Topic: News

OES (Opto-Electronics & Systems Laboratories), the unit of Taiwan’s government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) that developed the forward versatile disc (FVD), have stated that it has received orders for a total of 20,000 FVD players from several Taiwan-based consumer electronics (CE) vendors, with delivery set for the second half of this year.

The approximate 300,000 people who've picked up a copy of the Backstreet Boys' "Never Gone" might not know it, but they're part of a growing skirmish between the record labels and digital music master Apple Computer.

The two, rival blue-laser optical storage formats, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, will not be coming together, Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi admitted yesterday.

Global DVD player revenues will fall for the first time ever this year, according to research from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home service.

Occasionally, some software crops up on the Interweb and you're amazed. Take RatDVD. It stands for "Real Advanced Technology" and came to birth somewhere between Russia and Denmark, the fruit of a team lead by Peter Jensen.

Microsoft has sued four online retailers in California and Virginia for selling pirated software, the world's largest software maker has said.

Press Release: PSP Movie Creator - Convert DVD movies and various video formats for optimized playback on PSP. Its ultra-fast DVD to PSP conversion speed plus advanced video editing features cannot be found anywhere else.

Researchers at Microsoft's Cambridge labs are developing a file-sharing technology that they say could make it easier to distribute big files such as films, television programs and software applications to end users over the Internet.

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) will soon be opened up to a new and potentially lucrative market - porn.

Seizures of fake DVDs are dramatically higher than the same period last year. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) confiscated 680,000 pirate DVDs between January and March - a 41% rise on the same period last year.

Executives at EMI Group on Monday said they planned to begin rolling out CDs with technology designed to limit copying. The technology allows buyers to burn onto CDs only three full copies of a disc's songs, and the burned discs cannot be copied.

Swedish wireless technology provider Ericsson inked a deal with Napster on Wednesday to supply music to cell phones.

Recordable DVDs are likely to become more expensive in coming months as rising oil prices push up plastic costs.

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sanyo has joined a group of companies led by Sony to develop Blu-ray DVD disks, but will also remain allied with the rival HD DVD group.

In the UK, small businesses are calling on the government to change the law to stop the sale of VAT-free CDs from Jersey by major supermarket chains Asda and Tesco.

Ridisc have launched several new consumable products onto the market including Compatible Ink Cartridges for the Epson, Canon and HP range of Printers. Ridisc inform us next month they plans to launch a range of Photo paper.

Microsoft has announced that it is planning on offering a subscription download music service in an attempt to claw back some of the ground lost between it and Apple’s iTunes service.

Taiwan currently prohibits local makers from undertaking OEM production of pornographic pre-recorded discs for exports, although some makers have illicitly done so in small volumes, according to local industry sources. However, the government is expected to lift the ban next quarter, rousing a large influx of OEM orders from abroad to major producers of pre-recorded discs in Taiwan because Taiwanese makers are more competitive in quality than fellow makers in China and Hong Kong, the source indicated. Such OEM orders are valued at an estimated NT$3.0-4.0 billion a year, the source said.

In a groundbreaking response to movie piracy, Warner Bros. Entertainment has released its latest film on DVD in China the same day it debuted in U.S. theaters.

Sony Computer Entertainment may be planning to bring print publications to the PSP. Sony has recently filed Japanese trademarks for "PSP Comics", "PSP Books", and "PSP Magazine".