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dodecahedron wrote:wasn't there a news article or rumor a while back (month or so?) about NEC stopping the manufacture of DVD drives? or stopping design of new drives (can't recall exactly what it was).

Ian wrote:Lite-On and NEC or Lite-On and Sony?

While I have never heard anything official, I think Lite-On and Sony parted ways earlier this year. The Lite-On and NEC thing was just a rumor as far as I know.

Taiwan’s largest maker of optical disc drives (ODDs) Lite-On IT, in response to the formation of a new joint venture between Sony and NEC to design, produce and market ODDs, said that the company will be carefully monitoring the situation, according to general manager Michael Gong for the company’s Optical Disc Drive Business.

Sony and NEC have concluded a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture in which Sony and NEC will hold a respective 55% and 45% stake, with operations to begin April 1, 2006, according to a joint press release by the two companies on November 17.

Lite-On IT is expected to be seriously concerned about the new joint venture because Lite-On IT is currently the main ODM/OEM maker of ODDs for Sony, with Sony’s orders worth more than NT$10 billion (US$298 million) a year, accounting for 20-25% of the company’s total revenues, according to local ODD industry sources.

Ian wrote:I'm not really sure about the Lite-On naming thing. I've never really heard a good reason for the recent naming switch.

dodecahedron wrote:DVD burners now named SHW-xxxx instead of SOHW-xxxx ?
they're still using SOHC, SOHD and SOHR for combo, DVD-ROM and CDRW drives.

Lite-On IT has reportedly obtained OEM orders for half-height (H/H) DVD burners from NEC through its strategic-alliance partner Sony, according to industry sources. If true, Lite-On IT stands a good chance of replacing Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS) to become the largest global maker of H/H DVD burners next year. Lite-On IT, however, declined to comment on the report.

The sources pointed out that shipments for the OEM order are to begin in April 2006. Viewing that OEM prices for H/H 16x DVD burners have dropped to as low as US$35-40, NEC is under increasing pressure from competition and must turn to OEM production sooner or later, the sources indicated.

Taiwan Securities Investment Advisory, quoting a forecast by Japan-based Techno Systems Research (TSR), indicated that HLDS will ship 19.72 million H/H DVD burners this year, followed by NEC with 10.87 million, and Lite-On IT with 10.45 million units. If NEC releases all of its OEM orders to Lite-On IT, the latter would have a larger shipment volume than HLDS.

dodecahedron wrote:LOL... LiteOn doesn't give up, huh ?

so now the drives will be called SNOW - Sony NEC Optical Writer ?

Sony Corporation (“Sony”) and NEC Corporation (“NEC”) announce today that they have signed a definitive agreement to establish a joint venture company, Sony NEC Optiarc Inc., in carrying out optical disc drive business. Shinichi Yamamura, currently Deputy President of Video Business Group of Sony, will serve as the president of the new company. Sony and NEC will separate their respective optical disc drive businesses on April 1, 2006 in preparation for creating this joint venture. The planned date of establishment of Sony NEC Optiarc Inc, is April 3, 2006 and it will take over the two separated businesses in creating one company.

Ian wrote:I'm curious to know what next-gen DVD format they'll support. Sony is a big backer of Blu-ray but NEC supports HD DVD. With Sony being the majority stock holder, I could see them sticking with Blu-ray and ditching HD DVD.

The company will handle the optical drive businesses of both companies including manufacturing, marketing and sales of drives for the Sony-backed Blu-ray Disc technology and NEC-backed HD-DVD technology. It will also handle development and engineering of optical drives, the companies said.