Topic: News

DVD guru Flash has contacted us excitedly with some very interesting news. Flash says, "I have just been advised of a new DVD writable format being developed that will produce a DVD in a matter of seconds. It works using a similar principal to the the one used in the production of commercially pressed DVDs. The drive is compatible with both + & - DVD writable media but the way it operates is completely different from the way we currently know. The whole of the burn is done in one step and the actual burn takes about 10 seconds from start to finish.

Blu-ray Disc (BD) -- the next generation of optical discs which will be especially suited to storing high-definition movies -- will have by far the highest capacity of any optical disc storage format ever developed for consumers with disc-making costs that are comparable to those for DVDs when manufactured at mass volumes, according to Panasonic, Philips and Sony.

Recently we have covered in our news section several stories about the advent of new discs and burners that use Dual (or Double) Layer technology and have had considerable feedback asking us to explain exacly what this means. This review should hopefully do that: What Are Dual Layer (DL) Discs?

Macrovision, creators of the SafeDisc copy protection among others, will be holding a 'Hacker University' at this year’s E3 Game Conference in Los Angeles. The intention is to provide workshops that will allow games developers to learn the tools and techniques hackers use to create 'free' games and how Macrovision’s SafeDisc Security API technology can be implemented to minimize this threat.

Sony has announced an upgrade service for the BDZ-S77, the industry's first personal Blu-ray DVD recorder. For a cost of 10,500 yen (£55), users can upgrade the system to record and playback not only broadcasting satellite digital TV programs, but also digital terrestrial broadcasting and 110-degree CS digital programs with excellent picture and sound.

A few weeks following the distribution of its first PSX upgrade disk, Sony has gone about finalizing details on the second. Set to be made available from this Wednesday, this upgrade adds even more of the features that went absent from the system in its rush to the Japanese market late last year.

Our resident DVD guru Flash has be exercised by a slew of very poor quality Ritek discs that have been coming onto the UK market. Known widely as 'Landscape' or 'Mountain Water' Riteks these discs would appear to fail even the most rudimentary quality control tests. You can read Flash's survey of the current situation under the headline What’s Happened to Ritek DVD-R Quality?.

Pioneer have released an official firmware upgrade for the DVR-A07/107 whichs boasts a clutch of improvements in writing and playability. You can download the new firmware from our firmware downloads section or click the headline to find out more details.

The UK's record industry has issued illegal music downloaders with a warning that they must stop pirating music or face action in the courts. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has said 7.4 million people in the UK are swapping songs online illegally.

Sony has committed itself to shipping second-generation consumer-oriented Blu-Ray video recorders by the end of the year, the company said today. The new systems will support single-side, dual-layer Blu-Ray rewriteable discs with a total capacity of 50GB. Current Blu-Ray rewriteable discs provide 23GB of storage on a single layer.

Press Release: 321 Studios, unbowed by their recent trials and tribulations, have introduced the next evolution of the company's DVD and CD creation software. DVDXTREME is said to be a complete digital media toolbox that allows you to create, edit, back up, rescue, and share your photos, home video, music, and data with only a few clicks.

As widely expected, the European Commission issued a precedent-setting ruling against Microsoft today for anti-competitive practices. The Commission has imposed a fine of €497m (£331m) and ordered Microsoft to offer versions of Windows without Windows Media Player within 90 days and release up-to-date documentation of application interfaces for its server software to rivals within 120 days.

The DVD Forum has denied the report which we published under the headline 'DVD Forum Picks Apple' yesterday. That story claimed the DVD Forum has adopted the AAC (Advanced Audio Codec) standard as part of its specifications for DVD-audio discs.

Memorex has introduced the world's first 8cm, 1.4 GB, DVD-R discs - the Mini DVD. At eight centimeters in diameter, the discs are designed for home video recording with DV camcorders like the Sony Handycam, as well as mobile storage of multimedia presentations, videos, MP3 files and data.

The AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), the audio format supported by Apple's iTunes Music Store, has been chosen as a key future DVD Audio disc technology by the standard's governing body, the DVD Forum. According to an unnamed Forum member cited by web site High Fidelity Review, AAC beat Microsoft's Windows Media 9 format, MP3 and Sony's ATRAC because it "sounded better than the others".

InterVideo has added new Personal Video Recorder (PVR) capabilities and DVD burning functionality to its InstantON technology, a Linux-based media-centric operating system that it hopes to license to PC makers as a dual-boot option. InterVideo claims InstantOn boots in under 10 seconds, turning standard x86 PCs into complete Linux-based home entertainment centers operated by remote control.

Panasonic Japan have unveiled details of their very stylish new DVD Super Multi Drive, the snappily titled LF-P667C, which will be available there from March 20th. The LF-P667C will be compatible with Microsoft Windows ME/2000/XP, record onto seven different kinds of disks and read nine.

Sony has announced that its PSX console will be available in time for Christmas this year in the UK. The console, which is a Playstation2 with a hard disk, DVD recorder, is online ready and includes the ability to play back mp3's and other media formats, sold out in its first day of release in Japan in 2003.

Ritek recently passed the certification for 4x DVD+RW discs by Philips, the first of Taiwan's optical disc makers, according to company CEO Gordon Yeh. Only a few companies such as Philips, Mitsubishi and Ricoh have 4x DVD+RW technology, Yeh emphasized during an interview at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany. The certification will help Ritek compete for OEM orders, Yeh noted.

Microsoft plans to drop the price of its Xbox video game system by $30 to $149 (£81) next month, according to published reports. Citing people familiar with the company's plans, The Wall Street Journal have reported that Microsoft may also start selling a limited-edition Xbox packaged with its "Halo" shooting game, for $169 (£92).