Topic: News

Toshiba today announced the launch of its second-generation HD DVD players in the Japanese market. The company will roll out two new players, the HD-XF2 and HD-XA2, from late December.

Microsoft said that supposedly pirated copies of its new Vista computer operating system "will be of limited value" to those who use them.

Hitachi Maxell this week plans to demonstrate a 300GB version of a holographic optical disc that will be available to select customers in the entertainment industry beginning next month.

Microsoft's Zune music player has gone on sale in the US, hoping to make a dent in the success of Apple's iPod.

Consumers who can't decide between the two warring formats for high-definition DVD players might want to wait till next year. That's when a new universal chip from a band of engineers in Massachusetts, will allow electronics firms to make a single player to handle both types of disk -- HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Lite-On has released the fastest DVD Writer in the world: 20X Super AllWrite Drive LH-20A1P. It only takes around 5 minutes to backup 4.7 GB data on an excellent single layer 16X DVD+R or DVD-R media at 20X maximum.

A former prisoner at the forefront of prison law advocacy has overturned a TV licensing conviction on appeal. John Hirst said he used his television only for watching videos, DVDs and CCTV footage of his own house but was found "technically guilty".

NeoDigits today announced that its HELIOS H4000 HD Upscaling DVD Player is now locally available all over the US and Europe.

Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin has stated that Windows Vista's new security features are so strong that antivirus software is no longer necessary.

Sonic today announced that Nintendo has chosen Sonic CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator to bring high-quality DVD movie viewing to a future version of the company's Wii gaming console.

Rumors have been circulating for many months that Apple is in the process of developing the "iPhone" - a combination phone and iPod.

Disc makers have indicated demand has been warming up for DVD+R/-R DL (single-sided double-layer) discs following the increased availability of a modding hack that allows for the playing of pirated games on Xbox 360 consoles.

Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3), due this month, will not ship with Linux pre-installed, as suggested in March by CEO Ken Kuturagi. However, TerraSoft CEO Kai Staats says his company's Yellow Dog Linux is installable by "anybody who knows how to use a keyboard, mouse, and browser,".

A Chinese man has been sentenced to four years in jail for his role in a DVD piracy operation in London.

A draft report by the Australian Institute of Criminology says copyright holders are making up piracy figures in order to sway governments to their side.

UK manufacturer VADIM Computers have decided to make the mother of all gaming machines. With Quad core, water-cooling, Geforce 8800 GTX SLI - and all only £5,400.

Beginning on November 22nd, the console's first anniversary, Xbox 360 owners will be offered HD TV shows and movies as downloads to own and to rent (which goes someway to explaining the recent expiry tag that was seen after the previous update).

Sony NEC Optiarc, a joint venture between Sony (55% stake) and NEC (45% stake), has begun shipments of optical disc drives (ODDs) for use in IT products and game consoles as well as audio/video optical disc devices, and expects to become the world's largest supplier for such products by the end of 2007.

In an interesting interview over at The Register, Peter Jenner - Pink Floyd's first manager, who subsequently managed Syd Barrett's solo career, as well as looking after T.Rex, The Clash, Ian Dury, Disposable Heroes and Billy Bragg - has claimed the four major four labels today are "f*cked".

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.