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As the first company to introduce a stand-alone Blu-ray player, Samsung reinforces its support of the Blu-ray format with the next generation, full HD, BD-P1500. An ideal player for anyone who enjoys Blu-ray, DVDs or CDs in their home, this groundbreaking model significantly improves the home viewing experience and accommodates each of these formats in one unit. Further, the BD-P1500 can upconvert standard DVDs to 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions and offers Full HD video playback capabilities for a crystal-clear picture.At this point it is unclear what BD-Live "Ready" means. While the BD-P1500 will most likely play BD-Live titles out of the box, this could also mean that it is capable of doing so after a firmware update. No word yet on price. However, if Samsung sticks to their original price point, the BD-P1500 should cost around $399. If you'd like to read more, Samsung's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Designed with fans of multimedia technology in mind, the BD-P1500 easily connects to other digital devices through an HDMI 1.3 port with CEC for expanded color delivery and easy home theater control. The P1500 has BD Profile 1.1 Bonus View and is BD Live Ready. With its built-in Ethernet connection and USB input users can quickly upgrade their BD-P1500 with the latest firmware which ensures the player remains at the cutting edge of Blu-ray technology. By making these firmware upgrades simple and easy, Samsung allows consumers to continually upgrade their BD-P1500 with the latest features.
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The 500GB version of the Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive is available now for a suggested retail price of $209.95. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
Iomega Corporation (NYSE:IOM), a global leader in data protection and security, today announced thenew Iomega(R) ScreenPlay(TM) HD Multimedia Drive, a portable external harddrive that leaves the PC behind, delivering multimedia content tohigh-definition televisions and home theater systems.
The Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive is a 500GB* drive with thestorage capacity to hold up to 2 million photos, 9,250 hours of music, or750 hours of video**, enabling family and friends to share high-resolutionphotos, music, and video clips in the comfort of the living room, without acomputer.
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With support for Labelflash lagging well behind LightScribe, its good to see Yamaha and Fujifilm making applications like this available for free to their customers. If you'd like to read more, Yamaha's entire announcement can be found here. Add a comment
Yamaha Corporation (Head Office: 10-1, Nakazawa-cho, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka; President: Mitsuru Umemura; hereinafter: Yamaha), working together with FUJIFILM Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter: Fujifilm), has developed LabelflashTM Photo Labeler software using Labelflash technology for easily printing display labels containing photographs on specially made DVD disc using templates. Free distribution of this Labelflash Photo Labeler software will begin from Labelflash’s official Web site on April 25, 2008. The site may be accessed at the following URL: http://labelflash.jp/.. The English version is expected to become available in a few months.
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The 500GB Rugged is available now with prices starting at $299.99. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
LaCie announced today that it has pushed mobile capacity limits by making available a new 500 gigabyte (GB) Rugged Hard Disk. Designed by Neil Poulton, the LaCie Rugged features a unique scratch-resistant aluminum shell and a shock-resistant rubber bumper to protect data against the everyday bumps, bruises and hard knocks of the real world, while protecting valuable data along the way.
Utilizing a state-of-the-art Hitachi Travelstar 5K500, 2.5-inch internal hard disk, LaCie was able to produce a product nearly identical in size to its previous Rugged offerings. The 500GB Rugged is available in USB 2.0 or a USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 version for speedier data transfers. Bus-powered by either USB* or FireWire, the Rugged is designed to interact smoothly with any computer.
