The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ Has Moved!

Hugh Bennett’s The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ has moved to its new home at Hugh’s News (www.hughsnews.ca).

It can now be found at: www.hughsnews.ca/faqs/authoritative-blu-ray-disc-bd-faq

North Coast Interactive is proud to announce the immediate availability of UltraPrint-M™ Metal Everest Printable Media. UltraPrint-M™ media is the latest addition to NCI's industry leading line of Everest Printable Media products. The “M” series of CD-R media features a unique uniform fully metalized surface that eliminates color shifts across the surface of the media. With UltraPrint-M™ there is no gray or bright silver/white ring around the center of the discs to throw off the colors of the print which is a common problem with competing products. This makes them ideal for color critical applications, particularly those with light colors or fades near the center of the disc. Of course, they work great with darker colors too, making them the best choice for all applications. Finally, UltraPrint-M™ is available with a clear (silver effect) surface, making it the only fully hub printable silver disc on the market.

“UltraPrint-M™ marks a huge step forward in print quality for media in this price range, for both white and stunning full silver effect prints.” explains Thomas Blaha, President of North Coast Interactive, Inc. “Since the Everest printer came to market, users have been forced to choose expensive media for perfect prints, or live with the quality deficiencies of lower cost media. With the introduction of UltraPrint-M™, that choice no longer has to be made.”

Like all NCI Everest Printable media, UltraPrint-M™ features a proprietary printable coating which is applied in the USA. This coating is engineered specifically for the thermal re-transfer printing process used in Everest Printers which results in optimal adherence of very sharp, highly detailed prints to the surface of the disc. UltraPrint-M™ media is guaranteed to print properly from edge to edge, with perfect image edge retention. All UltraPrint™ media is also duplication grade A with very low error rates, making them ideal for all applications including music and data. Finally, this media has very flat outside and inside edges which interface with the Everest robotic grippers. This results in fewer misfeeds and maximizes printer uptime and printer throughput.

UltraPrint-M™ Metal Everest Printable media is available immediately in 700 MB (80 min) 52X CD-R hub printable white and hub printable silver formats from the NCI online store. General information on UltraPrint-M™ Metal Everest Printable media and all the other UltraPrint™ discs can also be found at our website.

Audio-Technica introduces its new AT-LP2D-USB LP-to-digital recording system, a complete USB turntable and software package that makes it easy to transfer vinyl records to digital media files and CDs. The AT-LP2D-USB includes a turntable and phono cartridge, PC- and Mac®-compatible software, a USB cable that connects the turntable directly to a computer and other accessories.

Crystal Griffith, Audio-Technica Consumer Marketing Manager, noted, "Many people still own their classic LPs and 45s, and a younger generation is discovering and collecting vinyl. The AT-LP2D-USB offers users a simple, cost-effective solution for transferring records to digital files and portable players, and for listening to records on a home music system."

The turntable features fully automatic operation and a 33-1/3 and 45 RPM speed selector to play vinyl formats from LP albums to 12-inch and 7-inch singles. The turntable is designed to deliver high-quality sound, with a balanced aluminum platter, precision Dual MagnetTM stereo cartridge with replaceable stylus and a pickup arm with soft damping control. The turntable's supplied USB cable enables plug-and-play connection to a desktop or laptop computer. Its built-in switchable phono preamp, RCA output cables and adapter cables allow connection to a wide variety of music and home entertainment systems, as well as to A/V receivers that do not include a dedicated phono input.

The supplied Cakewalk® PYRO (for PC) and Audacity® (for Mac or PC) software converts the audio on a record to MP3, WAV or Windows Media® audio files, for playback on a wide variety of portable audio players, computers, home media centers and car audio systems. The PYRO software also features DeClicker and DeNoiser utilities that automatically remove pops, clicks, noise and hiss from LP recordings, as well as design software for creating personalized CD jewel case artwork and CD labels.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB LP-to-digital recording system is available immediately at a U.S. MSRP of $229.

www.audio-technica.com

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG (SINGULUS) signed a contract with Oerlikon Balzers AG (OERLIKON), on January 31 for the acquisition of Blu-ray disc equipment operations. With this strategic acquisition SINGULUS takes over the entire Blu-ray activities as well as the servicing of the Blu-ray disc production lines already delivered by OERLIKON so far. OERLIKON has in addition announced that it will discontinue its CD and DVD production line operations. This will further strengthen SINGULUS' market lead in this segment.

