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Sonic Solutions has announced that they've teamed up with Akimbo Systems, integrating their video-on-demand service into Roxio Venue. Here's part of their press release:
Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, and Akimbo Systems, creator of the first Internet video-on-demand service for television, announced today a marketing and licensing partnership that will significantly expand the audience reach of the Akimbo Service. Akimbo will be integrated with Roxio Venue, Sonic's powerful media application, providing service access for the first time to a broad base of PC users and letting them easily browse, purchase, manage and enjoy Akimbo's growing selection of over 14,000 high-quality programs. In the future, Akimbo plans to also incorporate Sonic AuthorScript DVD-on-Demand technology so participating content partners can enable consumers to record downloaded entertainment to DVD.
Under the agreement with Sonic, Akimbo will distribute Roxio Venue directly to consumers and through their service provider partners. Sonic will include Akimbo as a premier service provider in the retail version of Roxio Venue. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Memorex has announced that they've started shipping their HD DVD-R media. With a capacity of 15 GB, these write once discs can store up to 75 minutes of HD-quality video or about 7 hours of standard DVD-quality video. Here's part of their press release:

Memorex, the leading brand of optical media at U.S. retail and a portfolio brand of Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN - News), today announced it is shipping its highly anticipated HD DVD recordable media. Memorex HD DVD-R write-once discs support high-definition (HD) television and video recording with crystal-clear broadcast quality. Also ideal for consumers seeking to capture, save and share photos, music and data, the recordable Memorex HD DVD discs deliver up to three times the capacity of standard recordable DVD media and faster digital transfer speeds.
While Memorex's HD DVD-RW media won't ship until the fourth quarter of 2006, their HD DVD-R discs are available now for a suggested retail price of $19.99. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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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 RiTEK and its European subsidiaries.
The patent infringement law suits, Ciba Specialty Chemicals (CIBA) had filed against RiTEK Corporation and its European subsidiaries Conrexx Technology B.V. (also known as Traxdata), RME Manufacturing GmbH, and PrimeDisc Technologies GmbH has been settled, RiTEK Corporation and Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc., have announced today. Ciba had sued RiTEK because it had found the dye supplied by some of RiTEK's suppliers, infringed Ciba's phthalocyanine and related CD-R media patents. Ciba holds worldwide patents for its advanced phthalocyanine dyes and disks, which include China and Taiwan, where RiTEK had produced the media. A RiTEK spokesperson commented: "We do not have plentiful knowledge about the dye technology. After a clarification from Ciba, we realize the importance of the technology within 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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Advanced Media has announced the launch of their RIDATA 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. Here's part of their press release:
Advanced Media, Inc., manufacturer and marketer of the popular RIDATA brand of recordable CD and DVD media, flash memory cards and USB flash drives, has introduced its latest addition to its' rapidly growing RIDATA brand DVD media lineup. The new RIDATA DVD-RW 6X and DVD+RW 8X media features exceptionally fast write speeds for re-writeable media.

"We are pleased to be able to provide the highest speed rewriteable DVD discs available on the market today. Our rewriteable DVD's have seven times the storage capacity of a CD-R for larger digital storage needs. RIDATA DVD+RW ensures high durability and reliability for a variety of recording situations, making it a versatile storage solution. These discs are ideal for data-intensive, high-performance data storage," remarked Harvey Liu, Advanced Media president. "Rewriteable discs can be used for recording and re-recording TV shows, movies, sporting events, digital photos, up to two hours of video, MP3 files and data."

The RIDATA rewriteable media will rewrite up to 1,000 times and are tested to keep data safe for more than 30 years for durable long lasting archives. RIDATA DVD's have become the optimal solution for copying high quality video, sound, and large capacity for both audio/video and PC systems. Rewriteable media from RIDATA is compatible with popular DVD readers and writers.
Advanced Media's 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW discs are available now in packs of 25, 50 and 100. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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DigiTimes has reported that Taiwan's game industry favors the Xbox 360's external HD DVD drive over the PS3's built in Blu-ray drive.
Microsoft will launch external HD-DVD drives for its Xbox 360 at a retail price of US$200 by Christmas of this year, and Taiwanese games developers and gaming services providers indicated this this is a smart marketing strategy as compared with Sony's adoption of built-in BD drives for its PlayStation 3 (PS3).

