Pioneer Japan sent out a press release this morning, announcing its latest 20x DVD writer, the DVR-S17J. Along with support for LabelFlash and Pioneer's PowerRead and PureRead2 technologies, the drive features 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R DL, 12x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. To improve the recording accuracy, Pioneer has also developed a new servo actuator and spindle motor. The DVR-S17J is scheduled to ship in mid-December and is expected to cost about 9,000 Yen ($101US).

Micron Technology, Inc. has raised the performance bar for SSDs. The company today announced its RealSSD C300 SSD, the industry’s fastest for notebook and desktop PCs. Micron’s new RealSSD C300 drive enables users to enjoy a more powerful and responsive computing experience—including faster operating system (OS) boot and hibernate times, and speedier application load, data transfer and file copying.

“The C300 SSD not only delivers on all the inherent advantages of SSDs – improved reliability and lower power use – but also leverages a finely tuned architecture and high-speed ONFI 2.1 NAND to provide a whole new level of performance,” said Dean Klein, vice president of memory system development at Micron.

While benchmark tests have shown that the C300 SSD is the fastest PC SSD leveraging the industry standard SATA 3Gb/s interface, the SSD performance is further boosted by natively supporting the next generation high-speed interface – SATA 6Gb/s.

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Super Talent, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, proudly released a brand new compact digital storage product line, CFast™ storage cards. Just like the traditional SD card and its enhanced version, SDHC, the CFast storage card, with SATA interface, has improved, unmatched write/read performance speeds.

Super Talent CFast storage card is an evolution of the traditional CompactFlash™ card which has been in the industry for over 14 years, satisfying storage needs for mobile digital devices such as PDAs, digital cameras, etc. CFast has a bandwidth of 375MB/s which is four times more than the fastest High Speed 600x (90MB/s) CompactFlash card while still keeping the small original CF mechanical form factor. The new CFast storage card breaks the speed bottleneck between the SSD and the device by using a SATA interface. Super Talent has clocked these CFast cards at up to 200MB/sec read speeds. With Super a Talent CFast storage card installed, there will be no waiting time for the camera to catch up, and it will be much swifter to view pictures on a camera or to copy them to computer.

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In a move that is poised to elevate the Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def format and provide consumers with the ultimate in convenience and viewing flexibility, Universal Studios Home Entertainment (USHE) announced the introduction of groundbreaking dual-format discs containing both Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def and DVD versions of some of Hollywood's most iconic films. An industry first, the new "flipper" discs will launch on January 19, 2010 with the blockbuster superspy thrillers The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon, premiering as individually packaged Blu-ray(TM) discs.

For the first time ever, consumers will have the ability to choose between Blu-ray(TM) and DVD formats, simply by flipping a single disc. With complete utility in one convenient package, the revolutionary medium can be used on any DVD or Blu-ray(TM) compatible player, game platform or computer, making it ideal for anyone planning to upgrade to Blu-ray(TM) at a future date as well as current owners of both Blu-ray(TM) and DVD systems. Each side of Universal's flipper discs includes the entire movie as well as all available bonus features, with the Blu-ray(TM) side featuring exciting BD exclusives such as U-Control and BD-Live(TM).

"Universal's flipper discs are the perfect way for consumers to future-proof their collections while still enjoying their favorite movies on all their existing DVD players," said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "The flipper disc offers an easy way for viewers to convert to Blu-ray now or at any time in the future, confident in the fact they will be able to experience their home entertainment purchases in the highest quality picture and sound when they do."

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