The Blu-ray format has definitively established itself as the new standard in the market. High-definition television, HDTV (HD Ready and Full HD), combined with the Blu-Ray video format, is the new technology of the media sector.

“With the strategic acquisition of the Blu-ray disc equipment operations from OERLIKON we are improving our good position for Blu-ray still further. The decision of the major US film studios in favor of the Blu-ray format as the future video standard will result in increasing demand for our machines over the next couple of years. SINGULUS will substantially benefit from this trend,” commented Stefan A. Baustert, CEO of the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG.

The parties have agreed to keep the purchase price for the transaction confidential. Besides the production machines SINGULUS will acquire all important optical disc patents and licenses as well as OERLION's customer base.

Background to Blu-ray disc/BLULINE
It becomes more and more clear that “Hollywood” is opting for Blu-ray. According to a study performed by the research company Understanding & Solutions the production of Blu-ray discs will almost triple in 2008 compared with 2007. Other institutes expect even higher growth rates. Warner’s decision to change over to the Blu-ray camp announced during the CES fair in Las Vegas has a massive impact on the sector. Many other studios have switched in the meantime as well. Latest market figures confirm this trend. According to Gamestar Online and the US market research company National Purchasing Diary, sales of Blu-ray players and game consoles in the US dominate the market for the 3rd format generation with a market share of 92.53 %.

SINGULUS has upgraded its Blu-ray disc equipment in preparation for the production of the 50 gigabyte dual layer Blu-ray disc. Stefan A Baustert, Chief Executive Officer of SINGULUS, added: “We firmly believe that the global market penetration of the Blu-ray disc will kick off in 2008. SINGULUS consequently expects significant growth for the Blu-ray activities in the 2008 financial year.”

www.singulus.nl

With the introduction of two new powerful desktop PCs available at retail partners nationwide, Gateway makes it easier than ever to afford and enjoy quad-core fueled gaming, entertainment and productivity based tasks. Both the new Gateway® GM5664 and Gateway® GT5662 bring the AMD Phenom™ Processor and DirectX® 10 Technology to the GM and GT Series of desktops, turning up the performance and entertainment capabilities of each line. In addition, Gateway is introducing a new Hybrid-SuperMulti drive on the GM5664, enabling customers to watch both Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs.

“Gateway’s new retail line up marries high-performance with affordability,” said Glenn Jystad, Gateway’s senior manager of consumer desktops. “These new systems offer just about everything one could ask for in a powerful PC, delivering a great combination of features that are sure to please.”

The AMD Phenom™ Processor features extreme quad-core power for dominating the latest games, blazing through processor-intensive programs and delivering unparalleled AMD system performance, while 3GB memory delivers fast system response for effortless multitasking.

The overall system performance of both new PCs is enhanced with the addition of DirectX® 10 support with ATI Radeon™ HD 2400XT graphics featuring 256MB video memory and HDMI output. Even the most advanced gamers and digital enthusiasts will be amazed by the next-generation of graphics performance with DirectX® 10 technology. Rendering hyper-detail, shadows, texture and film-quality images, it brings a new level of realism to the most advanced games and digital video, with more detail per frame than ever before.

Gateway GM5664 Desktop – Extreme Performance for the Enthusiast
With the ability to watch live TV and breeze through the most intense media demands, the Gateway® GM Series of PCs are ideal entertainment supercenters. The ultimate PC for media-hungry users, they feature the high-performance horse power needed for playing the latest games and blazing through processor-intensive programs.

Gateway’s newest addition to the line, the GM5664 desktop, is ideal for those interested in extreme gaming, digital photo and video editing, watching TV or movies and storing a massive media library.

