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Optical Storage

10 March 2008

Last week, Maxell announced that it was shutting down its media manufacturing business at the end of March and would be outsourcing production to other companies. DigiTimes is now reporting that Maxell is likely to place OEM orders with one of Taiwan's media manufacturers.

As Hitachi Maxell, one of the global top-five vendors of blank optical discs, has decided to stop self-production of blank CD-R, DVD+R/-R and blue-laser optical discs in March 2008 but outsource production and maintain own-brand marketing, leading Taiwan-based makers are likely to obtain OEM orders from the Japan-based client, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Although makers of optical discs in China can offer lower prices, Taiwan-based makers have the upper hand in competition for Hitachi Maxell's OEM orders because of the higher quality of their products, the sources pointed out. Among Taiwan-based makers, CMC Magnetics, Ritek and Daxon Technology stand a better chance than others of obtaining orders, the sources indicated.

Most of the media sold in the US under Maxell brand is manufactured by Ritek. It would not surprise me if the company used them for the Japanese market as well. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment

07 March 2008

Over the last few weeks, there have been rumors indicating that Microsoft was working on a Blu-ray addon for the Xbox 360. The Financial Times is now reporting that Sony is in talks with Microsoft about adopting Blu-ray. According to the article, Microsoft could incorporate a Blu-ray drive into the Xbox 360 or offer support via an addon, similar to their HD DVD player.

But after Sony’s victory last month in the high-definition DVD format war, Stan Glasgow, Sony Electronics US president, said the two sides were now talking about Microsoft adopting Blu-ray.

A Blu-ray drive in a 360 would make Microsoft more competitive with the PS3, but it would also mean extra revenues for Sony’s electronics division. It would also add further cost to the 360, meaning a premium edition of the console could be necessary.

A Blu-ray drive could be incorporated in its top-of-the-range Elite Xbox, or Microsoft could again offer a drive as a plug-in peripheral.

While I don't see Microsoft incorporting a Blu-ray drive into the Xbox 360, an addon drive is a probably a given at this point. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

06 March 2008

ASUS EN8800GS TOP 384MB @Hardware Zone
ATP Electronics ProMax II CompactFlash Card and Reader @Bigbruin.com
Coolink Chip Chilla Chipset Heatsink @Techwarelabs
Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 @HardwareLogic.com
OCZ Cryo-Z Phase Change Cooler @TweakTown
Patriot Memory PC2-9200 2GB EP DDR2 Kit @TweakTown
Radeon HD 3870 X2 in Crossfire X @TweakTown
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 1TB Hard Drive @HotHardware.com

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Home Entertainment

06 March 2008

Circuit City has launched a new program, allowing those that purchased an HD DVD player within the last 90 days to trade it in toward a Blu-ray player. According to Gizmodo, the company is not promoting this trade in program and that consumers will need to specifically ask for it.

According to a Circuit City employee in Chicago, the consumer electronics chain is trading in HD DVD players bought into their stores "within 3 months of the announcement," as opposed to their 30-day return policy. According to the internal memo announcing the demise of the format, they will either give customers a Blu-ray player—paying the price difference, if any—or a gift card. The trade-in, however, will not be widely promoted and it will be only made available if the customer asks for it.

In order to qualify for the trade in program, you will need your receipt, the original box the player came in and all of the accessories. Hopefully, this means that we'll see similar trade in programs from other retailers, like Best Buy, in the near future. Feel free to share your thoughts in the forum. Add a comment

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Hard Disks

06 March 2008

Plextor Europe has announced that they've expanded their line of pocket hard disk drives to include a 320GB model. Like Plextor's previous offerings, the PX-PH320US features a stylish stylish brushed aluminium case and dual USB2.0/eSATA interfaces.

Plextor is extending its range of personal storage products with the new 320GB pocket hard disk - Plextor PX-PH320US. Small enough to fit in your pocket, it not only looks stylish in a brushed aluminium case, but using the eSATA interface offers blistering transfer rates of up to 3Gbps.

Ideal for enthusiast users using modern cases and motherboards,the ultra-fast eSATA interface offers speed comparable to a state-of-the-art internal hard drive - yet in a highly compact and portable design.

