Aleratec sent out a press release this morning, announcing the 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS and 1:7 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS. These new Copy Towers feature a removable 160GB hard disk drive and can copy DVDs at speeds up to 20x with no computer required.

Aleratec, Inc., developer and manufacturer of Aleratec Award Winning DVD/CD Duplicating and Publishing Solutions, is announcing its next generation of its Award Winning DVD/CD Duplicator Solutions, the new high speed 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS(tm) and 1:7 DVD/CD Copy Tower Pro HS(tm), stand alone DVD/CD Duplicators that copy DVDs at up to 20x with no computer required. The new Aleratec Copy Towers feature fast, 160GB, removable Hard Disk Drives for secure storage of frequently used source discs.
The 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower HS and 1:3 DVD/CD Copy Tower HS are available now for $899 and $1399 respectively. More information on these two duplicators can be found here. Add a comment
Fujitsu has announced a new one-chip LSI that can compress and decompress HD H.264 video in real-time. According to their press release, the MB86H51 is industry's first one-chip full HD H.264 High Profile LSI with embedded memory.

Fujitsu Limited today announced a new large-scaled integrated (LSI) chip that can compress and decompress full High-Definition (HD) video (1,920 dots x 1,080 lines) in the H.264 format(1) in real-time. The new chip, the MB86H51, is the industry's first one-chip LSI for full HD H.264 High Profile(2) video processing with embedded memory. Sample shipments will start from July 1, 2007.

This new chip enables high image quality recording, playback, and transmission of full high-definition video over a wide range of fields from consumer to industrial applications, such as for digital video cameras (camcorders), hard disk digital video recorders (DVRs), home network devices, security cameras, and broadcasting equipment.
Samples of the MB86H51 will start shipping on July 1st and are expected to cost about 30,000 Yen ($247US). More information can be found on Fujitsu's website. Add a comment

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At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Hitach-Maxell demonstrated a 4 layer 100GB Blu-ray disc. Since then, the company has taken this technology one step further, doubling the number of layers and boosting the capacity to 200GB. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:
The hitachi, ltd. Research Center (chief: Yasushi Hukunaga/below, Hitachi), this each time, basic technology of the optical system which expands the regenerative signal output of the optical disk in 10 times was developed. As for this technology, it is something which makes the optical detection method which expands the regenerative signal making use of the interference of two lights the optical disk apply. With this technology, reflected light of the optical disk being weak, accurate reading of the regenerative signal becomes possible, you say that reflected light becomes weak by the fact that the number of record layers increases fundamental topic of the multilayer optical disk is solved, the blue ray disk whose record playback of the single sided 100~200 gigabyte is possible at 4~8 layer (Blu-ray Disc) actualization of the device is expected.
While details are sketchy due to the translation, Hitachi appears to be splitting the laser in half to create a reference beam. This second beam helps cut through the interference caused by the layers being so close to each other. According to other, unconfirmed sources, Hitachi plans to bring this 200GB disc to market by 2009. If you'd like to read more, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Power Quotient International (PQI) has announced that they've released the H series Traveling Disks. Along with faster read and write speeds, these new USB flash drives feature support for ReadyBoost and a built-in offline web browser.

Power Quotient International Co., Ltd. (PQI) have released their performance Traveling Disks series labeling it “H Series”. Current models with H series performances include Cool Drive U310H, U350H and U339H. H series are all Windows Vista ReadyBoost supported to give your PC that extra performance. In addition to performance, Webaroo offline browser comes built-in in every H series Traveling Disk. Webaroo downloads and saves internet packets of the website you choice making it available to the user to browse online contents offline on a laptop, PDA or a smartphone.
The H series is available now in capacities ranging from 512MB to 4GB. More information is available on PQI's website. Add a comment
Samsung recently announced that they have developed an 8GB microSD (Secure Digital) memory card. Ideally suited for mobile phones, this fingernail-sized card can store up to 2,000 MP3's or approximately 5 DVD-quality movies.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced that it has developed an 8Gigabyte (GB) microSD (Secure Digital) memory card, a size optimal for today’s multimedia mobile phones. Featuring the highest capacity today for a microSD card, the new fingernail-sized card is capable of storing 2,000 MP3 music files, 4,000 digital photos, or approximately 5 DVD-quality movies...

...With a read speed of 16 Megabytes (MBs) per second and a write speed of 6MB/s, Samsung’s 8GB microSD card well exceeds the Speed Class 4 SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard which requires a data write speed of 4MB/s. This is also much faster than the SD Speed Class 2 designation carried by most competing microSD cards currently on the market.
No word on pricing or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, Samsung's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Pioneer recently announced plans to introduce the BDP-LX70 Blu-ray Disc player to the Japanese market. Offering "studio-master-quality" sound and video, the BDP-LX70 features 1080/24p output and Dolby TrueHD lossless audio technology.

Pioneer Corporation announced today the introduction of the BDP-LX70, a Blu-ray Disc Player, for the Japanese market.

With the start of terrestrial digital broadcasting and the spread of Plasma and other high-definition televisions in recent years, interest in high-definition video images is growing rapidly. In November, 2006, the first Blu-ray Disc titles were released in Japan, and further releases of high-definition content are expected in the future.

In response to the growing demand for high-definition video contents, Pioneer has decided to release its Blu-ray Disc player in Japan, following its first entry to the North American market last year.
The BDP-LX70 will be available in Japan in late June for a suggested retail price of 170,000 yen ($1,400US). Full details can be found here. Add a comment
CyberLink has announced that PowerDVD Ultra now supports NVIDIA's PureVideo HD (VP2) architecture on the GeForce 8500/8600 series of graphics cards. Here's part of their press release:
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, announces that PowerDVD Ultra—the only retail software to support Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, and DVDs—now supports NVIDIA's second generation PureVideo HD (VP2) architecture on NVIDIA's latest GeForce 8500/8600 series graphics cards.

CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra, incorporating superior H.264 decoding technology powered by the new PureVideo hardware engine, is able to provide owners of NVIDIA GeForce 8500/8600 series graphics cards the benefit of dramatically reducing CPU utilization when executing high-definition video decoding and playback.
CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra with support for NVIDIA's Second Generation PureVideo HD (VP2) Architecture is available now for $99.95. More information can be found here. Add a comment
Panasonic has announced that they've integrated the Panasonic SW-5582 into its Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publishers. By using this drive, the Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu can now burn and print to dual-layer, 50GB Blu-ray Disc media.
Primera Technology, Inc., the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of CD, DVD and BD duplication and printing equipment, today announced it has integrated Panasonic SW-5582 Blu-ray Recordable Drives in its Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publishers.

The Panasonic SW-5582 drives record onto the widest range of optical media, including CD-R, DVD±R (single and dual layer) and BD-R (single and dual layer). Dual-layer BD-R media, which has only recently become commercially available, has a capacity of up to 50GB per disc.
The Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu are available now and sell for $2995 and $5295 respectively. If you'd like to read more, Primera's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment