Topic: News

Stomp, Inc., maker of utility software and computer accessories, today announced is has enhanced the capabilities of its successful RecordNow MAX DVD/CD recording software with the new version 4.5.RecordNow MAX 4.5 further enhances DVD recording by taking full advantage of the DVD-R/-RW and DVD+R/+RW formats," said Michael Hummell, President of Stomp, Inc. "We've again demonstrated our commitment to creating tools that offer comprehensive hardware support for the DVD and CD burning enthusiast while not compromising ease of use and reliability."The new RecordNow MAX 4.5 now supports the ability to record "multi-border" DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD+RW discs in "sessions," just like user's are familiar with for CD-R and CD-RW. This allows users to store information on a DVD disc incrementally, not having to burn the entire disc at one time. RecordNow MAX 4.5 also incorporates a new "audio normalizer" feature that equalizes the volume level of audio CDs that are created from WAV, WMA, MP3, or CD Tracks that have different volume levels. Also new in this version is DLA (Drive Letter Access) version 3.57 that is not only faster than ever, it now supports "Fast Format" (background formatting) of DVD-R and DVD-RW discs and is Mt. Rainier compliant.As with previous versions of RecordNow MAX, users can simultaneously record to multiple discs, creating duplicate CD copies, video CDs (VCDs), data CDs, DVDs, bootable CDs, CDs from ISO images and CDs from a live audio source. They can convert (rip) CD tracks into MP3 files at up to 320Kb/sec, and burn MP3 files, WAV files, and CD tracks, to standard music CDs, which can be played on any audio CD player.Current users of the RecordNow MAX product family, including RecordNow MAX 3.x and 4.x or, the RecordNow MAX Platinum bundle will be able to upgrade to the new version for free."

Music companies thinking of distributing copy-protected CDs to protect their content from piracy will likely raise the ire of consumers while lowering their revenue, a new study warns.
According to a survey recently released by GartnerG2, the research service of Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc., 77 percent of respondents thought they should be able to copy CDs for personal use in another device, while 60 percent said they should be able to give copies of CDs to members of their families. Meanwhile, 82 percent of respondents said that they should be able to copy CDs for personal backup purposes.
The results fly in the face of efforts by the music industry to gain tighter control over their content as they face the perilous, infinite possibilities for copying in the digital age. But while the ghost of such free file-sharing services as Napster Inc. still haunt the halls of Hollywood, Gartner discovered that consumers do not think copy-protected CDs are the answer.
Not only do the copy-protected CDs limit users options -- preventing them to make a copy of the CD to play in their car, for example, just as one could with a cassette tape -- they also limit their mobility. In some cases, the protected CDs cannot even be played in more than one of the consumer's CD players. These restrictions are likely to frustrate users, possibly resulting in a decline in revenue for the record companies, the researcher said. But while consumers are perturbed with this solution, the study found that 74 percent of those surveyed believed that if the music companies must distribute copy-protected CDs, they should contain warning labels. GartnerG2 conducted the online study of 1,005 U.S. adults, 18 years or older, and 1,009 teens, ages 13 to 17, in July of 2002. While the music industry has raised the issue of copy-protected CDs in recent months, few CDs have so far been released with the copy protections included. However, as the industry faces growing piracy thanks to consumers added ability to make perfect digital copies of music by burning CDs, such measures could become more widespread.

Verbatim issued the follwing statement in relation to their media not being compatible with the new Sony DRU-500 Multi Format writer:

We are aware of lack of compatibility between some Verbatim branded 2X speed DVD-R discs and the new Sony DRU500A DVD writer. This incompatibility can cause write errors on the drive when using some 2X DVD-R media manufactured at our Singapore factory between May and August of 2002.This incompatibility is isolated to the new Sony drive. Verbatim brand 2XDVD-R discs are fully compatible with all other DVD-R drives and video recorders in the market, including those sold by Pioneer, Apple, Sony, Compaq, Panasonic, Cendyne and other manufacturers.

The problem was corrected as soon as it was identified in engineering verification tests, so that all Verbatim 2X speed DVD-R discs being sold into our sales channels are now fully compatible with the Sony DRU500A. Other Verbatim DVD media, including DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R, 4X speed DVD-R, as well as most 2X speed DVD-R discs are not affected by this issue and are fully compatible with the Sony DRU500A.

If you have a DRU500A drive and wish to use Verbatim recordable media in that drive, we recommend use of the DVD+R 2.4X speed media or the new 4X DVD-R media which will be available in the US and Canada from December 2002.Every effort has been made to purge non-compatible DVD-R media inventory from Verbatim's retailers and distributors. Verbatim will replace any non-compatible media at no cost to you. In the US and Canada please contact Verbatim technical support preferable by e-mail to techsupport@verbatim.com or by calling 1-800-538-8589 between the hours of 10.00am and 4.00pm EST. We will quickly issue a return authorization number and send you replacement product

Roxio reported that net revenue for the recent financial second quarter ending Sept. 30 was US$27.9 million compared with net revenue of $30.5 million for the second quarter of the prior fiscal year.