Plextor high reliability, premium quality HDDs offer excellent value for money. Building on the existing drives with 120, 160 & 250GB capacities, the Plextor PX-PH320US comes with a huge 320GB capacity. It has dual USB2.0/eSATA interfaces (including eSATA cable) and is also Mac and PC compatible.

No word on price yet. However, the PX-PH320US will be available in Europe beginning in March 2008. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

06 March 2008

Contrary to earlier reports, CMC Magnetics is holding off on commercial production of BD-R and BD-RE media. According to company chairman, Robert Wong, the company will invest in BD R&D until the demand for blank BD media justifies the high cost of equipment and royalties.

CMC Magnetics will not start commercial production of blank Blu-ray Disc (BD) discs until the global BD market emerges to some extent, and will instead invest in BD R&D to cultivate its technological capabilities in the interim, according to company chairman, Robert Wong.

Since as many as 21 owners of BD patents plan to claim royalty charges, there are many problems that need to be solved while charge rates are expected to be high, Wong pointed out. In addition, production equipment for BD discs is currently very expensive. The cost of equipment and royalties, together with the small demand render BD investment unfeasible at the moment, which is why CMC will not to step into production of BD-R (recordable, write once) and BD-RE (rewritable) discs for the time being, Wong explained.

Wong also predicts that, due partly to high royalty rates, the BD market will not take off for another 2 to 3 years. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Hard Disks

06 March 2008

Samsung announced this week that it has begun shipping the world's first 500GB 2.5" mobile hard drive. The Spinpoint M6 consists of three 167GB platters and features a 5400rpm spindle speed, an 8MB cache and 3.0Gbps SATA interface.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital consumer electronics and information technology, announced today that it is shipping the world's first half-terabyte (500GB) 2.5" mobile hard drive - the new Spinpoint M6. The Spinpoint M6 is designed to fit the industry's standard 9.5mm height dimension and armed with a massive 500GB capacity, the drive is targeted to meet the growing storage needs of today's notebook computers as well as slim form factor PCs and high density mobile applications.

"Our customers require more and more notebook storage for their data, video and music files", said Andy Higginbotham, director of hard drive sales and marketing, Samsung Semiconductor. "Our Spinpoint M6 easily fits within notebook PCs with no modification to the notebook PC chassis, giving users more storage power than ever before."

Samsung's new Spinpoint M6 consists of three 167GB platters in a 2.5" hard drive frame measuring just 9.5mm in height. This critical feature gives notebook PC manufacturers the option of easily integrating the Spinpoint M6 into the tens of millions of notebook PCs that ship every quarter.

The Spinpoint M6 is available now for a suggested retail price of $299. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment

06 March 2008

Samsung has reportedly cancelled their second gen Duo HD player, the BD-UP5500. In a statement issued to PC World, the company announced that, following Toshiba's decision to drop HD DVD, the window of opportunity for a dual format player is smaller than before and that consumers should move forward with Blu-ray.

The company's statement today notes that "now that Blu-ray has been chosen as the next-generation format, the consumer can move forward with confidence and enjoy the incredible experience that Blu-ray offers. Samsung believes that a multi-format player like the current BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player (Duo) offers the best and only solution for consumers that want access to all available High-Definition (HD) titles in the short term. It remains a practical solution, but the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before. In light of recent announcements, Samsung will not introduce the BD-UP5500 Duo HD Player."

If you'd like to read more, the entire blog post can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

05 March 2008

AMD 780G Chipset & AMD Athlon X2 4850e Dual-core CPU @I4U
Antec Nine Hundred Case @ASE Labs
Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev 2 VGA Cooler @HardwareLogic
CoolIT Freezone Elite @BCCHardware
Honeywell SecuraDrive 1.8-inch 80GB USB Hard Drive @ThinkComputers.org
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard @ TweakTown
NZXT Cryo LX USB 'Trio Fan' Laptop Cooler @Everything USB
PNY Verto GeForce 9600 GT Graphics Card @I4U
SimpleTech 160GB SimpleDrive Portable 2.5 Inch Hard Drive @Techwarelabs
Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico Security Mini-Computer @ThinkComputers.org

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