Optical Drives Article (3)
Optical Drives News (43)
Category: Optical Drives, Gaming, General News
Posted: April 2, 2008 02:53PM
Author: Andrew Robinson
This will now be the 3rd article that I have written about the possibility of Microsofts Xbox 360 console to utilize Blu-ray drives. I originally posted an article about Microsoft being in direct contact with Sony about using the medium and then I posted an article about Microsoft denying that they had ever talked with Sony. "Sources" now say (if that means anything by this point) that Lite-On is now developing BD-ROm drives for Microsofts console. The shipments of BD-ROM drives will begin in late 2008 and the "Sources" also say that a newer revision of the XBOX 360 will be produced with a 170W power supply opposed to the now 210W power supply which I'm assuming will be due to the BD-ROM drives lower power consumption.
Category: Optical Drives, Mobile
Posted: March 28, 2008 03:38PM
Author: Carl Dunham
Dell is the first manufacturer out of the gate to introduce a Blu-ray capable laptop for under $1,000. The Inspiron 1525 laptops, one of Dell's lower end models, will have the ability to add a Blu-ray drive starting today. Certain criteria must first be met however, the laptop must have a higher end processor to take advantage of the Blu-ray drive, no Celeron processors need apply. The base price with a Blu-ray drive installed is $879, to install a Blu-ray burner it will cost you an additional $200 bringing that price up to $1,079. This is still a far cry from Blu-ray going mainstream, but I believe its a step in the right direction.
Category: Optical Drives, General News
Posted: March 1, 2008 12:37PM
Author: Andrew Robinson
Dailytech - With all the hype over Bluray don't you want a portable Bluray drive that you can connect to all your computers?
Well if that's your dream than you're in luck because a joint venture between Philips & Lite-On has released an external version of their DH-4O1S Bluray/DVD/CDRW drive. The unit itself is not much larger than an optical drive set on its side, which I'm sure is the point of most external drives. The unit is silver and black and has an acrylic stand, it looks quite classy. The unit reads Blu-ray Discs at 4X, DVD (single-layer) at 12X, DVD (dual-layer) at 8X, and regular CDs at 32x. The unit can connect to any computer with a USB 2.0 port.
Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, Cases, Optical Drives, Cooling, Sound Cards, Power Supplies, Mobile, Input Devices, CPU Cooling, Trade Shows/Conventions
Posted: January 16, 2008 06:00AM
Author: Dale Shuck
Looking around the web today we turned up an interesting article titled Limited Release Of NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS? at Tech ARP speculating on NVIDIA's move to position new products to stop some of AMD/ATI's success they're seeing with its HD 3850/3870 cards. You can read about more fallout in the HD format wars in the Next-Generation Content War Continues to Ravage HD DVD from Madshrimps. Many CPU cooling solutions make use of heatpipes these days. One innovative twist on this approach can be seen in the Xigmatek HDT-S983 Exposed Heatpipe-Base Heatsink reviewed by FrostyTech where the design puts the heatpipes directly in contact with the CPU. Keeping your investment future-proof is tough in the ever-changing world of computers. The Foxconn DigitaLife X38A Intel X38 Express Motherboard at PCSTATS tries to address this by offering support for both DDR2 and DDR3 memory formats. As sometimes happens, we ended up with a two-fer on this product as TweakTown also has a look at this motherboard today. 3dGameMan has a review of the all aluminum Thermaltake Xaser VI Case. As home theater systems gain in popularity, people are finding out how difficult to operate them from the comfort of the couch. One solution is a wireless keyboard and motherboards.org looks at the XGene Trackball Keyboard. Corsair may be best known for its memory products, but they also offer some solid performing power supplies as RBMods reveals in their Corsair TX750W Power Supply review. DarkVision Hardware brings us a look at the Vizo Ninja II Notebook Cooler. PC Perspective gives us a chance to see what the ASUS Xonar D2 Sound Card and U1 USB Audio Station have to offer as an alternative to Creative's X-Fi products. We end the roundup with continuing CES 2008 coverage from Thinkcomputers as the look at Targus, Dell and ASUS.