The new Hybrid-SuperMulti drive lets customers watch both Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs, and features burning capability on any type of DVD or CD disc. Rounding out this media supercenter is an integrated TV tuner(1) with remote control, so consumers can watch, pause and record their favorite live programming.

A 1TB hard drive provides a massive amount of storage capacity for even the largest digital library and the richest media files. For added convenience, users can transfer and file digital photos with one touch using the SmartCopy button. Featuring a 400 watt power supply, this desktop is upgrade ready, with plenty of energy to spare for additional components.

The Gateway GM5664 desktop PC is available now at leading retailers for $1,149.99. Click here for additional information.

Gateway GT5662 Desktop – The Latest Quad-Core Power
Gateway’s GT Series of desktops offer intense power, plenty of memory and everyday productivity features for effortless multi-tasking. Incredible system speed allows consumers to easily manage a large music, video or photo library, stream content and bypass loading screens, making them ideal PCs for creating and editing digital content or simply managing finances and staying productive.

Bringing AMD quad-core performance and DirectX® 10 Technology to the GT Series makes these leading capabilities available in a Gateway PC costing well under $1,000.

The GT5662 includes a large 500GB hard drive(2), while a SuperMulti drive allows consumers to burn content on to DVDs or CDs. Labelflash™ technology enables consumers to add a customized touch, enabling text, digital images or photos to be laser-burned directly onto their personal discs.

The Gateway GM5662 desktop PC is available now at leading retailers for $749.99. Click here for additional information.

CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), today announced it is participating in the formation of a joint HD DVD patent license based on its ownership of a patent determined to be essential to the HD DVD standard.

CyberLink’s patent relates to the specifications for interactive content over a network for prerecorded HD-DVD Discs, for playback according to the DVD Specifications for High Definition VIDEO (HD DVD-Video).

“Innovation is the key to CyberLink delivering leading products to our customers as well as sustaining long-term business success,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “We're extremely proud be a part of a group of essential HD DVD patent owners who have come together voluntarily for the purpose of forming a joint license, as this is testament to the strength of our core technology.”

Essential HD DVD patent owners that include CyberLink participate in an effort to form a joint patent license facilitated by MPEG LA LLC.

More information about CyberLink’s support for the HD DVD format, and the complete range of CyberLink software, is available at www.cyberlink.com.

The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) and Ecma International announced today that the International Standards Organization (ISO) has approved ISO/IEC 10995, a global standard for optical media archive life testing for recordable and rewritable DVDs. The standard will enable the optical storage industry to offer reliable archival-grade optical discs to help end-users select the media life expectancy best suited to their application requirements.

Approval of the new standard is the culmination of joint development efforts by OSTA and ECMA to define standard procedures for media archive life testing and classification, and then fast track the archival-grade optical disc testing specification through the ISO process.

OSTA established the Optical Disc Archive Testing (ODAT) Committee in 2005 to enable a broad team of industry experts, including global manufacturers of 120mm optical media and drives, as well as university and government participants, to define the test methodology. In 2006, OSTA and ECMA agreed to work together to fast track the test methodology, initially approved as ECMA-379, through the ISO process.

"Optical discs are an excellent archival medium for secure, removable, portable storage of important photos and documents," said David Bunzel, President of the Optical Storage Technology Association. "Approval of this global standard is an important milestone in our goal to enable end users to more easily identify and select archival-grade optical media, and we encourage industry-wide implementation of this standard to assist them in their purchase decisions."

"Ecma is pleased to have had the opportunity to fast-track the finalization and approval of this standard, which is designed to assist the market in clarifying differences in optical media quality," said Istvan Sebestyen, Ecma Secretary General. "Our TC31 committee was chartered in the 1980s to develop optical disc and disc cartridge standards, and has been involved with virtually all of the CD and DVD read only and recordable/rewritable standards. This experience contributed to our ability to finalize this media archival life test in a relatively short time."

www.osta.org

www.ecma-international.org