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Get ready to get your cheap HD on kids. Wal-Mart just threw down some serious green for a batch of Chinese-made HD DVD players. Just as they brought DVD players down to near-disposable status, their deal for 2 million HD DVD players produced by China's Great Wall corporation will ultimately do the same for hi-def optical. The guts are developed by Taiwan's Fuh Yuan with a touch of help from Japan's TDK. How much? A magical $299, that's how much -- $100 less than the cheapest available HD DVD rig (Toshiba's A2) and half of Sony's $600 BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc player. It's not clear when we'll see the first units on Wal-Mart shelves, only that the final shipment from the order is expected before 2008 is over.With the Toshiba HD-A2 already selling for less than $330 on Amazon, the price of Walmart's player is a bit high. Then again, its very likely that the price will come down before it actually ships. If you'd like to read more, Engadget's entire report can be found here. Add a comment
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If you'd like to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, will double production of its dual-wavelength high-power laser for DVD recorders to 10 million units a month in FY'07.
Panasonic led the industry in November 2005 by pioneering production of a dual-wavelength high-power laser as a light source for DVD recorder pickups. This product has enjoyed a good reputation for high quality. The device offers several advantages over use of monochromatic lasers for each wavelength because it combines two laser wavelengths in a single chip: an infrared beam (with a wavelength of 780 nm, for CD use) and a red beam (with a wavelength of 650 nm, for DVD use) As a result, light source point adjustment is unnecessary, the optical pickup system can be simplified, and the number of peripheral parts can be halved. These benefits helped dual-wavelength lasers to capture a 15% share of the total market for DVD recorder pickups in FY'06.
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Sony said the problem was due to an update of its ARccOS copy-protection system, an additional layer of protection meant to prevent ripping. The studio has included ArccOS on its DVDs for the past two years. The copy-protection is continually updated to keep ahead of hackers.While I'm sure this will give Sony haters one more reason to go off, you have to give the company credit for making things right. It's too bad they didn't do the same with the whole rootkit debacle. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
"Recently, an update that was installed on approximately 20 titles was found to cause an incompatibility issue with a very small number of DVD players (Sony has received complaints on less than one thousandth of one percent of affected discs shipped)," the company said in a statement. "Since then, the ARccOS system has once again been updated, and there are no longer any playability problems."
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Nero, leaders in digital media technology, today announced it will release of the stand alone version of BackItUp 2, a complete data backup and disaster recovery solution. BackItUp 2 is Vista-ready and provides versatile capabilities such as highly configurable automatic backup scheduling, data encryption, virus protection, and extensive media and storage device compatibility. BackItUp 2 will be available early May in North and South America through Nero's volume licensing program.While Nero has not provided pricing information yet, you can bet it will be a fraction of what you'd pay for the entire Nero suite. If you'd like to read more, Nero's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
"The BackItUp 2 application and our volume licensing program make it easy for businesses to ensure the preservation of their mission-critical data," said Udo Eberlein, Chief Operating Officer, Nero AG. "In addition to offering category-leading disaster recovery, backup scheduling and data security tools, BackItUp 2 delivers unprecedented support for media formats and devices, including a broad assortment of network storage solutions."
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Marking the first anniversary of HD DVD hardware and movies sold to consumers, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group announced today that sales of dedicated HD DVD consumer electronics players reached more than 100K units sold in the United States, ahead of any other high definition format. This figure does not include sales of HD DVD PC drives or the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, which are also selling strongly.With more than 70 new titles scheduled to be released by the end of July and player prices already hovering around $300, HD DVD is definitely ready to give Blu-ray a run for its money. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
As consumers see lower prices for high definition players, the manufacturing efficiencies of HD DVD are keeping the format one step ahead. As the first to bring CE player prices down below the $400 mark, Toshiba is hearing encouraging news from retailers.
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Pioneer on April 17 debuted its BDC-S02 Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo drive model in Beijing, for immediate launch in China and later in other markets around the world at a recommended retail price of US$299, according to Pioneer's Taiwan subsidiary Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan.While the BDC-S02 is still a bit pricey, its considerably cheaper than most of the Blu-ray drives currently on the market. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
The BDC-S02 can playback high-definition movies on BD-ROM, BD-R (recordable), BD-R DL (single-sided double-layer), BD-RE (rewritable) and BD-RE DL discs as well as common DVD and CD discs, according to Pioneer's Optical Disc Drive Sales general manager Shannon Yu for the Asia-Pacific region.
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No word on price yet but like most Blu-ray media, Panasonic's new 4x discs probably won't be cheap. If you'd like to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Based on its 35-year experience in optical disc development, Panasonic succeeded in developing a new phase-change recording layer to achieve a 4x writing speed. The maximum data transfer speed for a 4x disc is 144Mbps, which means it can copy a 1GB folder in just one minute. This phase-change recording technology is used both for single and dual layer structures and ensures precise and stable recording at speeds ranging from 1x to 4x.
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Toshiba's USB 2.0 portable external hard drives are available in capacities ranging from 100GB to 200GB. Their new 200GB model will set you back a cool $229.99. More information is available on Toshiba's website. Add a comment
Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in mobile storage products, today introduced a 200GB 2.5-inch USB 2.0 portable external hard drive capable of storing up to 57,000 digital photos, 52,000 MP3 music files, 88 DVD videos or 23 high-definition videos. The 200GB portable external hard drive delivers the highest capacity of any backup solution in the compact 2.5-inch hard drive class.