Category: Optical Drives, Music / Video Players
Posted: January 14, 2008 06:48PM
Author: Dale Shuck
PC Mag - When Warner Bros announced they would pull support for HD DVD and only publish titles in the Blu-ray format, many thought that settled the high-definition format question. In fact, some said the lifetime HD DVD format supported by Toshiba could now be measured in weeks if not days. Well, it looks as if Toshiba is not going down without a fight and said they are lowering prices on their HD DVD players. That move leaves an entry level unit at only $150. The highest end player would set you back about $400. In addition, Toshiba reaffirmed its commitment to their existing partners and vowed to increase its marketing efforts. Where does that leave the consumer? Mainstream consumers might be swayed by the lower prices only to find themselves stuck down the road with a format for which there are no titles (insert inevitable Betamax vs. VHS analogy here). Instead of a clearcut winner, it looks like the war will linger on for a bit longer.
Category: Optical Drives, Mobile
Posted: December 17, 2007 05:17PM
Author: Dale Shuck
InformationWeek - Toshiba announced today it would realease a new line of notebooks in Japan with a rewritable HD DVD drive. The Qosmio Series 2 will be offered with either a 17- or 15.4-inch screen complete with built-in TV tuner. Other standard features are 2GB memory and either a 2.2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor or a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 chip depending on the model and Windows Home Premium. No lightweights, the 17-inch model tips the scales at 10.6 pounds while the samller model weighs 7.7 pounds. With the bulit-in tuners, users will be able to record TV shows and video onto a DVD. Toshib is the major force behind the HD DVD format. The 17-inch model, called the Qosmio G40/97E, is expected to sell for about $3,500, while the 15.4-inch version, called the F40/88EBL, will be priced at about $2,600.
Category: Video Cards, Optical Drives, Cooling, Monitors, CPU Cooling
Posted: December 14, 2007 06:10AM
Author: Dale Shuck
We finish up the week with a look around the web starting with the Thermal Paste Roundup 2007 from Madshrimps. Tech ARP has added the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB (G92) graphics card to its Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 13.0. [H] has AMD's ATI Hybrid CrossFire Sneak Peek Exclusive where they get a look at new technology that allows users to combine a single Crossfire video card with one of ATI's new integrated graphics processors. Pretty cool stuff. FrostyTech reviews the Scythe Mugen SCINF-1000 Heatsink along with the Glacialtech Igloo 5710 Silent Heatsink. TweakTown also has an entry in the cooling department with a review of the ASUS Silent Knight II CPU Cooler. Bjorn3d has the Foxconn Mars motherboard along with the PowerColor HD 3850 Xtreme. We round out the reviews this morning with two products from Samsung. Bonafide Reviews evaluates the Samsung HP-T4264 42" Plasma HDTV and ExtremeMHz offers up a look at the Samsung SH-S203N LightScribe DVD Writer.
