Topic: News

Confused? You won't be, well not after you read DVD legend Flash's review of these varying optical writing techniques. Click to find out What are CAV, CLV, PCAV, ZCLV & OPC.

DVD Guru Flash has managed to get some more detailed specs on the Pioneer 109 DVD Burner. Have a look <a href="http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Reviews+index-req-showcontent-id-133.phtml"_blank">here for his findings.

Verbatim/MKM today announced plans to support the development of both Blu-ray and High-Definition DVD (HD-DVD) recordable and rewritable media.

At the upcoming CES show in Las Vegas, Ritek is expected to show off new products including Photo Printable discs, MP3 products, a DataPlay Photocopier, DataPlay miniWriter, and high capacity memory cards with unique packaging. The 15GB Blue Laser Disc HD DVD-R, 20GB HD DVD-RW, and High-Speed Recording DVD series, such as 16X DVD+R/16X DVD-R, 4X DVD+R DL, 4X DVD+RW/4X DVD-RW, and 3X DVD-RAM are also RITEK's main products for the show.

Pioneer are about to launch at CES this week the company's ninth-generation high-speed, dual format DVD burner and are demonstrating for the first time new Blu-ray Disc prototypes for home and computer high-definition video recording.

TiVo have launched a new initiative that lets customers transfer shows from its DVRs to a Windows-based desktop, media player, laptop or other portable device.

The Munich District Court has ordered Fujitsu Siemens to pay a royalty collecting outfit €12 for each new machine it sells. The judges were convinced that because the machine could be bought by pirates, the computer company should pay the same tax that the makers of blank audio and video cassettes have to shell out.

Competition in the optical-disc drive (ODD) market is heating up, with HLDS (Hitachi-LG Data Storage), TSST (Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology), NEC and Philips planning to offer additional ODD lines next year. Market competition is expected to become more intense than in 2004.

Philips will be revealing its prototype all-in-one PC writer that reads and writes CD, DVD and Blu-ray Discs. The demonstration will be held on the Philips booth #9004 at the CES 2005 exhibition. The introduction of this unique all-in-one PC writer is scheduled for the second half of 2005.

DVD guru Flash has received an unexpected Christmas present from Datawrite and CMC. He managed to talk them into giving him some 16 speed DVD-R to test. You can read Flash's review of the disc which will be branded the new 16x Datawrite Titanium and the Datawrite press release on The Titanium 8X DVD-R. There is also our full review on the Datawrite Titanium.

Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd. (MKM), announced commercial production of Japan's first UDOTM (Ultra Density Optical) disc with 30GB capacity. This new exiting product have been available in Japan starting in December 28.

Press Release: Gigabyte have unveiled its latest model of internal DVD Dual Drives - the GO-W1616C. It supports both 16X DVD+/-R writing, and 4X DVD+R Double Layer writing technology.

Ultima Electronics, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of optical disc drives (ODDs), on announced on December 27th a downward adjustment of its 2004 financial forecast for a second time, anticipating a net loss per share of NT$3.33.

Rumours are proliferating in several Internet discussion forums that Datawrite are to launch a full Face printable version of their best selling <a href="http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Article1695-nocomments-order0-threshold0.phtml"_blank">Datawrite Titanium DVD-R. Even Flash seems to have got in on the act with the following post on the famous <a href="http://www.disqworld.net"_blank">disQworld Media Discussion forum.

The festive season is in full swing at the Tate Modern and true to its name the decorations at the museum provide a modern twist on the traditional Christmas and New Year festivities.

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced that Bandai Visual, a worldwide visual production company, has joined the consortium that is currently almost 100 members strong and comprised of consumer electronics and PC manufacturers and content developers. With this announcement, consumers can expect to enjoy a rich high-definition library of Japanese animation, or Anime, and movies on a Blu-ray Disc.

InterActual have announced that New Line Home Entertainment's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition" is shipping with an embedded virtual key that unlocks a special website filled with exclusive online features.

Ritek, the 2nd largest producer of blank optical discs in Taiwan, announced that its US subsidiary, MRT Technology, sold its entire 20% stake in Deluxe Global Media Service (DGMS), a joint venture with Deluxe, at US$16.204 million for a capital gain of US$800,310.

Philips India, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics, has increased its share in the digital video disc (DVD) market to 52% in 04 on the back of its recent price-cut strategy.

Online movie rental war in the United States is heating up between the world's largest movie rental chain Blockbuster and the number one online movie rental service, Netflix. The race has been in the works for years now, but the last few months have been interesting, as both companies have discounted heavily their subscription prices.