2/DDR3 Motherboard @ ThinkComputers.org
ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi Motherboard @ Phoronix
Asus Eee Box Desktop System @ HotHardware
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R Motherboard @ InsideHW
NorthQ Siberian Tiger Water Cooling System @ TweakPC
NZXT Sentry LX Aluminum Fan/Temp Controller @ BCCHardware
Pioneer BDC-S02 Blu-ray & 12x6 DVD±RW DL SATA Drive @ Rbmods
Sapphire Radeon HD4870 512MB Graphics Card @ Bigbruin.com
SilverStone SST-TS01B RFID External Drive Kit @ Benchmark Reviews
VOX V1 500GB USB and eSATA External HDD @ TweakTown Add a comment
NEC Electronics announced today that it has developed the world's first single-chip LSI for Blu-ray Disc players. Combining the frontend functions of the SCOMBO/UM2P with the backend functions of the EMMA3P, the EMMA3PF has an analog circuit to process signals from the optical pickup, a decoding circuit for encoded video and audio and an HDMI to output video and audio. On top of that, the chip supports BD-ROM Profile 2.0, the latest Blu-ray Disc specification.

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CyberLink sent out a press release earlier today, announcing the release of CyberLink BD Advisor 2. This new version of BD Advisor checks to see if a system is capable of playing advanced Blu-ray Disc content such as BD-Live features and Picture-in-Picture.

CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected digital lifestyle, today announced its release of CyberLink BD Advisor 2, the self-diagnostic tool that helps users identify if their system is able to play advanced Blu-ray Disc content such as interactive BD-Live features and Picture-in-Picture (PiP) movie commentary.

“CyberLink is committed to developing digital media applications for the Blu-ray format and continues to provide the most updated solution to our customers,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “The BD Advisor is a free tool helping our users to check if their PCs are Blu-ray ready. It has won many appreciations since its first release.”

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