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Home Entertainment
At a recent press event, Sharp unveiled its latest Blu-ray Disc recorders. Along with the easy to use BD-AV1/AV10 series, the company introduced two hard drive equipped models, the BD-HDW20 and BD-HDW15. Both recorders feature two digital tuners, 1080/24p video output and, depending on the model, either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive.

Sharp Corporation will introduce into the Japanese market two new AQUOS Blu-ray Disc Recorders: the BD-HDW20 featuring a hard drive with a 1-TB (terabyte) capacity, the industry's largest, and the BD-HDW15 with a 500-GB hard drive. Both models reflect Sharp's consistent focus on true full HD image quality and are capable of recording and playing back digital HDTV data exactly as broadcast.

In designing these AQUOS Blu-ray Disc Recorders, Sharp placed emphasis on faithfully reproducing high-resolution video images from digital broadcasts and Blu-ray discs on the AQUOS LCD TV. They are equipped with hard drives from 500 GB to 1 TB in capacity, and also support dubbing (moving) video from the hard drive to BD-RE or BD-R discs. HDTV programs recorded on the hard disk can be dubbed (moved) to Blu-ray discs while retaining exactly the same image quality as broadcast, enabling users to easily create an HDTV library.
While Sharp has not announced how much their Blu-ray Disc recorders will be, AV Watch expects the BD-HDW20 and BD-HDW15 to cost 300,000 Yen ($2,600US) and 200,000 Yen ($1,733US) respectively. If you'd like to read more, Sharp's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

ASUS P5E3 Motherboard @TweakTown 
Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case @Hardware Zone
Corsair Survivor GT USB Flash Drive @Tweaknews.net
Gigabyte GP-S6500 And GP-S7500 @InsideHW.com
Hiper Anubis ATX Case @PC Apex
HIS Radeon HD 2900 PRO 512MB @TweakTown
OCZ Technology PC2-8500 Reaper HPC CrossFire Edition 2GB Kit @Bigbruin.com
Samsung YP-K5 MP3 Player @ThinkComputers.org
Xclio Propeller ATX Case @Futurelooks
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Other
Today, CDRLabs brings you an in depth look at Samsung's new Serial ATA equipped "Super WriteMaster" drive, the SH-S203B. This highly anticipated drive features some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available. The SH-S203B is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. On top of that, it's the first drive to offer both 16x DVD+R DL and 12x DVD-R DL writing speeds.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the SH-S203B and see how it compares to some of the 18x and 20x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the SH-S203B have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.


Samsung SH-S203B 20x DVD±RW/RAM
If you have any comments or questions about this review or the Samsung SH-S203B, please post them in the forum. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
Forrester Research released a new report on Monday, stating that the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD is likely to run another 18 months. As Reuters reports, consumers are waiting for prices to come down and for the format war to end before buying a next-gen player.
Sales of next-generation DVD players are not seen as likely to take off for another 18 months as consumers are still waiting for prices to fall and for the battle over two competing technologies to be resolved.

Referring to the high-definition DVD format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, Forrester Research said in a report on Monday that while the two camps have "been fighting what seems to be a war of attrition for consumers' hearts and minds," few consumers are warming to either type of device.
The report also states that Blu-ray will eventually win out over HD DVD. However, the Blu-ray camp will need to cut prices to do so. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

Apple 3G iPod Nano 8GB @ Everything USB
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Software
Adobe sent out a press release this morning, announcing the availability of Adobe Premiere Elements 4. With this new version of Adobe's consumer video-editing software, users can create their own movies and burn them to Blu-ray Disc or upload them directly to social networking sites like Youtube.
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe Premiere Elements 4, a major upgrade to the best-selling consumer video-editing software. Available for Windows, Adobe Premiere Elements software offers easy and flexible ways to create home movies with amazing video and audio effects in just minutes, and then share them on DVDs, via mobile devices or upload them directly to YouTube and other social networking sites. Adobe Premiere Elements includes a wealth of new functionality, including an Organizer to help find and sort video clips, one-click movie themes and an improved easy-to-use interface.
Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows is available now for an estimated street price of $99.99. If you'd like to read more, Adobe's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Duplicators
Aleratec has announced that they've started shipping the 1:3 DVD/CD Tower Publisher HLS. This desktop sized LightScribe disc publishing tower can copy or label up to 3 discs at once.

