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Optical Storage
Since it was introduced, Philips' Veeza licensing scheme hasn't been well received by Taiwan's CD-R media manufacturers. Philips has had a hard time enforcing it in India and China, which has made it hard for manufacturers in Taiwan to compete. In response, CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc and Daxon have filed a lawsuit against Philips, claiming that Veeza's licensing is unreasonable.
CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc Technology and Daxon Technology, four major Taiwan-based producers of blank CD-R discs, are poised to jointly file legal proceedings in Taiwan to accuse Royal Philips Electronics of imposing its unreasonable and discriminating Veeza licensing program upon them, according to a press release issued on September 3 by the Taiwan Information Storage Association (TISA) on behalf of the four companies.

The four companies' key argument in the lawsuit is that Veeza's high royalty charge rates have severely limited the companies' ability to operate in the market for blank CD-R discs and that the licensing system discriminates against them because Philips has been unable to subject India-based maker Moser Baer India (MBI) and fellow makers in China to Veeza, TISA secretary general Tzuang-ren Jeng pointed out.
According to DigiTimes, the four companies are asking Philips to return paid royalty fees in excess of reasonable amounts and compensate them for lost business due to the discrimination of Veeza licensing. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Verbatim's parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical, has announced a new mastering disc called the "Green Tune" DVD-R. To maximize sound reproduction quality, these 4.7GB discs utilize a gold reflective layer and AZO dye. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:

Mitsubishi chemical media corporation (head office: The tokyo Minato-ku, president: Otsuka heavily virtue), postscript type DVD for the mastering and Green Tune we sell DVD-R in the middle of October. As for Green Tune DVD-R, for the music production of the professional, it is the disk which reproduces the highest sound quality...

...As for the largest point, in the reflected membrane the high sound quality it is to adopt the pure gold reflected membrane which actualizes high endurance. The transparent impression and the depth impression of sound were actualized not only, long-term conservation (long-lived) the improvement it could point the pure gold reflected membrane. In addition, the AZO pigment where the reliability which this corporation developed is high was adopted to the record aspect. Furthermore, also the high accuracy formation technical which is applied to the next generation disk of royal purple laser correspondence has contributed to disk quality improvement largely.
Mitsubishi has not announced a price. However, AV Watch expects the discs to cost about 1,000 Yen ($8.60US). If you'd like to read more, Mitsubishi's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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At a conference in Berlin, the AACS LA unveiled the final version of its copy protection system. According to heise.de, this version will provide additional encryption to protect the AACS key and make it harder to produce illegal copies. The AACS LA has also added a watermark detection mechanism that will prevent the playback of watermarked content.
At a conference held by the DVD Forum in Berlin, the AACS LA copy protection consortium has presented some new concepts to combat the piracy of high-resolution movies. In particular, the industry organization has set its crosshair on AnyDVD-HD software; the final version of the copy protection system called AACS (Advanced Access Content System) will contain additional security mechanisms that protect the AACS key and make it harder to produce illegal copies.

For example, the final version of AACS will have a watermark detection mechanism. Movies shown at cinemas will then include a watermark invisible to the human eye. If the movie is then ripped with a camera in the cinema (cam rip), this watermark will still be visible to the player, and players that comply with AACS will discontinue playback as soon as they detect it.
heise.de also reports that the AACS key being used by AnyDVD HD will be revoked in a few days. Knowing the people at SlySoft, they've probably found a new one to use. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Apple MacBook Pro @ChileHardware
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Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo 1333MHZ FSB Processor @Tweaknews.net
Kingwin Gladiator Hybrid Liquid CPU Cooler @Virtual-Hideout
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Logitech MX Air @InsideHW.com
NZXT DUET Classic Series Steel HTPC Midtower Case @Futurelooks
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San Disk Sansa Express DAP @I4U
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VisionTek Radeon X1300 PCI Video Card @OCModShop
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Back in April, we reported that BenQ was spinning off its branded business. BenQ announced today that the spin-off has been completed and that the new company will be commencing operations immediately.
BenQ Corporation is pleased to announce that it will commence its new operation today following successful completion of the spin-off plan to separate its branded and manufacturing business. BenQ, a branded company after the separation, will continue to sell and market products under the BenQ brand name.

