News of Blu-ray Disc Drives

With the launch of Toshiba's HD-DVD players, I figured I would start a new poll. A simple one at that. Feel free to leave your comments as to why you did or did not buy one.

AV Watch has taken a brief look at the Toshiba HD-XA1. It's in Japanese but they have plenty of pics:

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/ ... /hddvd.htm

Polarizonics Corp. is working on a new process called Polar High-definition DVD (PH-DVD) Technology that can triple the speed and capacity of DVDs.

http://sourcewire.com/releases/rel_disp ... elid=24827

Brainspark has announced that it is investing in Polarizonics Corp. Dr. Oron Zachar, founder of Polarizonics Corp (PL), has developed a method of potentially increasing the data storage capacity and read rate of both red and blue laser DVDs by up to three ...

Ooops.. looks like Ulead shipped DVD MovieFactory 5 before it was verified for Blu-ray.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/29 ... y_support/

Ulead didn't say precisely why it has been forced to pull the BD code, but it explained that it and its partner, InterVideo, are "actively co-operating" with the BD licensing body, that "testing is moving forward" and that "confident that the testing process will conclude smoothly and that Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 ...

While reading all what is published about the so called «format war» Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD,
among all the arguments about capacity, costs and copy protection for movies
I found far more interesting the following thing about the sensitive material that is going to be used for recording.

My surprise was that TDK says that they use two non-organic layers
for manufacturing their write once BD-R discs.
I don’t know if others companies that ...

The first generation HD players will NOT have managed copy so these players will be obsolete when the next generation come out.Managed Copy allows you to save and transfer HD video on a PC and over a home network.These first generation players remind me of the first generation HDTV's because they didn't have HDMI connectors which are required for HDCP protected video.
Anybody still have a first generation DVD player in use(ie Circuit City DIVX)?

SONY ENHANCES HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE WITH INTRODUCTION OF FIRST BLU-RAY DISC PRODUCTS

LAS VEGAS, March 16, 2006 - Sony Electronics today debuted its first Blu-ray Disc(tm) (BD) products in the U.S., along with details on suggested pricing and availability for some of the new offerings.

These next generation devices include a home player, VAIO® desktop and notebook computers, an aftermarket internal computer drive, and recordable/rewritable media. All offer one of the highest-definition experiences available ...

If you're planning on buying one of Toshiba's HD DVD players on the 28th, you might want to wait a few weeks. According to Reuters, there won't be any HD DVD titles available.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060314/tc_ ... hddvd_dc_1

Warner Home Video, the only studio that in January had set a firm date, March 28, for its first high-definition DVD titles to arrive in stores, now says it might not be ready ...

NEC is demonstrating a new HD DVD writer at CeBIT called the HD-1100.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2006031 ... rld/125034

NEC is demonstrating its HD-DVD drive with media from Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, which is best known by its Verbatim brand name. The company is shooting high-definition video each morning at the show and burning it onto a disc for playback during the day, said Ryoichi Hayatsu, an NEC storage product division manager, in ...

I might have to pick one of these up for myself. Unlike Pioneer's first Blu-ray writer, it supports DVD, BD and CD. Has Serial ATA too! :D

http://www.benq-eu.com/news/index.cfm?id=1315&year=2006

BenQ, a leading manufacturer of digital lifestyle devices, today announced its first “Trio” writer BW1000, a triple writer that encompasses BD, DVD and CD format support, which saves you from making any compromises ...