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Taiwan's Supreme Court recently sent back for retrial by Taiwan's High Court a civil lawsuit filed by Royal Philips Electronics against Taiwanese manufacturer Digital Storage Technology (DST) for violating licensing agreements for CD-R discs. Philips will review the decision and then make an appeal, according to the Taiwan Office of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards.One thing I've learned over the years is that you don't mess with Philips, especially when it comes to royalty fees. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
DST, which produces CD-R, CD-RW and DVD-R discs, signed a license agreement with Philips in July 2001 to use CD-R patents at a royalty charge of US$0.06 per disc. Due to intense competition, DST defaulted on the royalty payments resulting in Philips taking legal action against the Taiwanese maker. Philips won the lawsuit at a district court and Taiwan's High Court but lost in DST's appeal to the Supreme Court.
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No word on pricing yet but according to Pioneer's press release, the DVR-A11 will be available in Japan in early March. More information, including a full list of specs, can be found here. Add a comment
Pioneer Corporation announced today its new internal DVD multi writers with ATAPI interface for Windows-based PCs - the DVR-A11-J (pure white), DVR-A11-JBK (black), and DVR-A11-JSV (silver). The new DVD drives, employing the company's newly-designed Disc-Resonance Stabilizer, assure stable write and read operation with high accuracy. At the same time, they realize impressively quiet operation even during high-speed rotation owing to Pioneer's proprietary technologies including honey-comb structure.
Pioneer's new DVD drives support the recording and playback of recordable discs in seven DVD formats (DVD-R, Dual Layer DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD+R Double Layer, and DVD+RW) as well as CD-R and CD-RW discs. The new drives offering industry-leading write speeds realize the high speed recording of max. 8x on single-sided double-layer DVD formats (Dual Layer DVD-R and DVD+R Double Layer).
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India-based Moser Baer India (MBI), a leading global manufacturer of optical discs, last week announced halting capacity expansion for CD-R and DVD+R/-R discs, a move that will avoid a potential oversupply of DVD+R/-R discs, according to industry sources in Taiwan.If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
MBI will not add manufacturing equipment but plans to convert part of its existing CD-R production lines into those for DVD+R/-R discs, the sources pointed out, adding that MBI also plans to step into production of photovoltaic modules in the third quarter of this year.
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New DVD format specifications, entitled "DVD-RAM 6X/8X/12X/16X," were recently established by the DVD Forum. Media meeting the new DVD-RAM formats will be available in the near future.Before trying DVD-RAM2 media, I highly recommend checking the list on TSST's website to see if your drive is subject to these issues. Add a comment
Conventional DVD-RAM discs supported up to 5X speed (Class0: standard writable speed 2X). New DVD-RAM format discs will support 6X, 8X, 12X and 16X speed (Class1: standard writable speed 6X), which could enable faster recording.
It is recommended that you playback or record data on new DVD-RAM format discs with optical disc drives labeled as compatible with such new DVD-RAM format media (such as those bearing the following "RAM2" mark).
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The PX-760A is expected to ship in April for suggested retail price of $119.00. More information on Plextor's new drive can be found here. Add a comment
Plextor Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the PX-760A DVD±R/RW CD-R/RW drive. The multifunction internal drive is aimed at professionals and power PC users who require reliability, lightning-fast performance, and premium recording features.
The PX-760A is a versatile DVD/CD burner that delivers state-of-the-art recording speeds of 18X DVD±R on certified 16X DVD±R media. Users can burn up to four hours of high-quality MPEG-2/DVD video on a single 8.5 GB disc using 10X DVD+R on Double-Layer media and 6X DVD-R on Dual Layer media. The drive also supports 8X DVD+RW and 6X DVD-RW Rewriting; 16X max DVD-Reading; and 48X CD-R Writing, 24X CD-RW Rewriting, and 48X max CD-Reading. DVD±VR is supported for direct disc recording, while DVD+RW background format eliminates the need to manually format a DVD+RW disc.
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The DRU-820A is already showing up at Best Buy stores and is reportedly based on the BenQ DW1670. If your local Best Buy store doesn't have the DRU-820A in stock yet, the drive can be purchased through SonyStyle.com for $79.99 after a $20 mail-in rebate. Add a comment
Writing Speeds: DVD+R: 2.4X, 4X, 6X CLV, 8X ~ 12X P-CAV max., 16X CAV
DVD+RW: 2.4X, 4X, 6X CLV, 8X Z-CLV
DVD+R DL: 2.4X, 4X, 6X CLV, 8X Z-CLV
DVD-R: 4X CLV, 8X P-CAV, 16X CAV
DVD-RW: 2X, 4X, 6X CLV
DVD-R DL: 2X, 4X
DVD-RAM: 5x CLV
CD-R: 8X ~16X CLV, 32X P-CAV, 40X ~ 48X CAV
CD-RW: 4X ~ 10X CLV, 24X ~ 32X CAVRead Speeds: DVD-ROM: 16X Max
Access Times:
CD-ROM: 48X MaxCD-ROM: 135ms
Buffer Size: 2MB
DVD-ROM: 130ms
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CMC Magnetics, the largest producer of optical discs in Taiwan, on February 10 announced an additional investment of NT$500 million (US$15.6 million) in Prodisc Technology, Taiwan's third largest maker of optical discs, to increase its stake ratio to 11.93%, making it Prodisc's largest institutional shareholder.What's interesting is that CMC's biggest competitor, Ritek, also has a stake of nearly 5% in Prodisc. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
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The Taiwan Information Storage Association (TISA) has asked Royal Philips Electronics to revise the Veeza system launched last month for the licensing of its CD-R disc patents. Although the new system carries a lower charge for each disc, it requires licensing for every shipment, which TISA says creates difficulties for the makers.You'd think with the money they're saving on royalties, they could hire some more people to manage the licensing. For the entire article, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
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Your favorite drive didn't make it onto the list? Then go and vote for February's top DVD writer. Add a comment
- BenQ DW1640
- Plextor PX-716A
- BenQ DW1655
- LG GSA-4167B
- Pioneer DVR-110/A10
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TDK, one of the leading vendors of DVD discs, is not going to sell media for next-generation high definition HD-DVD drives and will concentrate instead on rival Blu-ray.It will be interesting to see how this decision affects TDK. As we reported a few weeks ago, companies like Memorex and Fujifilm plan to offer both Blu-ray and HD DVD media. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
The company, a member of the Blu-ray Association, has long been a backer of the technology, but other media vendors, such as Imation, are happy to sell both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs.