Spreading it Thin, Thermal Paste Roundup 2007 @ Madshrimps
Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 13.0 @ Tech ARP
AMD's ATI Hybrid CrossFire Sneak Peek Exclusive @ [H]ardocp
Scythe Mugen SCINF-1000 Heatsink @ FrostyTech
Foxconn Mars @ Bjorn3D
Glacialtech Igloo 5710 Silent Heatsink @ FrostyTech
Samsung HP-T4264 42" Plasma HDTV @ Bonafide Reviews
Samsung SH-S203N LightScribe DVD Writer @ ExtremeMHz
ASUS Silent Knight II CPU Cooler @ TweakTown
PowerColor HD 3850 Xtreme @ Bjorn3D
Category: Optical Drives, Gaming, Manufacturers
Posted: October 24, 2007 12:06PM
Author: Josh Jones
Daily Tech - Remember all that chatter about Microsoft teaming with Toshiba to produce an Xbox360 with a built-in HD DVD player? According to Toshiba, we shouldn't be holding our breath. A Toshiba representative has made it known that Toshiba has nothing to do with an integrated HD DVD drive, citing Microsoft's word that they would never integrate the drive for cust reasons. However, with Blu-ray outselling HD DVD, it is not inconceivable to think that Microsoft will at some point introduce a premium model with the HD DVD player built-in, seeing as though the hardware prices for HD DVD players are falling more rapidly than Blu-ray.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: October 9, 2007 04:34PM
Author: Josh Jones
Daily Tech - The market is still in awe of the 50GB of data that a blu-ray disc can hold. Just like CDs and DVDs, one of the downsides to this next generation technology is the fact that current burners supporting this technology are very slow. At present, it takes a 2x BD-R burner 90 minutes to burn a full 50GB disc. Sony is pleased to announce a new Blu-ray burner for PCs that will cut the write time from previous generation burners in half, lowering a 50GB disc write down to 45 minutes. The player will also burn DVDs at 16x, and comes bundled with software that allows the user to capture, author, edit, and burn 1080i content captured from HDV camcorders.
Category: Optical Drives, Music / Video Players
Posted: August 20, 2007 04:26PM
Author: Dale Shuck
eWeek - The HD DVD Blu-Ray war took an interesting twist today as Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced they are settling on HD DVD exclusively for their new releases. Paramount had previously released titles in both formats but decided to move to HD DVD exclusively based on the decision that that format offered better quality and lower-priced players and reduced manufacturing costs. That means that you'll be only able to get "Blades of Glory", "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third" on HD DVD when they're released this fall.
"So far, most of the major Hollywood studios are selling Blu-Ray titles, and HD DVD sales have lagged. But some HD DVD supporters hope to broaden their appeal to consumers based on cost. The lowest-priced, stand-alone HD DVD player sells for $299, compared with $499 for the lowest-cost Blu-Ray option."
Category: Optical Drives, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: July 3, 2007 08:13AM
Author: Ben Grantham
Engadget - Panasonic is set to join LG with the introduction of their own 4x speed BD-R recorder. However, while LG's GBW-H10N Blu-ray recorder burns are limited to single-layer media, Panny is boasting of a 4x burn to a dual-layer BD-R platter. That's 50GB in 46 minutes in case you're keeping track. No pictures or price but you can expect Panny to go big-and-fast with product sometime later this year.
Category: Optical Drives, Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives, General News
Posted: June 21, 2007 06:24PM
Author: Scott Madden
Blu-ray Disc is getting another layer of content protection with the availability of BD Plus (BD+). The system, from BD+ Technologies LLC, is now complete and available to all Hollywood movie studios and content developers for implementation in Blu-ray Disc media.
Issued by BD+ Technologies are system specifications, key management rules, test specifications and various agreements. Also launched are a key issuing center, testing centers for players, and testing facilities for disc playability.
Category: Optical Drives, Storage / Hard Drives, General News
Posted: June 17, 2007 06:10PM
Author: Scott Madden
engadget - In a huge blow to Toshiba, Universal, and the rest of the HD DVD devotees, rental giant Blockbuster has decided to stock only Blu-ray discs in the vast majority of its nationwide locations, although HD DVD titles will continue to be offered online and in the 250 (out of 1,450) stores that have been testing both formats since last year. Blockbuster VP Matthew Smith revealed to the AP that the decision to go with Blu-ray -- which will reportedly be announced tomorrow -- stemmed from an overwhelming customer preference for those titles in the test markets, accounting for over 70% of all HD discs rented. Interestingly enough, it seems that content -- and not price -- was the deciding factor for consumers, with Blu-ray-only hits such as the Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean films apparently outmatching equivalent HD DVD exclusives. While it's still a little too soon to declare Blu-ray the outright winner, this Blockbuster decision only contributes to the momentum that Sony's darling has had of late -- momentum that at this point, might be too difficult for the other guys to counter.
