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Home Entertainment

18 March 2008

With the format war coming to an end, consumer interest in Blu-ray is slowly rising. Home Media Magazine has released some details from a new NPD Group study, showing that interest among standard DVD consumers increased from 9.4% to 10.8% for the week that ended Feb. 20.

Interest among standard DVD consumers likely to buy HD packaged media increased to 10.8% for the week that ended Feb. 20, compared to 9.4% for the week that ended Feb. 13 and 8.9% for the week of Feb. 6. HD DVD interest, not surprisingly, dropped to 8.8%, from 10.6% (Feb. 13) the week before and 10.9% the prior week.

Comparative percentages for Blu-ray late last year ranged from 5% to 6.8% through Christmas.

The study also found that the high cost of Blu-ray players and consumer satisfaction with standard DVD is slowing growth. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Duplicators

17 March 2008

Aleratec has announced that it has launched a stand alone USB flash drive duplicator. The Aleratec 1:11 USB Copy Tower SA can copy, compare, or erase up to 11 flash drives at once without the need for a computer.

Aleratec Inc., leading developer and manufacturer of "Prosumers' Choice" solutions for the USB, Flash, HDD, Blu-ray, DVD/CD, duplicating, and DVD/CD publishing markets, introduces its innovative new 1:11 USB Copy Tower SA, the fast, economical way to duplicate the same information to multiple flash drives, and it's stand alone -- no computer or any other equipment is required. It will copy, compare, or erase up to 11 flash drives simultaneously and all functions are selectable via a very simple duplicator controller with a back lighted LCD display. The Aleratec 1:11 USB Copy Tower SA takes the hassle out of trying to copy USB flash drives.

The Aleratec 1:11 USB Copy Tower SA is available now for an estimated retail price of $1575. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Software

17 March 2008

Roxio sent out a press release this morning, announcing the launch of Toast 9 Titanium. Toast 9 offers a number of new and improved features including HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support, audio fingerprinting and the ability to stream video content directly to the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, redefines Mac burning yet again with the introduction of Toast 9 Titanium. Toast 9 allows consumers to record high-definition content from high-definition (HD) camcorders and favorite HD programming from TiVo DVRs and Elgato’s EyeTV devices to Blu-ray Disc (BD). Users also have the option to burn HD video and slide shows on standard DVDs. For on-the-go entertainment, Toast 9 introduces Roxio Streamer. Streamer allows users to stream video content stored on their home Mac to a Wi-Fi connected iPhone or iPod Touch or any Internet connected Mac or PC. Already the first choice for music fans wishing to create great sounding CDs and DVDs, Toast 9 offers the ability to capture streaming audio for recording Internet radio. Another Toast innovation allows captured music tracks to be automatically tagged with song titles, artist or other related information.

Toast 9 Titanium is available directly from Roxio for $99.99 and will hit retail outlets later this month. The High Definition/Blu-ray Disc (HD/BD) plug-in, which is needed to author BD video, is sold separately for $19.99 and is available free for those who purchase Toast 9 online at roxio.com through April 13, 2008. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

14 March 2008

Adesso AKB-320UB Keyboard w/Trackball @BCCHardware
ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 Channel PCI Express Sound Card @Bigbruin.com
Eagle Tech ET-CSIU2J-BK JBOD External Storage System @Bigbruin.com
FSP PSU Roundup - 500W, 700W and 1kW @BCCHardware
Kingston 8GB Hyper-X Data Traveler USB Drive @Virtual-Hideout
LiteON DH-401S BD-ROM @BHmag@fr
MemoRight GT MR25.2-064S 2.5-Inch 64GB SATA SSD @Benchmark Reviews
MSI N9600GT-T2D512-OC (GeForce 9600 GT) @Hardware Zone
OCZ ReaperX HPC 4GB PC2-6400 @Phoronix
Thermaltake M9 Mid-Tower Case @ThinkComputers.org
Western Digital Scorpio 2.5" 320GB HDD @TweakTown

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Home Entertainment

13 March 2008

Last week, there was a rumor circulating that Sony was in talks with Microsoft about incorporating Blu-ray into the Xbox 360. Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, has squashed these rumors, stating that the company is not in talks with Sony, nor does it plan to integrate Blu-ray into the console.

