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Imation Corp (NYSE: IMN) today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Memorex in an all cash transaction, from Hanny Holdings of Hong Kong and other shareholders of Memorex. Actual purchase price was $329 million, after net asset adjustments were made to the original purchase price of $330 million. Additional cash consideration ranging between $5 million and $45 million will be paid out over a period of up to three years after close, contingent on financial performance of the purchased business. In addition, customary closing costs and advisory fees of approximately $5 million have been incurred.According to the press release, Memorex will continue to do business as usual. However, they will now be a division of Imation. If you'd like to read more, Imation's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
"This acquisition is a major strategic milestone for Imation, as we implement our profitable growth strategy," said Bruce Henderson, Imation Chairman and CEO. "We are adding a powerful consumer brand and the U.S. market share leader in recordable CDs and DVDs, as well as an experienced retail team. With Imation's deep technology expertise, strong business-to-business brand, global footprint, broad product portfolio and industry experience, we are creating a new global powerhouse in the data storage industry. Over the past three months, we have completed detailed integration planning and look forward to a rapid transition to the combined company."
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The results for Sony's game division during the current fiscal year will not be good however, as the company ramps up investments for the PlayStation 3, which launches worldwide this November. Sony expects the segment to hemorrhage 100 billion yen ($871.6 million) in operating losses during the business year as it prepares the PS3 for launch.Knowing Sony, the company won't have any problem making this money back, especially if the PS3 is as popular as their previous consoles. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
That said, in the future Sony believes it can cut down on PS3 related costs quite a bit. "We believe that we can lower costs dramatically (on the PS3) through chip shrinkage and by cutting the number of parts but there is no way to avoid high costs in the first year," Sony Senior Vice President Takao Yuhara told a Tokyo news conference, according to Reuters.
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TDK Corp. has prototyped a recordable Blu-ray Disc medium with its capacity increased to 200 GB by stacking six recording layers. The new medium boasts the capacity approximately eight times that of the existing single-layer Blu-ray Disc medium.I have to give TDK credit. They're really pushing the limits of Blu-ray technology. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
TDK prototyped a 100 GB recordable medium having four 25 GB recording layers stacked on one another in 2003. This time, the company employed a different signal processing scheme to increase the capacity per layer to 33.3 GB, while increasing the number of the recording layers to six through the adoption of a novel recording material.
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The race is on to successfully develop and commercialize the next generation format in the industry, namely the Blue Disk (BD) or the HDDVD. An early mover advantage in the next generation formats is a critical success factor as CDR/RW segment starts to mature.Moser Baer is also collaborating with other companies to develop Holographic discs with capacities up to 200GB and beyond. If you'd like to read more, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Over the past three years, the company has invested significantly in its R&D programs targeted at developing the next generation formats in optical media space by leveraging its core skills in base material engineering, thin film coating, precision sputtering and deep UV mastering technologies. Starting from 1QFY07, the company plans to launch a series of next generation formats, in conjugation with drive and recorder availability, and expects to be first to market in a majority of these formats. The four products which we believe will have a significant market potential in the future are DVDR Dual Layer, HDDVD-R (recordable) and RE (re-writable), HDDVD Dual layer, and BD-R and RE.
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U.S. high-definition DVD disc company Blue Ray Technologies announces it has solved the production problems reportedly hampering the major overseas plants to make the imminent release of HD movies on Blu-ray discs both affordable and locally-made.This is good news for the Blu-ray camp as high disc production costs have dogged the format since day one. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
In a David vs. Goliath situation, independent Blue Ray Technologies is in the final patent stages for key manufacturing processes related to the layering process of Hi-def Blu-ray movies and games that may be hampering the majors. The company is thereby lowering its prices for studios that want their movies made with the indie firm.
"We are finalizing the patents that will revolutionize the manufacturing process," said company CEO and founder Erick Hansen. "We are hopefully going to beat the big companies in the world. That's because they presently have such a high reject rate. It is said to be as high as 75 percent rejects while ours are lower than 20 percent."
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Lite-On IT has landed PC-use FVD (forward versatile disc) orders from a leading US-based distributor with shipment slated to start in June, said Derray Huang, deputy general director of the Opto-electronics and Systems Laboratories (OES) at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).It will be interesting to see if FVD can compete with HD DVD and Blu-ray. Considering how expensive these technologies are, I would not be surprised if FVD was able to grab a small market share. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
FVD is a red-laser high-definition DVD format developed by Taiwan as an alternative to blue laser HD DVD and Blu-ray disc (BD) high-definition DVD formats.
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Nero, leaders in digital media technology, unveil today the newest and most powerful version of the Nero 7 software suite to-date. An all-in-one solution for the management of data, audio, video, photo and TV content, Nero 7 is a comprehensive tool for today's digital home. Nero 7 now enables Blu-ray data recording and adds many new and updated applications such as Nero Search and Nero Home to empower users even more than before. Current Nero 7 customers will be able to receive a free online update at www.nero.com.While its great that Nero continues to include new features, they really need to fix up some of the existing bugs. As it is, people are already reporting issues with the latest version. Anyway, if you'd like to read more, Nero's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
"Nero 7 supports the digital lifestyle with a very powerful suite of applications," said Jim Corbett, Executive Director, Nero AG. "From the new Blu-ray recording capability to the convenience of Nero Search, Nero 7's features and performance makes it an unbeatable solution for just about anything you would want to do within the networked home."
Nero Burning ROM and Nero Express enable Blu-ray data recording that is readable on every operating system (Windows 98 SE/Me, Windows 2000, XP and Vista), multi-session writing on BD-R/RE media and the creation of 1:1 copies of any unprotected BD media.
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In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the SHM-165H6S and see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the SHM-165H6S have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.
As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the Lite-On SHM-165H6S, please post them in the forum by clicking the link below. Add a comment
Lite-On SHM-165H6S Super AllWrite 16x DVD±RW
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Warner Home Video (WHV) has announced the release of the first title in the HD DVD and DVD Combo Format (HD DVD on one side and Standard Definition DVD on the other): "Rumor Has It," which will debut May 9, day-and-date with its Standard Definition version. In addition, WHV will release three new HD DVD titles: "GoodFellas" and "Swordfish" on May 2 and "Training Day" on May 9.The only real downside I see here is price. "Rumor Has It" has a suggested retail price of $39.99 which is about $5-10 more than a normal HD DVD title. If you'd like to read more, the entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
"We are pleased to be continuing our rollout of new HD DVD titles," said Stephen Nickerson, Senior Vice President, Market Management. "But what is really exciting is the release of the first title, `Rumor Has It,' in the HD DVD and DVD Combo format. Purchasing a disc now in this format is the ideal choice that gives consumers the greatest flexibility in viewing options: If they own an HD DVD player, of course, they'll get all the benefits of HD DVD and be able to play the disc in existing DVD players. If they're considering a future purchase of an HD DVD player, they can still enjoy the movie until they upgrade."
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Though movies on Blu-ray discs are expected to start shipping next month and a large screen iPod is still probably months away, Apple wants to make sure that when their next-generation iPod is released it will have a sufficient library of playable content already available for customers to watch.With 50GB of space available on a dual layer Blu-ray disc, there should be plenty of room to include a copy of the movie in an iPod compatible format. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
And Apple could be in a strong position to make their wish a reality. Already in the Blu-ray camp are Sony, who Apple have been working with closely of late with regard to its HD cameras; and Disney, who have been close partners of Steve Jobs' Pixar.