Category: Optical Drives, General News
Posted: June 13, 2007 10:03AM
Author: Scott Madden
engadget - Ah, the sweet aroma of competition in the air. That's what we've gotten a whiff of after catching an (admittedly grainy) shot of what appears to be an internal Blu-ray writing / HD DVD reading combo drive from Hitachi. The GGW-H20N should have no issues playing your favorite high-definition films on either format, and it can also burn 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs, BD-R, BD-RW, and the typical flavors of writable DVDs and CDs. Reportedly, the drive will also boast a speedy SATA interface and will posses a read rate of up to 6x and burn rate of 4x, but the most important detail was unsurprisingly omitted. Bring on the price drops.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: June 6, 2007 10:31AM
Author: Ben Grantham
Engadget - If you were wondering who's responsible for the super-slim burner that allows Toshiba's waifish Portege R500 sub-notebook to sport an optical drive in such a small enclosure -- and who wasn't, really? -- it seems that Akihabara News has solved this non-mystery by outing Panasonic's seven-millimeter thick DVD writer as the guilty party. At only 99 grams heavy as well, the unnamed spinner reportedly stomps all over the previous record holder for slimmest notebook drive, which measured a relatively-bloated 9.5 millimeters from top to bottom.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: June 4, 2007 09:08AM
Author: Ben Grantham
Engadget - Toshiba Qosmio fans have reason to celebrate with the unveiling of Tosh's skinny SD-L912A HD DVD-RW writer for laptops, a world's first to support rewritable HD DVD media. Unfortunately, we're only talking 1x read/write speeds here, or about 2 hours to fill a 30GB dual-layer disc -- but it's a start. The drives is also capable of writing to HD DVD-R DL and all the DVD and CDROM formats you can throw at it. The 12.7-mm thin drive will be shipping in sample quantities to OEMs in July as they spin up to production capacity in the months that follow.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: May 8, 2007 10:45AM
Author: Ben Grantham
Engadget - We can't deny feeling a little rush of excitement when we first learned that LG would be releasing an optical drive that could handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs -- like many fence-sitters, we see these combo units as an end run around the format war -- so obviously we were quite stoked to read ExtremeTech's initial thoughts on one of these devices (provided by HP in what was likely an upcoming Media Center). Bearing in mind that neither the review unit nor the drivers were finalized versions, it sounds like the GGW-H10N does indeed live up to its promise of reading nearly every disc format available as well as burning and Lightscribing Blu-ray media, DVDs, and CDs; however, Blu-ray write speeds were well below the claimed 2x in testing, and the lack of HD DVD-R/RW read support could prove to be a rather frequent annoyance unless it's rectified through a firmware update (or HD DVD pulls a Betamax).
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: April 30, 2007 06:54AM
Author: Christopher Murphy
Hexus - Pioneer now has available a burn-everything internal DVD writer with a Sata interface. The unit is offered in beige (DVR-212) or black (DVR-212BK) and being sold to consumers as well as system builders. Burn speeds are said to be 18x for write-once DVD-R and +R blanks, 10x for two DVD-R DL and +R DL and 12x for DVD-RAM. As you'd expect, the burner uses Pioneer’s Disc-Resonance Stabiliser technology to control the airflow generated by high-speed disc rotation and minimise disc warping.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: April 26, 2007 08:13PM
Author: Dale Shuck
ExtremeTech - Wal-Mart denied rumors that it had placed a substantial order with a Taiwan supplier for ultra-cheap HD DVD players that could swing the format wars in that direction. A spokesperson for the company said Thursday that reported leak concerning Taiwan-based consumer electronics manufacturer, Fuh Yuan, partnering with TDK in China to manufacture the $250-299 players, had no merit. The report first appeared in AVS Forums, and was picked up by other Web sites. "The article… was full of inaccuracies and we had no participation in it," the spokesman said in an e-mail to PC Magazine. "Most of the facts, including the purchase, were untrue," she added. "Not sure how it originated."