Net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2003 was $1.8 million, or $0.09 per basic and diluted share, including non-cash charges related to the amortization of intangible assets and deferred stock-based compensation. This compares with a reported net loss of $1.0 million, or $0.06 per basic and diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2002.

"As we expected, retail has become the lion's share of Roxio's revenues, and despite the challenging retail market globally and the fact that we are at the end of our product cycles, our retail business grew 26 percent over the prior year," said Chris Gorog, Roxio's president and CEO in a statement announcing the results. "This growth did not, however, offset the dramatic year-over-year drop in our OEM business, caused by flat PC shipments and rapidly declining ASPs."

Roxio expect revenues in the third fiscal quarter to be approximately $25 million and to incur a net loss of up to $2.4 million, or $0.12 per share, reflecting industry analysts' expectations of slower than usual back-to-school and holiday seasons. Gorog feels that revenues will rise sequentially in the fourth fiscal quarter based on new product releases.

For fiscal year 2003, they're forecasting revenues of approximately $117 million and expect to end the fiscal year with approximately $45 million in cash and short-term investments

MEGAN Media Holdings Bhd, which has received approval for a transfer to the KLSE main board next month, is now eyeing the huge Japanese market for the export of its compact disc recordables (CD-R) and digital versatile disc recordables (DVD-R). The company is confident of penetrating the Japanese market based on its track record in manufacturing data storage products for leading companies in Germany and, more recently, South Korea.

Having achieved a coup by releasing leading-edge technology ahead of its competitors, Taiwan's largest designer of DVD player chips, MediaTek Inc , has secured more than half the market. And it will reign supreme for at least the next quarter as others in the sector play catch-up, analysts said yesterday.

As revealed weeks ago the Datasafe Media + r / +RW discs go on sale from Monday. The disc are identical to the current market leader, but as discovered by our Taiwanese moles the distribution price for the disc will be under half the price of other leading brands. Datasafe Media will be marketing this disc under their new premium Pan-European brand – Datawrite For a picture of the disc please click .here

Philips hopes to ignite production of DVD players featuring its write-once, rewriteable format by releasing a reference design that will help manufacturers build DVD+R/DVD+RW recorders in time for the Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas next January.

After speaking friends in the states. The Sony +R-R dvd recorder has problems finilizing dvds.
Many end users have returened the drive Citing it as "unfit for the purpose it was purchased"
Sony have refused to comment on the situation.
This has resulted in NEC delaying the release date on their multi format drive

Tony Anderson

Thanks to killa_m at dvdwriters.co.uk we have a comprehensive review of one of the most anticipated peices of kit this year: the new Pioneer A05 DVD Writer.

Click for the review.

Sony and NEC are promising to end the DVD format wars with new recordable drives, potentially ushering in a new era for video recording and storage.

The first multi-format DVD recorders are set to arrive on retailers' shelves, potentially bridging a gap that has kept DVD recording from becoming a reality for most computer users.

TOKYO - DVD-R/RW (DVD recordable/rewritable) drives are getting faster. Several hardware makers are unveiling drives that write DVD-R discs at up to 4X normal playback speed, and DVD-RW discs at 2X speed. However, the industry is currently watching how the market trend goes, since the drives are still relatively expensive and not many compatible discs are available, yet.

While it has not announced official results, Ritek said its third-quarter performance was not strong and gross profit margins may stand in the single digits, the company’s CEO said.

Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 18, 2002 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Chemical Media Co., Ltd., today announced the launch of the world's first 4x DVD+R disc for data use. The new product will be available at selected retail outlets in Japan from early December."Our new DVD+R disc is compatible with a majority of DVD systems," said Shigeru Tamura, chief information officer at Mitsubishi Chemical Media. "The disc is DVD+ standard, which may well become the standard for the industry, given the fact that a number of large PC makers in Europe and the United States have already committed to the DVD+ format."

The new DVD+R disc is based on Mitsubishi Chemical Media's proprietary DYN-AZO technology, which produces recording layer with an improved power margin and greater sensitivity that assures stable yet faster recording. This recording layer improvement enabled the company to develop the 4x discs. With DYN-AZO, Mitsubishi Chemical Media achieved 4x speed recording of the same quality as 2.4x speeds. When recording at such high speeds, the disc must be a shape flat to minimize errors. The company uses the precision molding technology it proved with production of high-speed CD-R and CD-RW discs to make sure the new DVD+R 4x discs are shape flat."These new products will broaden our lineup," said Tamura, "and help us meet a wider range of consumer needs. Besides regular discs and packs, we'll offer inkjet printable discs as well."The new products will be available as single discs, in five-disc packs, and in five-packs containing black, white, orange, blue, and green discs.Mitsubishi Chemical Media Co., Ltd., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.

