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Although tight supply of CD-R discs has become worse since the second half of 2006, the top two Taiwan-based optical disc makers, CMC Magnetics and Ritek, have still decided to schedule their annual maintenance during the Chinese New Year, with second-tier players Prodisc Technology, Gigastorage and Lead Data expected to continue running their lines during the period.This decision is expected to have a negative effect on the world's already tight supply of CD-R and DVD+R/-R media. For consumers, this probably means more price hikes in the near future. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
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Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC - News) known for its leading Panasonic brand, today announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Panasonic Corporation of North America, will establish a Panasonic Hollywood Blu-ray Testing Center (PHBTC) within the existing facilities of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory and start testing services immediately.If you want to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Blu-ray Discs feature strong copyright protection technology, and conducting logical format verification of entertainment content in replicated BD-Video discs requires technical sophistication. Until now there has been no testing service available for content verification before disc replication although many in the motion picture industry expressed the need for a testing center to provide such services, especially in the Hollywood area. The new Panasonic testing center, PHBTC, meets the industry's need and is expected to accelerate the release of BD-Video titles by the motion picture industry.
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There are eight companies worldwide able to replicate Blu-ray Discs, said Hirsch. Two of those companies are controlled by Sony, which won't allow them to handle pornography. Five other companies have contracts to replicate discs for the Walt Disney, which stipulate that they cannot handle adult films if they want to work with Disney.With Blu-ray outselling HD DVD by more than 2:1, Vivid is probably doing the smart thing by sticking with Blu-ray. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
That leaves one possible replicator for the adult industry, and Hirsch is keeping its name a closely guarded secret. He doesn't want to give rivals easy access to a company it was hard for him to find.
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According to VideoScan, during the first two weeks of January, Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD by more than a 2:1 margin. It should be noted that the two weeks in question saw only two new high-def disc releases -- both from Blu-ray ('The Covenant' on Jan 2, and 'Crank' on Jan 9).Say what you want about Sony and Blu-ray, but the numbers don't lie. HD DVD is getting spanked when it comes to disc sales. Can the adult film industry pull HD DVD out of this slump? We'll have to wait and see. In the mean time, head on over to High-Def Digest and check out the entire article. Add a comment
More interestingly, VideoScan's numbers indicate that during the seven days between Jan 7 and Jan 14, Blu-ray managed to close the gap of total discs sold since inception with HD DVD by over seven percentage points, suggesting that if the current trend continues, the two formats could be at disc sales parity within weeks.
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Your favorite drive didn't make it onto the list? Then go and vote for February's top DVD writer. Add a comment
- Pioneer DVR-111/A11
- LG GSA-H22N/L
- (tied) Lite-On SHM-165H6S/165P6S and Samsung SH-S182D/182M
- (tied) LG GSA-H10N/L/A and Plextor PX-760A/SA
- LG GSA-H10N/L/A
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No word on pricing, but you can bet that these discs aren't cheap. If you'd like to read more, Fujifilm's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc. today announced the introduction of Fujifilm PD711 for the XDCAM Professional Disc System, a Blu-ray-based optical recording disc for use with Sony XDCAM and XDCAM HD video systems. The Fujifilm PD711 offers 23.3GB capacity on a single disc, very fast transfer rates of up to 144Mbps and an advanced hard coating.
"New recording technologies and formats are greatly enhancing the creativity and productivity of broadcast and cinematography professionals," said Tom Daly, Director of Marketing, Professional Markets, Recording Media Division, FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc. "While magnetic tape is still the industry standard, new optical disc recording products offer professionals the benefits of file-based recording and random access capabilities, which result in a streamlined workflow and greater operational efficiencies. The addition of the new PD711 Professional Optical Disc to Fujifilm's extensive line of professional video and data recording media offers customers the most complete product line in the industry today."
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HD VMD video supports MPEG-2 codec, VC-1 codec and H.264 codec, HD VMD audio supports Dolby Digital codec, DTS codec and PCM codec. HD VMD is a true high definition format with 1920 x 1080i/p resolution, up to 40 Mbps data transfer rates, Video Up-Conversion for SD DVD, AES encryption and all region codes. Furthermore HD VMD will also support a number of open source Video codecs in the future.While its good to see NME making an effort to get HD VMD into more markets, they're really going to need support from a few major movie studios if they want it to work. If you'd like to read more, NME's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
"The first products will be available in the World's markets, including the US, very shortly", commented NME CEO Mahesh Jayanarayan. He added, "With HD Media Format quietly adopted by Content providers and Distributors in 12 regions of the World, in US, Japan, China, India, Russia, France, Germany, Scandinavia ,Central Europe, Brazil, Iceland and Middle East, HD VMD Media Format and products will become a universal media format and standard worldwide".
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Primera Technology, Inc., the world's leading developer and manufacturer of automated CD, DVD and Blu-ray duplication and printing equipment and desktop color label printers, today announced it now supports Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. All current hardware and software products are included.If you'd like to read more, Primera's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Vista-compatible printer drivers and application software updates are available immediately on Primera's technical support website at www.primera.com. New, factory-sealed boxes will include Vista-compatible software beginning in February 2007.
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To say that the Xbox 360 is a "decent" DVD player, as we have seen reported in so many places on the 'net, is giving it way too much credit. Frankly, it's a terrible DVD player. Hopefully, this article has provided you with enough evidence to compare Xbox 360 DVD playback with other consumer electronics (and even PCs) and see what you're missing. It's true that not every DVD exhibits the sorts of problems highlighted here. Many don't have any particular errors to speak of. But "many" isn't good enough, and there are enough DVDs—popular ones, at that—with serious problems.The screenshots ExtremeTech has posted show that there are definitely some issues with the Xbox 360's DVD playback. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Even those movies that play without noticeable errors don't look quite as good as they should. Though the 360 is limited to 480p through component, in compliance with the DVD Forum's regulations, the images tend to have a bit of a blocky and over-sharp look to them. Microsoft's gaming box does a good job of preserving detail, but it sometimes looks a bit rough. It's like playing a game at low resolution without antialiasing.
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Hopefully, this means that we'll be getting these discs in the US and Canada as well. If you'd like to read more Verbatim Europe's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Verbatim announces another addition to its DVD product range, the Verbatim DVD+RW 8x with 4.7 GB storage capacity. Bringing 8x rewritable speed to this popular format will allow users to reduce the recording time by 40 per cent while still providing the inherent flexibility of rewritable format. The new media will be available as 10 pack for £11.50 (RRP incl. VAT).
The new fast DVD+RW is primarily designed for video recording and streaming computer backup applications. Users record 4.7 GB of data in approximately 8 minutes. The discs can be rewritten more than 1,000 times. Similar to Verbatim's entire rewriteable product family, the DVD+RW 8x is an excellent archival disc; The Advanced Super Eutectic Recording Layer (SERL) ensures that users can enjoy perfect noise-free, high-speed data storage every time. With conventional rewriteable media, the recording layer deteriorates with every rewrite, meaning a decrease in quality. With Verbatim rewriteable media however, the recording layer is returned to perfect condition on every erase cycle, leaving a flawless disk for the next recording.