BenQ will remain headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. The company has a paid-in capital of NT$3.62 billion with revenue expected to exceed NT$100 billion in 2009. At the initial stage, BenQ will be 100% owned by Qisda Corporation. Qisda will gradually reduce its shareholdings in BenQ while BenQ explores options for strategic partners and investors.
If you'd like to read more, BenQ's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Toshiba has reportedly placed an OEM order with Ritek for blank 2x HD DVD-R discs. According to DigiTimes, Toshiba plans to bundle five blank HD DVD-R discs with it HD DVD recorders sold during the holiday shopping season.
Ritek, the second largest Taiwan-based producer of blank optical discs, has obtained OEM orders for blank 2x HD DVD-R (recordable, write once) discs from Toshiba, with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2007, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper.

Ritek confirmed receiving orders for HD DVD-R discs but declined to disclose any information due to a non-disclosure agreement, the EDN pointed out.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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ASRock 4Core 1333-ViiV Motherboard @Madshrimps
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ION TTUSB10 USB Turntable @Everything USB
NZXT Lexa Blackline PC Case @ThinkComputers.org
Winchip DDR2 1200MHz PC2-9600 2GB RAM Kit @Benchmark Reviews
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Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced at IFA that they have sold more than 250,000 Blu-ray titles in Europe. More impressive though is that they've sold nearly one million titles in North America alone.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment(SPHE) today announced that the company's Blu-ray Disc(TM) sales acrossEurope have reached 250,000 while sales in North America are nearing theone million mark approaching the fourth quarter with the Blu-ray launch ofthe highly anticipated blockbuster SPIDER-MAN 3 and Steven Spielberg'sCLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.

These benchmarks follow last week's announcement that sales of thehigh-definition format in six emerging markets including Hong Kong,Singapore, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, South Africa and the Middle East nowaccount for 10 percent of SPHE's total business in the growing regions.
With Spider-man 3 and the Spider-man Trilogy on the way, SPHE shouldn't have any problems exceeding the one million mark. If you'd like to read more, SPHE's entire announcement can be found here. Add a comment

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The Blu-ray Disc Association recently announced that Acer has decided to join the BDA. The company currently plans to incorporate Blu-ray technology into their notebook computers.
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced today that Acer Inc. will become the newest member of the BDA, joining more than 170 of the world’s leading consumer electronic, computer companies and content providers. Acer is one of the three largest personal-computer brands in the world and the number one notebook brand in Europe.

“We’re delighted to welcome Acer to the Blu-ray Disc Association,” said Victor Matsuda, chairman of the BDA’s Global Promotions Committee. “The addition of Acer provides one more sign of the growing momentum behind Blu-ray Disc and, more importantly, is a significant advantage for consumers, as it further expands the already broad options available to consumers in the personal computer space.”
If you'd like to read more, the BDA's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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With the sales of EVD and HVD players coming up short, Chinese companies have started to look at other high-def formats. At IFA, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced that the China Hualu Group has joined the BDA as a contributor member. The company plans to propose Chinese technologies and standards to Blu-ray Disc Association for further improvement of the format.
China Hualu Group Co., Ltd. (CHLG), the only consumer electronics company belonging to Chinese state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of State Council, has joined the Blu-ray Disc Association as a contributor member.

CHLG is one of China’s leading manufactures of audio and video devices and is one of the largest providers of audio and video contents and services in China.

“After careful and intensive evaluation of next generation DVD formats, China Hualu Group decided to join Blu-ray Disc Association since this presents the best opportunity in the market for us,” said Chen Run Sheng, Chairman of CHLG. “Hualu Group is committed to actively help improve Blu-ray Disc formats and becoming involved in its promotional activities in the Chinese market.”
According to other sources, CHLG also plans to team up with the China Film Group to establish a Blu-ray Disc authoring center in China. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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