The comments by Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, poured cold water on recent speculation that Microsoft could support Blu-ray after Toshiba Corp, backer of the rival HD DVD format, gave up when key movie studios and retailers abandoned the technology.

"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Greenberg told Reuters in an interview.

Take not that Greenberg is only denying the rumor about Blu-ray being integrated into the Xbox 360. There is no mention here of the addon player. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Duplicators

13 March 2008

Plextor LLC announced this week that it is getting into the duplicator business. Their new PlexTower CD/DVD duplication towers are available with one, three or seven drives and feature 18X DVD and 48X CD recording speeds.

Plextor LLC, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the immediate availability of the PlexTower series of CD/DVD disc duplication towers. The small footprint, slim profile towers deliver high-quality recording for low-volume applications, as well as one-touch operation in an economic package.

PlexTower series duplicators feature 18X DVD and 48X CD recording speeds, and each drive is capable of burning eight DVD discs or 22 CD discs per hour. In addition to DVD video, the drives also support dual-layer DVD-R/+R and DVD-ROM recording. Prassi Zulu 2 disc mastering software is included, while a simple interface and LCD readout make it easy to perform common functions like copy and verify.

Plextor is offering three models: a single-drive PlexTower PX-DTS100, a three-drive PlexTower PX-DTS-300, and a seven-drive PlexTower PX-DTS-700. USB 2.0 interfaces ensure easy connectivity and fast data throughput with personal computers running Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista operating systems.

Plextor will ship the PlexTower series disc duplicators to distributors at the end of March 2008. More information, including pricing, can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

12 March 2008

Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i SLI @HotHardware.com
CoolIT Systems PURE Liquid Cooling Kit @BCCHardware
Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-12800 Kit @ASE Labs
Diamond Viper ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB Video Card @Benchmark Reviews
Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset @BlueTomorrow.com
Logitech MX5500 Revolution Bluetooth Keyboard And Mouse @BlueTomorrow.com
Kingston HyperX DDR3-1625 2GB Memory Kit @ThinkComputers.org
MSI GeForce N9600GT OC Graphics Card @TweakTown
MSI R3650-T2D512-OC (Radeon HD 3650 512MB) @Hardware Zone
Razer Piranha Gaming Communicator @HardwareLogic.com
Zalman ZM-RS6F USB 5.1 Surround Headphones/Headset @Tweaknews.net

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Flash Memory

12 March 2008

OCZ Technology sent out a press release earlier today, announcing its new SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drives. Available in 32GB and 64GB capacities, OCZ's SSDs feature a durable, yet lightweight, brushed alloy housing and are capable of 120MB/s read and 100MB/s write speeds.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled ultra-fast OCZ SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drives, a lightweight and efficient alternative to conventional hard disc drives. The OCZ SATA II drive is designed to stay abreast of the performance features of high-end notebooks, and is ideal for energy-efficient mobile computing. With blazing access times combined with excellent reliability, the OCZ SATA II 2.5” SSD is the answer for enthusiasts demanding the most advanced storage for their notebooks and systems.

If you'd like to read more, OCZ's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment

12 March 2008

DivX, Inc. announced today that it has granted DivX Certification to six new Blu-ray DVD players from Panasonic, Philips, and Denon. Here's part of their press release:

The new DivX Certified DVD models join the world’s best-selling Blu-ray playback device, the Sony PLAYSTATION 3, which has been capable of DivX playback since December, 2007. The growth of DivX technology in the emerging Blu-ray market demonstrates growing traction of the Company’s licensing business into new product categories. DivX technology has already become a de facto standard on standard definition DVD devices, with an estimated 41 percent penetration in the global market as of the end of 2007.

Thanks to the superior compression and high visual quality of the DivX format, consumers can take advantage of Blu-ray technology to store and playback over 25 hours of DVD-quality video on a single Blu-ray disc. Newly certified DVD players include devices from Panasonic (Model: DMP-BD30EE), Philips (Model: BDP7200) and Denon (Models: DVD-2500BTC1B, DVD-3800BDC1B, DVD-3800BDSP and DVD-2500BTSP).

If you'd like to read more, DivX's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment