DigiTimes has reported that second-tier manufacturers must first pay the royalties owed to Philips before they can join their Veeza licensing program. In some cases, manufacturers could face charges of US$20-30 million.
With Taiwan's top optical disc makers having already signed up Royal Philips Electronics' Veeza licensing scheme for its CD-R patents, second tier players have reportedly felt pressure to sign on as well, but industry sources noted that some second-tier players could face charges of US$20-30 million if they want to enter the program.

According to sources at Philips Intellectual Property & Standards organization (IP&S), any CD-R disc maker looking to sign up for Veeza is required to first pay the cumulative CD-R royalties owed to Philips.
While this is a considerable amount of money, disc manufacturers will need to pay it if they want to export their discs to the US and Europe. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Philips sent out a press release earlier today, announcing that they've agreed to sell its Automotive Playback Modules (APM) business to Lite-On. The remaining APM operations will be transferred to a new joint-venture, Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS).
Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) today announced an agreement to sell the manufacturing operations of the Philips Automotive Playback Modules (APM) business to Lite-On IT Corporation of Taiwan for an undisclosed amount. The remaining APM operations will be transferred to a joint-venture between the two companies, which will operate under the name Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions, or PLDS.

APM is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of CD and DVD playback modules to suppliers of automotive entertainment systems. The manufacturing operations that will be sold to Lite-On IT are mainly located in Györ, Hungary. The activities that will be transferred to PLDS include research & development, marketing & sales and product management activities, which are primarily located in Wetzlar, Germany.
According to the press release, PLBS will develop, market and sell products to store digital information such as DVD burners and optical drives for the automotive market. More information can be found here. Add a comment
With Ritek and CMC accepting Veeza, it was only a matter of time before second-teir manufacturers got on board. According to DigiTimes, Prodisc and Lead Data have also accepted Philips' CD-R licensing scheme.
With Taiwan's top two optical disc makers, CMC Magnetics and Ritek, signing on to Philips' Veeza licensing scheme for CD-R disc patents, Prodisc Technology, the largest second-tier maker, today signed on as well, according to the company.

Lead Data, another second-tier maker, also said it has decided to accept Veeza, according to chairman Lai-shun Lin. The Lead Data chairman stated that the company decided to follow the advice of one of its major customers, Sony, and join Veeza.
The article also points out that Gigastorage, Optodisc, Princo and Daxon have not signed up with Philips yet. However, with the possibility that Veeza may extend to DVD discs in 2007, they'll have to get on board if they want to export their discs to the US and Europe. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
A person going by the name "muslix64" on the Doom9 Forums has released a new java based utility that can decrypt and rip HD DVD movies. Here's a video of the utility in action:

-What is "Backup HDDVD" for?

It can do backup copies of HD DVD movies that YOU OWN! I don't want anyone to do piracy here! This software is a good way to protect your investment, because I have notice that this type of media seems very fragile, if it's scratched a little or dirty, it won't play. It seems less tolerent than DVD format. (Higher density!)

-What "Backup HDDVD" is doing exactly?

This is a java based command line utility that decrypt video files (.evo) from a HD DVD disk that you own, to your hard drive and you can play them back with a HD DVD player software.
If you'd like to check it out, Backup HDDVD can be downloaded here. Feel free to leave your comments in our forum.
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CyberLink sent out a press release this morning, announcing that its PowerDVD, PowerDirector And Power2Go software is now certified for Windows Vista.
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, today announced movie playback software CyberLink PowerDVD, video editing software PowerDirector, and data burning software Power2Go, are certified for Windows Vista.

"CyberLink PowerDVD, PowerDirector, and Power2Go are ready for the transition to Windows Vista, allowing users continue to enjoy the quality and performance they have come to expect from these leading applications," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "By completing the certification process for Windows Vista, we ensure that our customers and partners can enjoy consistent performance on the new operating system."
Vista certified versions of PowerDVD, PowerDirector and Power2Go will be available online in January of 2007. More information can be found on CyberLink's website. Add a comment
DigiTimes has reported that support for LabelFlash is slowly growing and could give LightScribe some serious competition in 2007.
Pioneer Electronics recently in Japan launched its DVR-A12J, a 18x DVD Dual burner featuring LabelFlash direct disc labeling technology, a move that signals that the technology is catching up in terms of adoption with the competing LightScribe format and that competition between the two formats will heat up in 2007, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

LabelFlash, developed by Fujifilm and Yamaha Corporation, and LightScribe, developed by Hewlett-Packard (HP), allows users to directly burn a label onto specially coated DVD discs.
Hopefully, LabelFlash will finally make its way to the US in 2007. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Fujifilm has announced that they will be releasing their new 25GB BD-R and BD-RE media to the Japanese market on January 12th. Optimized for video recording, these discs can hold up to 2 hours of video at a transfer rate of 24Mbps. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:

The fuji film corporation (president: The old forest it is heavy Takashi), the Fuji film imaging corporation (the president: Sugihara harmony bright) via, in high picture quality it can videotape & can retain digital hi-vision broadcast, it conformed to the up-to-date standard *1 of non cartridge type, [bururei] disk "BD-R" for video recording (postscript type, 25GB/single sided 1 layer), "BD-RE" (it rewrites and type and 25GB/single sided 1 layer) sells from 2007 January 12th.

 With materialization of digital broadcast, in the market hi-vision corresponding equipment such as television and video camera for national welfare has spread quickly, hi-vision image while it is high picture quality video recording possibility, needs to the bulk record media which is substituted to DVD have increased.
According to AV Watch, Fujifilm's BD-R and BD-RE media is expected to cost about 1,800 Yen and 2,500 Yen respectively. More information can be found here. Add a comment
On behalf of the staff here at CDRLabs, I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Drive safe, eat lots of food and hopefully you'll get that new drive you asked Santa for.


Like last year, I'll be out of town for a few days visiting my family and the wife's. Rest assured though, the news and reviews will continue when I get back. Add a comment
CyberLink has announced the launch of PowerDVD Ultra. This long awaited version of their PowerDVD software supports HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc playback on leading drives, including the Xbox 360's external HD DVD-ROM drive.
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, today launched the HD DVD and Blu-ray version of its industry-defining movie player software, PowerDVD. Featuring optimized hardware acceleration for graphics processors, and compatibility with leading HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives, PowerDVD Ultra delivers the ultimate high-definition movie experience on both desktop and notebook computers.
PowerDVD Ultra is available now for USD 99.95/Euro 99,95. More information, including a list of new features, can be found on CyberLink's website. Add a comment