A so-called warez CD/DVD dealer in Burwell, United Kingdom, is currently being quizzed after an undercover operation to clamp down on CD piracy. The 30-year-old man sold pirated CDs and DVDs on the internet. His computers and discs were seized during a raid in his house.
The man is alleged to have run an illegal internet-based CD copying business. He was released on bail while investigations continue. The operation was run by city council trading standard officers - who made number of test purchases before the raid.

Nick Kounoupias, of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Anti-Piracy Unit, said that in operations of this kind, perpetrators e-mail potential customers a master library of available CDs - with music, film, games and software titles on offer. They are then copied on to disc and sent by post to the customer.

Following on from our story on the Fujitsu notebook with the integrated DVD Writer we just recieved this press release from Toshiba about their DVD-RW notebook solution: Satellite(TM) 5200-P0E.

The Satellite 5200 offers the ultimate in high-performance gaming andoutstanding graphic-display capabilities. It comes with a Lifestyle Bay for
additional flexibility and multimedia capabilities and can accept a second hard disk drive, second battery pack bridge, media adapter or second optical media drive for added performance and customized flexibility. Through an additional battery pack bridge, the Satellite 5200 can provide more than five extra hours of battery life and power supply to enable faster performance especially for the system's DVD-R/RW multi-function drive.

The Satellite 5200 features multimedia capabilities including an Intel(R)Pentium(R) 4 2.0GHz-M processor, NVIDIA(R) GeForce4(TM) 460 Go graphics processing unit and 64MB of DDR memory, and up to 100GB hard disk drive (HDD).This model also includes an infrared remote control, multi-functional C-Pad with calculator, calendar, and signature functions, blue backlight LCD CD display and powerful sound system featuring Harman Kardon(R) speakers with a built-in subwoofer.

Datasafe Media today announced the launch of their new premium range: "Datawrite". Datasafe say that the new brand is the vehicle for quality products which are being targeted primarily at retail outlets for the benefit of discerning customers who demand quality as well as value for money. The first product to be launched is the Datawrite Classic DVD-R which many of you would recognise as the old Datasafe Classic - because it's exactly the same!

A spokesman said that Datawrite products will be more expensive, in line with the quality of the brand, and that only a few of the highest quality Datasafe products would be re-branded as Datawrite. "We expect to eat into the market share of premium brands such as TDK and Verbatim, and convince the customers that premium quality does not have to go with the high prices associated with this end of the market. The balance of the new range will be made up of new premium quality products like the Datawrite DVD+R which have been specially commissioned to be of superior quality, but at a lower price than other top brands names."

When asked if the high quality of the Datawrite products would mean that prices would go up, the spokesman responded, "To be honest we always felt that we were selling Datasafe Classic DVD-R for too low a price." However our sources in the industry tell us that street prices are unlikely to change as resellers will absorb any small price increase on this popular disc in order to compete for market share.

Click for an independant review of the Datawrite Classic DVD-R.

Japan's major personal computer makers will be unveiling new notebook computers at this week's World PC Expo show, which begins on Wednesday in Tokyo. Among the several computers announced by Fujitsu was the FMV-Biblo NB18, which is a multimedia computer that includes a built-in TV tuner and DVD-R/RW drive. Based on an Intel Pentium 4-M processor running at 1.8 GHz, its features include a 15-inch TFT LCD with XGA resolution, 256MB of memory, 60GB hard disk drive, four USB 2.0 ports, and slots for both SD and MemoryStick memory cards. It will cost around $2320. (Approx UK price £1499.99.)

Although the Pioneer A05 wont be available for 5 to 6 weeks due to software issues Pioneer have issued this press release.

Pioneer, the market leader and chief innovator in the field of DVD technology, today launches its latest and fastest DVD-R/RW writer, the DVR-A05. Benefiting from the enhancements of previous generations, the DVR-A05 takes DVD writing to a new level by burning at twice the speed of the DVR-A04 to meet the new industry media standard² of a 4x write speed to DVD-R and 2x to DVD-RW, ahead of competing brands. The writer is also capable of writing CD-R media with a 16x write speed and CD-RW at 8x, combined with a higher read speed of 32x CD-ROM and 6x DVD-ROM.

MEGAN Media Holdings Bhd, the largest manufacturer of compact disc recordables (CD-R) and digital versatile disc recordables (DVD-R) in Malaysia, intends to penetrate third world markets like India, South America and South-East Asia, according to its executive chairman Datuk Dr Mohd Adam Che Harun.