~ StorDigital’s LightScribe duplicators offer easy disc burning & labelling ~

New from StorDigital the LightScribe duplicator supports silkscreen-quality disc label printing direct from a DVD and CD duplication tower.

Burning and printing large volumes of discs has never been easier, thanks to a new range of DVD and CD duplication towers from StorDigital. The new standalone LightScribe duplicators are available in configuration from 1 to 15 targets and allow users to burn and label their discs in a traditional-style standalone tower copier. This is the perfect solution for any company or individual who wants to make the best impression with their disc.

StorDigital LightScribe duplicators feature patented HP LightScribe disc labeling technology. By utilising a special disc, LightScribe duplicator operators are able to burn their discs, then flip them and then burn a label or image on to the top of the disc. By offering duplicators featuring this enhanced functionality StorDigital Systems are revolutionising the traditional in-house production process.

Nic Ranshaw (MD of CD-writer.com and CEO of StorDigital Systems) had this to say: “The introduction of our LightScribe duplicators really does represent a turning point in the way people approach disc publishing. Traditionally if a tower duplicator customer wished to produce a disc that is both copied and labeled they would have to purchase a separate printer. We have transformed the process, making production simpler and reducing expenditure.“

He added, “We don’t consider that the LightScribe system is perfect for everybody. It won’t replace our automated inkjet printers, but having a tower duplicator that can also label your discs is a strong selling point”.

StorDigital LightScribe duplicators featuring HP LightScribe technology are available now from CD-writer.com Ltd and StorDigital Systems on 0208 293 0777. To register for a CD-writer.com trade account log on to http://reseller.cd-writer.com.

Retail customers can get more information and buy online at www.cd-writer.com.

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CD-Writer.com, paste the following link into your RSS reader, http://press.cd-writer.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

Taipei, Taiwan—June 20, 2008—CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solutions provider for the connected digital lifestyle, announced today that PowerDVD receives certification by DTS for the support of DTS-HD Master Audio technology.
The combination of CyberLink PowerDVD and DTS’s latest technology enables the ultimate entertainment experience when playing high-definition content and Blu-ray discs movies on PCs. DTS-HD Master Audio allows bit-for-bit reproduction of the original studio master soundtrack and supports up to 7.1-channel output, for a lifelike audio performance.

“We are pleased to work with DTS in enabling superior high definition video and audio experience on PCs,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “PowerDVD users can now enjoy lossless compression audio quality when watching their latest high definition Blu-ray discs.”
CyberLink PowerDVD’s main features include:

• Playback of Blu-ray Disc and high-definition videos;
• Optimized performance for playing high-definition video content through graphics cards featuring NVIDIA PureVideo, ATI Avivo, and Intel Clear Video chipsets;
• Support for next-generation disc features like Picture-in-Picture movie mode, networking, interactive BD-J, bookmarks, and advanced disc navigation.

CyberLink PowerDVD featuring DTS-HD Master Audio support will be available as an upgrade to existing users in in July 2008. An HDMI 1.3a-enabled audio system is necessary to enjoy the high-definition DTS-HD Master Audio.

For more information about CyberLink’s high-definition solutions, visit www.cyberlink.com

Osaka, Japan (June 18, 2008) — Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, announced today that it has developed the world’s first Write-Once Blu-ray Discs(BD-R) with 6X writing speed*. The new discs will be available in Japan with both 25GB and 50GB capacities in July.

Panasonic, which introduced the world’s first dual-layer 1X BD-RE Blu-ray Disc in 2004**, 2X BD-R/RE Discs in 2006, and 4X BD-R Disc in 2007, is now launching the world’s first 6X BD-R to meet consumer demand to write and read large amounts of data at a higher speed. The new 6X discs have a maximum data transfer speed of 216Mbps, which is 20% faster than that of 16X DVD-R discs. This transfer speed, along with the discs’ high capacity, allows consumers to use these discs for a variety of applications such as storing High Definition video or backing up PC data.

The new discs have a wide power margin at any writing speeds from 1X to 6X. This enables high-quality recording, even if the drive’s laser power fluctuates, resulting in greater overall drive compatibility.

Panasonic’s adoption of newly-developed disc technology produces extremely level and well-balanced discs with highly precise signal grooves. This improves servo characteristics and enables the laser beam to focus to the right position even when the disc is rotating with 6X high speed, thus providing optimum reading and writing performance.

