Topic: News

In view of the stalemate between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD), producers of adult films in the US will adopt both for the time being by offering HD DVD and BD movie titles, according to sources in Taiwan's optical disc drive (ODD) industry.

Lite-On IT has lowered its manufacturing prices for 16x Notebook DVD burners to US$27-28 (£14-£15) after some expected orders were shifted to Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology (TSST), the company's main competitor, because TSST offered prices as low as below US$25.

The first HD players capable of playing both both Blu-ray and HD-DVD disks are expected to appear by the end of 2007, possibly ending the format war in next-generation DVD.

Anyone needing to recover some pics erroneously deleted from their digital camera flash memory can now make use of a free tool called PhotoRec.

Microsoft is gearing up for the Zune’s launch in 2 weeks by unveiling a new website that previews the upcoming Zune music store. The company has also said that MSN Music will no longer sell tracks after the Zune store has launched.

Super Multi DVD burners have surpassed DVD Dual burners in global shipment volume with 12x DVD-RAM set to become mainstream in 2007, according to Kenji Koishi, director for the Compatibility Working Group of the Recordable DVD Council (RDVDC) at a symposium held in Taipei on October 31.

BenQ has expanded its optical storage lineup with the DW1800 and DW1680 DVD Re-Writer. The DW1800 and DW1680 offer 18x and 16x writing speed respectively and both feature BenQ's exclusive SolidBurn technology and convenient QSuite application package.

Movie lovers can now build a PC to enjoy an HD DVD or Blu-ray experience with the release of new Nvidia ForceWare drivers featuring Nvidia PureVideo HD technology, the graphics company has announced.

A new concept in made-for-mobile content has just been introduced by Brit specialist, Player X. Enter the 'retrosode' based on 1980s hit TV shows Knight Rider and Magnum, P.I.

Panasonic has become the first company in the world to achieve the elimination of lead in Plasma Display Panels (PDPs) used as the central picture component in its Plasma TVs and Plasma Modules.

Traxdata has today announced the availability of the first of its brand new range of SecureDigital High Capacity (SDHC) memory cards.

A web browser views the front page of MySpace.com
MySpace will now scan music files on its site
Social networking site MySpace is to block users from uploading copyrighted music to its pages.

Paramount Home Entertainment will release Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" on DVD, HD-DVD & Blu-ray this December 12th.

The growing popularity of online video has caught the attention of malicious hackers and hi-tech criminals.

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.