Topic: News

Pioneer has lowered its 2006 target shipment volume for DVD recorders to 840,000 units, 9.7% lower that its sales volume in 2005.

While HD DVD titles trickle into stores, the arrival of the first titles in the rival Blu-ray Disc format has been pushed back by a month until June 20, to coincide with the first commercially available Blu-ray players.

The music industry, which has sued Internet users for downloading songs illegally, is turning its sights on pirates in 12 cities who copy CDs and DVDs for sale at street corners, flea markets, family-run shops and even mainstream record stores.

CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs in Taiwan, on May 2, announced a net earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.06 and a net loss per share of NT$0.35, respectively, for the first quarter of 2006.

Microsoft's long-awaited release of Vista will likely be delayed again by at least three months, according to research group Gartner.

Makers of DVD players in China are receiving pressure from representatives of the Movie Picture Expert Group (MPEG), with industry sources in Taiwan stating China-based makers will need to start paying royalties for use of MPEG2 and MPEG4 patents starting this month.

A French select committee has decided to gut a law which would have protected users from DRM and forced Apple to licence its Fairplay technology.

In an effort to attract more subscribers to its digital music service, Napster have launched an ad-supported offering that allows users to listen to over two million tracks free of charge.

Canada's most famous popular beat combos have formed a coalition against moves in the recording industry to hammer fans in copyright lawsuits and stick DRM on their albums.

Anyone in the UK who rats on employers who use illegal or unlicensed software can now collect more than £20,000 according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

Sony will next month launch its LocationFree TV (LFTV) service in the UK and other key European territories, allowing PlayStation Portable users to receive television programmes transmitted from the home and out across the internet. Mac users are to get access to the service too.

Sonic Solutions have introduced Avid DVD BD Edition, the world’s first Blu-ray Disc (BD) authoring system for video professionals.

The Indian disc manufacturer Moser Baer has announced it's intentions to be among the group of manufacturers shipping next-gen blue-laser media by the end of this year.

NEC have acknowledged it has been the victim of a large-scale piracy ring that sold both counterfeit NEC goods as well as NEC-branded products including blank CD and DVD media.

In a surprise announcement, Nintendo have revealed the new name of its forthcoming game system: Wii. "As in 'we'," the official statement adds.

Pioneer has unveiled its BDR-101A, one of the world's first PC-use Blu-ray Disc (BD) DVD burner, for sale at US$995 (£560). Due to the high price, the model caters to professional users and enterprise users, according to general manager Shannon Yu for Pioneer's Optical Disc Drive Sales Division in Greater China.

DVD Blinding Light Flash has been in contact with news about a quick tip he recieved that should work to disable the new anti-piracy pop-up nag that comes with Window's Genuine Advantage.

BenQ and Philips remain on their schedule to launch their Blu-ray DVD burner in Q3 of 2006, and promise compatibility with the CD and DVD formats.

Lite-On has landed PC-use FVD (forward versatile disc) orders from a leading U.S.-based distributor with shipment slated to start in June, according to Derray Huang, deputy general director of the Opto-electronics and Systems Laboratories (OES) at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

Researchers of the super-fast Internet2 network unveiled on Wednesday their new networking speed record of 8.8 Gbps per second, nearing the Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps, which is thousands of times faster than standard home broadband connections.