Topic: News

A bug has been discovered in Windows XP's Service Pack 2 that reduce the write speed of many dual-layer DVD drives.

DVD wizard Flash has been excercised by some DVD+R sample media he recieved that had the mid code RITEKR04. He had been assured that this was 16x media, but on checking it with DVDInfoPro (using a Pioneer DVR-109 & NEC DVD_RW ND-3520A - both the latest 16x speed drives) he was very angry to find that both these drives would only support a maximum of 4x burning to this media.

Several second-tier manufacturers of blank optical discs and many small makers of the product in Taiwan are trying to shift their production to pre-recorded optical discs, according to local market experts. The attempted move is motivated by profitless or even money-losing production as a result of competitive price-cutting.

A silicon valley software outfit has invented a new technology that it claims blocks 97 per cent of DVD copying software. Macrovision says its RipGuard system does not interfere with the DVD’s playback or picture quality.

CyberLink have announced that their PowerDVD 6 suite of DVD burning programs has passed the "Designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition" testing conducted by Microsoft.

It's been known in industry circles for months, but the news is now finally starting to leak. You'll be able to buy the next generation Xbox in both America and Europe in 2005, say experts.

Sony Ericsson will unveil a mobile phone that doubles as a digital music player early next month, company President Miles Flint has announced.The phone will carry a name which has already appeared on some 350 million music players over the last 25 years, he said: the Walkman brand of Sony Ericsson's parent company, Sony.

Users have found a way to skirt copy protection on Napsters portable music subscription service just days after its high-profile launch, potentially letting them make CDs with hundreds of thousands of songs for free.

The PSP's worldwide launch in Japan last year met with great enthusiasm. The device sold over 200,000 units on the first day. Of course, the PSP has significant ground to make up to unseat market leader Nintendo, which currently has between 90 and 95 percent of the handheld gaming market.

Disc Makers has announced its newest line of Reflex duplicators, the ReflexMax1, ReflexMax4, ReflexMax7, and ReflexUltra.

Sony will unveil its PlayStation 3 console before the start of the E3 games show, company spokespeople revealed this week. E3 opens its doors in Los Angeles on 17 May. The implication of the Sony staffers' comments, made to US news site GameSpot, is that PS3's outing will come much sooner.

Dutch researchers have developed "revolutionary" vision equipment that makes video imaging at night time as clear and as colourful as in broad daylight, the British weekly New Scientist says.

The new Cell processor, announced by Sony, Toshiba and IBM yesterday, looks set to burst through the approaching limitations of the x86 architecture used by Intel and AMD and provide a platform for multimedia entertainment well into the future. Is it competition for the traditional 'PC in a box' or will it usher in a new era for the beige chunk of plastic we all love?

Sick of DVD pirates ruining his business, Roland Digby took matters into his own hands and swiped illegal copies worth hundreds of pounds.

Illegal DVD-ripping software is flourishing, despite well-publicized wins by DVD piracy foes and laws against copying Hollywood movies. Although copyright laws outlaw the sale of software that bypasses DVD copy protection, many companies continue to make the software packages available.

Press Release: Pioneer have announced the PRV-9200 which boasts a 160-gigabyte built-in hard disk drive (HDD) and high-speed copying, the PRV-9200 offers speedy, simplified and convenient creation of compliant DVD-Video discs without the need for a computer or authoring software.

Forget HD DVD, forget Blu-ray Disc, the future is the HVD - the Holographic Versatile Disc. So claim six Japanese companies, led by Optware and including Fuji Photo Film, who last week launched the HVD Alliance to promote the "revolutionary" format to hardware manufacturers, disc pressing firms, content providers and end-users.

Toshiba and Sandisk have just announced the latest in high capacity flash chips at ISSCC. This one is an 8 Gbit chip built on a 70nm process by Toshiba. It will allow Sandisk to make 1GB memory sticks out of one chip, lowering costs quite a bit. There is also talk of stacking two of them to get a 16Gbit/2GB module.

According to the latest market research from IDC, 2004 was a "strong year" for the UK PC industry. Some 2.6 million units were shipped in the final quarter, more than a third of which were notebooks. There was bad news for Microsoft's Media Center PCs, however, which accounted for low volumes in the desktop market due to stiff competition from digital TV hard drive recorders and recordable DVD players.

We reported in 2003 that Disney were to start selling self-destructing DVDs. Basically you could watch these discs for 48 hours after you buy them, but the discs coating reacts with oxygen and turns black and unreadable after that time. Disney marketed it as a rental that you never had to remember to bring back to avoid late fees.