Toshiba recently announced its new 240GB 1.8-inch hard disk drive, the MK2431GAH. Developed for consumer electronics and PC devices, this dual-platter drive has an areal density of 344 gigabits per square inch, the highest in the industry. The MK2431GAH also spins at 4,200 RPM and features a 100MB/s parallel ATA interface.

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Toshiba Corporation, the pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today announced the world's first dual-platter 240GB1) HDD (MK2431GAH). The new drive delivers the highest capacity1) and areal density in the 1.8-inch drive category for integration into portable media players, camcorders and mobile PCs. Toshiba also announced new 120GB (MK1231GAL)  and 80GB  (MK8031GAL)  capacity offerings, rounding out the most complete line of high-capacity 4,200 RPM 1.8-inch HDDs for consumer electronics (CE) and mobile PC system manufacturers.

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Intel announced this week that it has begun shipping its new X18-M and X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid State Drives (SSDs). The 1.8-inch X18-M and 2.5-inch X25-M are available in 80 GB capacities and are capable of 250MB/s read and 70MB/s write speeds.

Intel Corporation announced today it has begun shipping Intel® X18-M and X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives (SSDs) based on multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash technology for laptop and desktop computers. The new high-performing data storage devices give computer buyers a new level of system responsiveness in a lightweight, rugged, low-power package that can replace traditional hard disk drives.

Validated for Intel-based computers, the X18-M is a 1.8-inch drive and the X25-M a 2.5-inch drive, offering several advantages over hard drives including faster overall system response, boot and resume times. With no moving parts, SSDs run cooler and quieter and are a more reliable option than hard drives. In addition, SSDs remove input/output (I/O) performance bottlenecks associated with hard disk drives that help maximize the efficiency of Intel processors, such as the company’s Core™ family of products. For example, lab tests show that the Intel X18-M and X25M increase storage system performance nine times over traditional hard disk drive performance.

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Pioneer Electronics has announced its new flagship Blu-ray Disc player, the Elite BDP-09FD. Along with support for BD-Live, the BDP-09FD features a newly-engineered 16-bit video engine to provide best-in-class decoding, scaling and adjustments of HD and SD content. The player also supports full decoding and bit-stream output for high-resolution audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

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Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today introduces its Elite® BDP-09FD flagship Blu-ray Disc™ player featuring BD-Live™. With the industry’s most advanced internal components including a Pioneer®/Renesas® jointly developed core processor chipset and complex internal and external composition, the new flagship model illuminates Pioneer’s uncompromised design and engineering philosophies to deliver the truest picture and sound performance.

“For more than 30 years, we’ve led optical disc innovation with product introductions that featured numerous industry firsts, ranging from the highest grade internal components to improved build constructions, all in the pursuit of developing first class products for consumers. It’s with this mindset that our engineers were given the freedom to hand select every piece of hardware and wiring for the BDP-09FD to develop a true, reference-quality player,” said Chris Walker, senior manager of marketing and product planning for Blu-ray Disc at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “The result is a flagship BD player that provides unparalleled picture and sound performance not just for Blu-ray Discs, but also for CD and DVD content.”

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After months of development, we have launched a new version of CDRLabs.com. The website now runs on an open source platform, which should allow us to be a bit more flexible than we were before and make it easier to add new features. It is still a work in progress, so please be patient as we bring new features online and work out  a few kinks. If you find a bug or want to leave feedback, please drop us a note in the forum.

- The CDRLabs Staff

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At a recent press event, Sony Japan unveiled its new line of Blu-ray Disc recorders. All six models feature support for BD-Live and come equipped with Sony's new CREAS chip, which upscales 8/10-bit TVs to 14-bit through "Super Bit Mapping for Video".

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On the low end, you have Sony's new T-Series. The BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75 feature a built in 320GB hard drive, a digital tuner, 24p True Cinema and, in the case of the later, support for DNLA. The BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75 will be available on October 10th and are priced at $1,000 and $1,300, respectively.

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For the mid-range, Sony has introduced its new L-Series. The BDZ-L55 and BDZ-L95 share the same features as the L-Series, but add an HDV/DV input as well as two USB ports. The BDZ-L95 ups the ante even further with a 500GB hard drive, memory card reader, DLNA and support for “One-touch” and Handycam dubbing. The BDZ-L55 and BDZ-L95 will go on sale on September 29th and are priced at $1,200 and $1550, respectively.

Last but not least, you have Sony's Z-Series. The BDZ-X95 and BDZ-X100 include most of the features found on the T and L-Series as well as larger hard drives, dual tuners, Sony's Cross Media bar GUI and the new Digital Reality Creation - Multi Function version 3 (DRC-MFv3) chip. On top of that, they can transcode and transfer video to the PSP, Walkman and mobile phones. Like the L-Series, the BDZ-X95 and BDZ-X100 will hit stores on September 29th and are priced at $1,800 and $2,500, respectively.
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