Nintendo is planning to release a DVD playback pack for its next-generation console, Wii, but it looks like only Japanese consumers will ever get the chance to buy it. Europe and the US, it seems, are too stuffed with cheap DVD players to make such a move worthwhile.

Apple has released DVD Studio Pro 4.1.1, an update to its professional DVD authoring software for Mac OS X. The 2.3MB update is available for download from Apple's Web site.

With the view that the market for PC optical disc drives (ODDs) in Taiwan is approaching saturation, as seen by the NT$1,500 (US$45) price for 16x DVD burners, Sony Taiwan indicated it will shift its marketing toward optical disc devices not dependent on PCs, according to Sony Taiwan.

Taiwan-based optical disc makers are expected to benefit from Hitachi Maxell's decision to place more ODM orders, according to industry sources.

For all those blank media boffins and incurable insomniacs out there Imation has created a film which depicts the manufacturing process, technology and consumer uses of high-definition media in a new video titled, "Imation: Into the Blue."

A race is on to digitise the world's books, pitting Internet juggernaut Google against a vast anti-Google coalition backed by rivals Yahoo and Microsoft.

Sony is clearly intent on making the PS3 the all-in-one hub for your home entertainment. A new list of media formats supported by the system right out of the box includes a variety of hard and digital formats.

Microsoft's Office worker productivity and collaboration suite is about to become the next piece of software that will be subject to mandatory piracy checks.

Google has vowed to take a tough line on copyright when it completes its $1.65bn (£875m) takeover of YouTube.

Brits favour HD DVD over Blu-ray Disc, it has been claimed. According to online retailer Play.com, UK consumers are spending more than twice as much on HD DVD players and content than they are on BD kit.

Thomson's Technicolor Content Services division has rolled out an encoding system for high-quality compression of high-definition video for use in HD DVD and Blu-ray disc products.

The European Union has lifted a threat to impose tariffs on blank compact discs from China and Malaysia, marking the second victory this month for EU buyers of Asian consumer electronics over higher-cost European producers.

Researchers have announced at ISOM 2006 important new developments involving high-speed recording on Blu-Ray media, presenting recordings on Blu-Ray discs at speeds as high as the 12x.

One of Scotland's biggest DVD pirates is behind bars. Nicknamed Captain Pugwash after the kids' TV character, Ricky Ralston, 49, was caught with 3663 illegal DVDs and CDs in a van. He's been jailed for jailed for 12 months at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

Two men who sold DVD vending machines out of Hollywood were convicted Friday of fraud charges in federal court in Miami, according to the U. S. Attorney's Office.

A Japanese sound boffin has come up with a glass CD which he reckons does not warp, distort, and looks and sounds nicer than those nasty plastic creations.

HP will next month ship its first internal DVD writer that not only burns at up to 18x speeds but also supports the LightScribe label etching system. Says who? Says Lite-on IT, the Taiwanese optical disc drive maker that manufacturers HP's drives. 18x "will" be HP's new writing speed standard, the PC giant's supplier has ruled.

The American Independent Media Manufacturers Association (AIMMA) has voted to support HD DVD as the next-generation blue-laser format at an October 10 general meeting, according to a press release issued by the organization, but Taiwan pre-recorded optical disc makers still see Hollywood studios as being the key decision makers in terms of adoption of next-generation DVD standards.

Maxell will be showcasing its holographic storage, Blu-ray and HD-DVD technologies at the National Association of Broadcasters to be held in New York from October 24-25.

Sony will delay the release of its Blu-ray HDTV DVD player, the BDP-S1, until early December. The device has already been delayed once, and rumours are that a "software issue" inside the device are the cause for the latest postponement.