Blu-ray disc drives compatible with 6X write-once Blu-ray discs are planned to be commercialized in Japan by the end of September 2008.

*As of June 18, 2008, as 6x recordable Blu-ray disc
**The capacity of Blu-ray discs is expressed in units of 1GB=1 billion bytes, but the capacity is slightly below that after formatting, so that the actual amount area that can be used will be less.
***Introduced in Japanese market only

For more informations about the product, visit http://panasonic.net.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital consumer electronics and information technology, is expanding its TruDirect™ line of optical disc drives with the development of a slim, slot-in external model, the SE-T084M/RSWD. Samsung’s revolutionary TruDirect technology allows consumers to create DVDs and burn digital content through a PC without the need for a hard drive. The time-saving TruDirect ™ SE-T084M provides easy and fast real-time recording of DVDs.

For more informations about this product, go to www.emedialive.com .

Welcome to another episode of format wars – this time Sony makes its first Blu-ray film, and Panasonic announces tech for a drive that can read the format and normal CDs and DVDs

The format war machine is well and truly rumbling – Sony and Panasonic have both announced important milestones in getting Blu-ray into homes.Sony, the Commander-in-chief of the format, has completed its first full-length Blu-ray (BD) disc, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.It’s a slightly curious choice, but takes advantage of Blu-ray’s stonking capacity by stuffing the disc with fully-animated menus and, of course, high-definition picture quality and surround sound. We can’t say we’re averse to seeing Cameron Diaz et al jumping around in high-def glory either.The film has been compressed in …

Full content at: Stuff.Tv

Microsoft says it has ‘no plans’ to add hi def HD DVD playback to the Xbox 360’s capabilities

Xbox 360 fans agog at the console’s hi def graphics might reasonably have expected to be able to play HD DVDs at some point in the future - just read this month’s mag for our prediction. Microsoft, however, has just come out and said it has ‘no plans’ to add the technology to forthcoming versions of the 360.Given the fact that there’s no HD DVD optical drive in the existing machine, such an upgrade was always going to be a long shot. Still, that didn’t stop the likes of Bill Gates and Yoshihiro Maruyama – head of Xbox in Japan – hinting that they were looking at the technology.So we hoped,…

Full content at: Stuff.Tv

Currently, there’s just not a whole lot of options when you’re scouting a pre-fabricated rig that does both HD DVD and Blu-ray on a single optical drive, but adding one more to mix certainly helps. Enter Inteset, which has just announced that an HD DVD / Blu-ray combo drive will be an option in the firm’s Maximus and Denzel media server systems. The machines will reportedly come loaded with CyberLink’s PowerDVD Ultra software, support 7.1-channel surround sound, and sport an array of ports including audio in / out, DVI / VGA / component / S-Video, USB, FireWire, and antenna inputs for the TV t…

Full content at: Engadget

It seems that every week we hear about a price drop from either HD DVD or Blu-ray, and this week it’s both. First Panasonic announced their DMP-BD10A for $600 and now Toshiba is announcing a $100 in-store instant rebate — our favorite kind — on any HD DVD player purchased between May 20th and June 16th. Assuming no other discounts, you can now get a stand-alone HD DVD player for that magic price of $299. This combined with the free movies promotion, removes any (price-related) excuses for not picking up an HD DVD player, and enjoying the Ultimate Matrix Collection on HD DVD….

Full content at: Engadget

We’ve seen a couple of these “Blu-ray factory-in-a-box” setups already, but thought we’d run another set by you just in case you missed the first wave. The ReflexBlu2 and ReflexBlu4 go for $3000 and $5000, respectively, and can burn Blu-ray, DVD-R and CD-R discs. ReflexBlu2 does up two Blu-ray discs per hour, while the Blu4 manages double that. Both systems hook up to your computer via USB, and sport 250GB HDDs for holding on to nine Blu-ray disc images at once. Sure, the price might sound steep, but your extended family will be thanking you later for those 1080p editions of “Family highlights…

Full content at: Engadget

In a recent battle of press releases, the Blu-ray Association announced that sales of Blu-ray Disc titles have surpassed one million units in less than a year since the format’s introduction. In a statement from the HD DVD Promotional Group received by DailyTech, it appears that sales of HD DVD movies are not far behind those of Blu-ray Disc…

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