Topic: News

Good news for film studios: Even television viewers with the ability to skip commercials are watching ads for movies.

The leaks are flowing thick and fast now, as the online photographed pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are now replaced with a much more convenient pdf of the book.

Ricoh has exhibited it's Multiple Format Compatible Plate (MFCP), an optical device that enables the playback of CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats with a single objective lens, at InterOpto '07.

TDK have launched two new write-once Blu-ray Discs capable of recording at 4x speed. TDK 4x 25GB BD-R Blu-ray Disc media and the 50GB version will both begin shipping later this summer.

An increasing number of China-based optical disc drive (ODD) and electric home appliance makers, such as Shinco Electronic and TCL, have stepped into assembling entry-level DVD recorders using mechanical loaders, a key part of the drives, supplied by Taiwan-based makers.

Nokia has launched a service which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled cellphone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services.

Mitsubishi has debuted a new series of CD-R media, specialy designed for people with weak vision.

Almost half a million DVD players manufactured in China have been recalled in Japan after reports that some had emitted thick smoke and begun to melt.

Hackers have found a way to unlock the popular Apple iPhone, less than a month after the phone hit retail stores. Currently, the iPhone is unusable without a new 2 year contract with AT&T which costs consumers a minimum of $1400 USD by the time it is over.

Disney's music label Hollywood Records is offering a new CD format with extra features to encourage compact-disc purchases in a bid to reverse declining CD sales.

Sales of HD DVD players and their accompanying movies are growing far faster than those for Blu-Ray, if statistics collected by research group NPD and pushed by HD DVD's Promo Group are to be believed.

Alltunes.com has won a court case against a Russian agent of Visa over its decision to disconnect the online music stores' payment system.

An interesting email has been sent out to potential delegates for the Home Media Expo starting this week which suggests that Toshiba is planning a special "one week only" deal on their HD-A2 HD DVD player.

Taiwan-based optical disc makers will receive significantly more OEM orders for CD-R and DVD+R/-R discs this quarter than in the second quarter of 2007, but will suffer unavoidable rises in the procurement costs of optical-grade polycarbonate and dyes due to continued hikes in the international price of crude oil, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Most Hollywood studios remain cautious about collapsing the video-on-demand and DVD windows, despite Warner Home Video’s recent assertions that a simultaneous window helps DVD sell-through as well as VOD buy rates.

Internet broadcasters reportedly reached a temporary deal with royalty payment collectors that would put a $50,000 cap on royalty fees and delay the collection of those fees for an undetermined period of time. Congress also stepped in with the introduction of a bill that would postpone the implementation of the new fee schedule until Sept. 13.

Sony Pictures is challenging YouTube's dominance of the user-generated content market by turning its online acquisition Grouper into a mini studio.

Calls to make the BBC's on demand TV service work on all computer operating systems are to get a fresh look.

Plextor has announced the immediate availability of the PX-810UF DVD Super Multi Drive. This external drive combines the 18X DVD±R and 12X DVD-RAM performance of Plextor’s PX-810 Series drives with the convenience and portability of USB and FireWire interfaces.

AMD has debuted two new solutions that offer high-definition television (HDTV) viewing and digital video recording (DVR) capabilities on desktop and notebook PCs.