External drives have more flexibility than built-in models, the companies pointed out, while adding that despite BD having a much larger storage capacity than HD-DVD, pre-installation of BD drives may decrease the market competitiveness of PS3 units.
If you'd like to read more, head on overo to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Here's an interesting bit of news. CNET has reported that Sony's first Blu-ray Disc drive, the BWU-100A, will not be able to play back commercial Blu-ray movies.
Vincent Bautista, Sony's product manager for data storage, told CNET.com.au that due to copy protection issues and lagging software development, the drive will only play user-recorded high-definition content from a digital camcorder, and not commercial movies released under the BD format.

Bautista says that one of two reasons for this is the fact that commercial content is encrypted with High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), which can only be decrypted using a HDCP-compliant graphics card that offers DVI or HDMI connections. Since there are currently no PCs for sale offering graphics chips that support HDCP, this isn't yet possible.

The second reason, according to Bautista, is that BD playback software that can decrypt HDCP isn't "released as a saleable item yet". Today, the only HDCP-supporting BD playback application is the OEM version of Intervideo WinDVD BD that's bundled with Sony's VAIO VGN-AR18GP notebook. The AR18GP also offers an HDCP-compliant HDMI connector, which makes it capable of playing commercial movies without issue.
Personally, I think that CNET is misinterpretting Vincent Bautista's comments. It's not that the BWU-100A cannot play back commercial Blu-ray movies but rather it requires a graphics card and playback software that support HDCP. As we've found in our own testing, both are in short supply right now. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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According to a study done by the London based research firm, Screen Digest, the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD will alienate many consumers, turning them off of the technology altogether.
The battle between two hyped formats for high-definition DVD will confuse shoppers and turn many of them off the whole technology, a London-based research firm predicted on Friday.

Market research analyst Screen Digest also forecast that only $11 billion of the total $39 billion expected to be spent on video discs by 2010 in the United States, Europe and Japan will be generated by the competing high-definition formats, Sony Corp.-backed (6758.T: Quote, NEWS, Research) Blu-ray and Toshiba-supported (6502.T: Quote, NEWS, Research) HD-DVD.

"The net result of the format war and the publicity it has generated will be to dampen consumer appetite for the whole high definition disc category," Screen Digest analyst Ben Keen said.
Screen Digest also predicts that the two formats will co-exist until a combined solution becomes cost-effective. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at Pioneer's new Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-101A. Designed with professional users in mind, the BDR-101A can store up to 25GB of data or more than two hours of HD video onto single layer BD-R and BD-RE media. Pioneer's new drive can also be used to play Blu-ray Disc movie titles and is backwards compatible with standard DVD media, offering 8x DVD±R, 4x DVD±RW, 2.4x DVD+R DL and 2x DVD-R DL writing speeds.

In this review we take a look at some of the features found on the BDR-101A and then see how it performs. Is Pioneer's new Blu-ray Disc writer in your future? You'll have to read the review to find out.


Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-ray Disc Writer
As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the Pioneer BDR-101A, please post them in the forum by clicking the link below. Add a comment

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Associated Content has put together an interesting article comparing Blu-ray and HD DVD. Instead of examining video quality or disc capacity, they look the two formats from the perspective of a DVD author.
Once again I have to give the nod to Blu-ray Disc. There are basic technology aspects as stated above, but from an authoring standpoint, there are advantages to working with BD over HD DVD. Granted there are not currently a lot of authoring tools available. With the exception of Sonic Solutions, there are not any HD DVD/BD authoring applications on the market as of July 2006. That's bound to change in the next 6-12 months, but for now, most HD DVD and BD titles are being hand jammed, a process more akin to software development than DVD authoring. When fully implemented authoring programs do become available, it will soon become clear why BD is better.
This is definitely an interesting read. If you'd like to check it out, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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According to DigiTimes, CMC Magnetics has started selling CD-R and DVD+R/-R discs in the Chinese market under its own brand, Mr. Data.
CMC has extended its business operations from OEM production to own-brand sales, to seek better profitability, and China is the market with the largest potential for the time being, the sources pointed out. Mr. Data was created specifically for the China market, the sources indicated. CMC is offering 52x CD-R, 8x and 16x DVD+R/-R discs for sale there, with an 8x DVD+R/-R disc priced at 2.5 yuan (US$0.31), the sources noted.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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