Aleratec, Inc., leading developer and manufacturer of Aleratec Award Winning "Prosumers' Choice" solutions for the Blu-ray, DVD/CD, USB duplicating, and DVD/CD publishing markets announced it is now shipping the 1:3 DVD/CD Tower Publisher HLS, a more compact, lighter LightScribe disc publishing tower that is easy to move where it is needed. The 1:3 DVD/CD Tower Publisher HLS can produce up to three simultaneous DVD/CD copies, recordings, or produces up to three silkscreen-quality LightScribe labeled discs with the latest Aleratec Disc Publishing Software Suite and the industry's fastest DVDRW LightScribe recorders. The 1:3 DVD/CD Tower Publisher HLS incorporates LightScribe disc labeling technology that laser burns custom labels directly on DVD/CD discs. Customers can create their own custom labels, with text and graphics, using the powerful Aleratec Disc Publishing Software Suite, included free with purchase.
The 1:3 DVD/CD Tower Publisher HLS is available now for an estimated retail price of $479. More information can be found on Alera's website. Add a comment

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Antazone AS-C1000 Intel/AMD Heatpipe CPU Cooler @Tweaknews.net
BFG 8600 GTS OC ThermoIntelligence @TweakTown
Gigabyte iSolo 210 Computer Chassis @Tweaknews.net
Intel E6850 Dual Core Processor @HardwareLogic
Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 @I4U
MSI X38 Diamond (Intel X38) Motherboard @Hardware Zone
OCZ ProXStream 1000W Power Supply @ ThinkComputers.org
OWC 2GB Apple MacBook SODIMM DDR2 RAM Kit @I4U
Plextor PX-810UF External DVD±RW @BCCHardware
Ultra Products 7 Port USB Buddy Hub @Bigbruin.com
Ultra X3 600w ATX Power Supply @Virtual-Hideout
Zaward VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler @Benchmark Reviews
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Optical Storage
Pioneer Electronics announced today that they've started shipping their new Blu-ray Disc combo drive, the BDC-202. With its support for Blu-ray, the BDC-202 can play back high-def movies as well as read and write to most existing CD and DVD formats.

The newly designed drive offers playback of high definition Hollywood Blu-ray Disc movie titles on a properly configured PC. The BDC-202 internal Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD combo drive also allows users to access and transfer data files onto DVD and CD. It reads BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE single layer discs up to 5x speed and dual layer BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE discs up to 2x speed. It will also read and write to most DVD and CD formats. The BDC-202 features a Serial ATA (SATA) Interface and ships with an optional, full-featured Corel media software suite. The software suite includes Blu-ray Disc playback software as well as enhanced functionality to design personalized DVD movies, create digital photo slideshows, burn music files to CD, backup files to DVD and CD, and more.
While Pioneer did not specify a price, the BDC-202 is already available online and can be picked up for less than $280. If you'd like to read more, Pioneer's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Ciba Specialty Chemicals sent out a press release this morning, announcing that they've decided to settle the patent infringment lawsuit they had filed against CMC and its US subsidiary, the Hotan Corporation.
The patent infringement law suit Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation (Ciba) had filed against CMC Magnetics Corporation and its US subsidiary Hotan Corporation has been settled, CMC Corporation and Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation, have announced today. Ciba had sued CMC and Hotan because it had found that some portion of CD-R manufactured, imported and sold by CMC and Hotan were produced with dye infringing Ciba's phthalocyanine and related CD-R media patents. Ciba holds worldwide patents for its advanced phthalocyanine dyes and disks, which include the United States of America, China and Taiwan, where CMC had produced the media. A CMC spokesperson commented: "We were not fully aware of the current dye technology and the related patent situation. After clarification from Ciba, we realize the importance of the technology of the Ciba dye in the dye industry. We regret that we had used for part of our CD-R production a dye from a local supplier that turned out to infringe Ciba's dye and media patents. After this incident we had instantly improved our internal processes to make sure that intellectual property rights are respected and switched back to Ciba's product."
If you'd like to read more, Ciba's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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