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Toshiba Unveils Slim HD DVD Writer For Notebook PC's

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Toshiba Unveils Slim HD DVD Writer For Notebook PC's

Postby Ian on Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:42 am

Oh wow... we finally have an HD DVD writer. :o

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2006_10/pr0201.htm

Toshiba today announced the world's first slim HD DVD drive for notebook PCs that can read and write to HD DVD, standard DVD and CD discs. Sample shipments of the new drive, SD-L902A, are scheduled to start by the end of this year.

SD-L902A integrates a blue-violet laser diode that can read and write to HD DVD-R discs and that offers support for high-density HD DVD-ROM discs, including high definition movie and video images. The drive also offers the functionality of a super multi-drive, with high performance, high-speed read and write to all flavors of standard DVD and CD discs.

At only 12.7 millimeters in height, SD-L902A meets the stringent space specifications for slim drives integrated into highly portable notebook PCs. This is due in part to HD DVD discs having the physical structure as standard DVD, allowing use of an optical pick-up head with only a single objective lens. The result is a space-saving solution, and a drive able to read and write to HD DVD-R discs, to read HD DVD-ROM discs, and to read and write to standard DVD and CD discs.

High definition digital media are fast moving into the mainstream. Digital broadcasting is replacing analogue, and consumers are increasingly buying large screen, high definition TVs. More and more people are also using digital video, and want a platform for editing and working on their material. This trend is also spurring demand for PCs with high definition optical drive capabilities, a demand that Toshiba meets with the SD-L902A.


My only beef is that it writes at only 1x. I can't remember what the data rate is for HD DVD but that's gotta take a least an hour to burn a 15GB disc.
"Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt." - Steve Jobs
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Postby [buck] on Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:21 pm

Is this the very first HD DVD writer announced? I must say I am rather unimpressed by the timeframe given... sample shipments aren't going to ship before the end of the year? It makes you wonder how long it will take for these drives to actually show up on the market.
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Postby dolphinius_rex on Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:11 pm

I can't get over that HDDVD-R are still only at 1x whereas BD-Rs are now at 4x.

BD-Rs are higher capacity, cheaper per gigabyte, faster to burn per gigabyte (and currently it's faster to burn a 25GB BD-R then a 15GB HDDVD-R), and there are a lot more choices in drives.

Why would anyone buy into HDDVD as a recordable format?
Punch Cards -> Paper Tape -> Tape Drive -> 8" Floppy Diskette -> 5 1/4" Floppy Diskette -> 3 1/2" "Flippy" Diskette -> CD-R -> DVD±R -> BD-R

The Progression of Computer Media
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Postby Ian on Tue Oct 03, 2006 2:13 pm

It looks like they have a desktop drive in the works too. Here's a shot of the SD-H902A. No idea what the specs are.
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