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Home Entertainment
While the format war may be over, market data released by ABI Research shows that Blu-ray still faces a number of challenges. According to their new report, consumers are satisfied with the quality delivered by standard DVD players and that the install base of dedicated and PC-based Blu-ray players is still very small.
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.”

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.”
More information on ABI Research's report can be found here. Add a comment

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Hard Disks
Western Digital sent out a press release this morning, announcing the latest addition to its "Raptor" series of 10,000 RPM hard drives. The 2.5-inch VelociRaptor features a 300GB capacity, SATA 3 Gb/s interface and 16 MB cache. To keep it cool when installed in a desktop chassis, the drive is also enclosed in a 3.5-inch mounting frame with a built-in heat sink.

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.
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

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Hard Disks
Fujitsu has announced the launch of its MHZ2 CJ series of 2.5" hard disk drives. These new drives are available in capacities as high as 320GB and feature a 7200rpm rotation speed, 3.0 Gb/s Serial ATA interface and 256-bit AES hardware encryption. The MHZ2 CJ series also uses an advanced secure erase feature which can wipe the entire drive in less than a second.
Fujitsu Limited today announced the release of the MHZ2 CJ Series of 320 GB(1) 2.5" hard disk drives with automatic hardware-based encryption to effectively secure data against theft or loss, along with the industry's highest rotational speed of 7200-rpm and a 3.0 Gb/s Serial ATA interface(2). The new series of drives for computers and external storage devices will be available at the end of May 2008.

This series is the first hard disk drive in the world to support the 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)(3). The drive implements the AES hardware encryption directly into the processor chip of the hard disk drive, resulting in more robust security and faster system performance than software-based encryption.

All data stored on the hard disk drive can be erased instantly, in less than a second, using the advanced secure erase feature. For public institutions and companies that handle large amounts of personal and other confidential data, this dramatically lowers the time and cost involved in wiping clean the hard drives of computers that are disposed of or reused.
While Fujitsu has not announced a price, the company plans to begin shipments at the end of May. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Peter Weber, manager of Panasonic Corporate Communication Europe, hinted that the company plans to expand the Blu-ray player market by forming a strategic parnership with Samsung. While there aren't a lot of details, Weber states that Panasonic would focus on marketing rather than the introduction of new Blu-ray players.
``Now, the discussion is over. We will maintain a healthy relationship with Samsung Electronics for the next-generation computer storage market,'' Peter Weber, manager of Panasonic Corporate Communication Europe, said in an interview with The Korea Times, Sunday, on the sidelines of the IFA 2008 International Press Conference here.

``Panasonic doesn't care about the introducing timing of Blu-ray players. Time is very crucial to step up the marketing for better prospect of such devices,'' he said, adding his company is all set to inject money only for promotion.
The Korea Times also mentions that next-generation Blu-ray players will come with built in hard drives to store downloadable content. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
While video downloads have been threatening to take a chunk out of DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, its had little effect on consumer spending so far this year. Home Media Magazine is reporting that the sales of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs are up 2.3% from last year. DVD unit sales did see a drop of 1.2%. However, this was offset by a 351% increase in Blu-ray sales.
Consumer spending on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs in the first three months of this year was up about 1% from the first three months of 2007, coming in at $5.51 billion, up from $5.46 billion in the first quarter of last year, according to Home Media Magazine market research estimates based on studio and retail data.

Sales were up 2.3% to $3.47 billion, from $3.39 billion, while rental spending slipped 1.6% to $2.04 billion, from $2.07 billion...

...And according to Nielsen VideoScan sales data, the nascent Blu-ray Disc saved the day for the sellthrough business, with DVD unit sales in the first quarter down 1.2% from the first quarter of 2007 but Blu-ray Disc sales up a whopping 351%.
If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Software
Sonic has announced that it is working with Sony to enhance the BD-Live creation features found in Scenarist BD. By making it easier for Hollywood to create BD-Live-enabled features, the two companies hope to increase the availability of connected-content.
Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced it is collaborating with Sony to enhance the BD-Live creation features of the Scenarist BD authoring platform. The new capabilities will help streamline the creation of highly interactive Blu-ray Disc titles that harness the full power of the BD-Live feature set to enable Web-connected content.

BD-Live adds an exciting new level of interactivity to the home entertainment experience. By allowing the dynamic inclusion of downloaded online content such as special features, new trailers and games, BD-Live enables content creators to maintain a direct relationship with viewers even after a title has shipped. By making BD-Live-enabled features more efficient to produce, the Sony and Sonic collaboration is expected to help increase the availability of connected-content, which in turn will help speed consumer adoption of next-generation titles and players.
If you'd like to read more, Sonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Flash Memory
Transcend recently announced the release of its new Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash cards. These new flash memory cards operate in dual-channel Ultra DMA mode 5, which allows them to achieve read/write speeds of up to 45MB/s.

Following growing consumer demand for larger capacity, high-speed memory cards, Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a global leader in flash memory products and DRAM memory modules, today revealed its new Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash card - a worthy addition to Transcend’s award-winning line of high speed, ultra-reliable flash memory cards.

Transcend’s Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash cards operate in dual-channel Ultra DMA mode 5*, the fastest speed available for CF cards. This interface allows Transcend’s 300X CF cards achieve extraordinarily fast read/write speeds of up to 45MB per second on average**, making consecutive shooting and non-stop video recording with today’s high-performance digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLR) easier than ever. With impressive transfer speeds and enormous storage capacity, users are guaranteed to get the best performance results from their high-end digital equipment.
Transcend's Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash cards are available now in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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