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ASUS Radeon HD 3850X2 1 GB @InsideHW
Logitech G9 Mouse @tkArena
Logitech MX Air Cordless Mouse @TweakTown
Nesteq EECS 700 Watt Ultra Quiet Power Supply @Bigbruin.com
Silverstone MS05 External 2.5inch SATA HDD Enclosure @Madshrimps
Steelseries Siberia Neckband @TweakPC.de
Tagan Black Pearl Case @HardwareLogic
Tuniq Ensemble 1200W Power Supply @ThinkComputers.org
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The DVD Forum is planning to study (the “Proposed Study”) the possible incorporation of 3D movie technology into The DVD Forum format specifications for DVD-Video and HD DVD-Video (the “DVD Format Specifications”). The DVD Forum plans to study only the feasibility and potential merit of incorporating 3D movie technology into the DVD Format Specifications. Please note that The DVD Forum has made no decision to incorporate such technology into the DVD Format Specifications and does not intend to select any specific 3D movie technology for inclusion at this time. After studying each proposed 3D movie technology, The DVD Forum will decide whether 3D movie technology should be incorporated into the DVD Format Specifications. As part of this study, The DVD Forum may also consider whether measures to achieve compatibility with existing DVD-Video and HD DVD-Video players would also need to be implemented in the event 3D movie technology is incorporated into the DVD Format Specifications.Personally, I'd rather see them through their support behind a high-def format like Blu-ray than add 3D technology to the DVD format. If you'd like to read more, the DVD Forum's entire announcement can be found DigiTimes. Add a comment
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With the initial Veeza blank CD-R disc royalty contracts Royal Philips Electronics signed with Taiwan-based makers having expired in the second half of 2007, the company has been negotiating a renewal of the licensing with Taiwan makers and last week Daxon Technology was the first company to renew its license, according to industry sources in Taiwan.If you check Philips' Licensee Database, it appears that CMC, Ritek and Prodisc are not licensed for any recordable media. Could this mean that they have lost their licensing with Philips? I'm sure we'll find out eventually. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Philips Intellectual Property & Standards in Taiwan has also confirmed the report.
The renewed licensed does not use the name Veeza, but conditions and licensing fees remain unchanged, with US$0.025 charged for a CD-R disc, the sources indicated.
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One of the primary challenges facing Blu-ray, says principal analyst Steve Wilson, is that many consumers are not fundamentally dissatisfied with the quality delivered by their conventional DVD players, when “upconverted” to play on high-definition TVs. “We are starting to see an increase in the number of DVD players with built-in upconverters, and the video processing is getting better with each new generation,” he says. “Today about 35% of all DVD players sold include upconversion. ABI Research expects that figure to climb to about 60% by 2013.”More information on ABI Research's report can be found here. Add a comment
Further, the state of the Blu-ray player market is not all that encouraging. The Blu-ray installed base today is heavily tilted towards Sony’s Playstation 3. Says Wilson, “The studios better hope that people are playing movies on their Playstations. Otherwise there’s very little installed base. In 2008 about 85% of the Blu-ray players in the market will be found in PS3s; the dedicated consumer electronics and PC-based types of Blu-ray players won’t catch up in terms of market share until about 2013.”
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A-DATA PD17, PD18 and PD19 Mini USB Flash Drives @Virtual-Hideout
In Win B2 Stealth Bomber Case @ThinkComputers.org
Noctua NH-U9B CPU Cooler @BCCHardware
Philips DVDR3480 DVD Recorder @CD Freaks
SilverStone Kublai KL03 @Phoronix
Silverstonetek TS01B RFID Protected 2.5" SATA Enclosure @Metku.net
Sony BDU-X10S Internal Blu-ray Drive @Hardware Zone
Super Talent Pico 8GB USB Flash Drive @DV Hardware
Trust Wireless Vista Remote Control @InsideHW
Western Digital Velociraptor 10K RPM 300GB Hard Drive @HotHardware.com
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The WD VelociRaptor is currently exclusive to Alienware and will be available on their high-performance ALX gaming desktop by the end of April. The drive will be available through other retailers in mid-May for $299.99. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
WD (NYSE: WDC) announced today that it is now shipping WD VelociRaptor hard drives, the next generation of its 10,000 RPM SATA "Raptor" series of drives. Designed with an enterprise-class foundation, the new WD VelociRaptor hard drive is modified specifically for PC and Mac enthusiasts and professional workstations. Destined to become the new high-performance favorite of these groups, the WD VelociRaptor hard drive comes packed with twice the capacity and a 35 percent performance increase over the previous generation.
From the bloodlines of the WD Raptor, the most popular hard drive for high-performance enthusiasts who demand the ultimate SATA drive, the WD VelociRaptor hard drive is built with enterprise-class mechanics and packs 300 GB of storage capacity into a 2.5-inch enterprise form factor. The 2.5-inch WD VelociRaptor drive is enclosed in the IcePack, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with a built-in heat sink -- a customization that fits the drive into a standard 3.5-inch system bay and keeps this powerful drive extra cool when installed in a high-performance desktop chassis.