Click HERE to see the original news post. - Nemo *News Editor*
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: April 23, 2007 11:08AM
Author: Dale Shuck
ComputerWorld - Of the high-definition discs bought by consumers in the first quarter, 70% were in the Blu-ray Disc format, and 30% were HD DVD, according to sales figures provided by trade publication Home Media Magazine. Blu-ray took the lead in February, and its percentage of total sales accelerated to the point where it accounted for nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold in March. What's more, when given the choice, consumers are going with Blu-ray. Warner Home Video released The Departed the same day, Feb. 13, in both formats. Between then and March 31, consumers bought 53,640 copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc and 31,590 on HD DVD, according to Home Media's market research, based on studio estimates and Nielsen VideoScan point-of-sale data.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: April 12, 2007 07:21PM
Author: Dale Shuck
ExtremeMhz - When it comes down to features, few manufacturers still fail to release DVD writers capable of supporting all types of media at their highest read/write speeds. DVD Writers have somewhat hit a brick wall in terms of what they can offer in order to compete with the rest. Other than those drives from Samsung, there really aren't many other options out there that will entice many or make them worthy of an upgrade. The drive I have the pleasure of showing you today though has all ends covered and on paper, it happens to be the most feature-rich drive on the market in terms of media support and speed ratings. Based on a number of reviews here, their optical drives also happen to be one of the few that do impress in terms of overall performance. Their very latest, the GSA-H42L, is their LightScribe capable drive in their new H42 series and one that happens to write to all supported media at the highest speeds currently possible, including DVD-RAM. It will be another long article, but there is plenty to cover, some of which many will find quite interesting.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: April 9, 2007 10:03PM
Author: Dale Shuck
USAToday - The group behind security measures for next-generation DVDs said Monday it has fixed a leak that allowed hackers to discover the keys for unlocking movies on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. Makers of software for playing the discs on computers will offer patches containing new keys and closing the hole that allowed observant hackers to discover ways to strip high-def DVDs of their protection. Digital rights management protection, or DRM, is intended to prevent copying of the movies. Hackers working late last year and early this year were able to observe computer code found on the PC-based DVD players and discover keys that unlock protections on all high-def discs, so copies could be made. On Monday, the group that developed the Advanced Access Content System said it had worked with device makers to deactivate those keys and refresh them with a new set.
Category: Optical Drives, Manufacturers
Posted: April 3, 2007 12:58PM
Author: Christopher Murphy
DailyTech - The move between Lite-On and Philips is one that industry analysts have been expecting to happen for about a year now. Last April, Lite-On took over BenQ's optical disc drive manufacturing operations. At the time, Lite-On and BenQ were partners in the optical drives business but the takeover placed Lite-On up to the number two spot in the list of biggest drive manufacturers in the world.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: March 28, 2007 08:05AM
Author: Dale Shuck
[H] - The high definition world is split between two camps: HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Which of these offers the better viewing experience and has the ability to deliver HD to your home theatre both now and in the future? We realize that the supporters of both camps will not be easily swayed from their stance. We completely understand that. We also understand that you may disagree with our assessments of the industry. However, we wanted to take a quick look at which format was poised to deliver, at least at this time, what was needed to survive this format war. We feel that Blu-ray best shows that potential.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: March 27, 2007 07:43PM
Author: Dale Shuck
Digital Trends - Israeli storage developer Mempile has announced it has successfully demonstrated its new optical storage technology dubbed TeradDisc, which may offer the capability to store as much as 1 TB of data on a single DVD-sized disc. Mempile says it is using non-linear two-photon technology to read and record data in over 100 transparent "virtual" layers which take up the entire volume of a disc. The approach is radically different from conventional blue-laser technology like Blu-ray and HD DVD, in which partial reflection from multiple layers significantly reduces signal while increasing background noise and interference. Mempile's technology, conversely, can handle over 100 layers wile providing true WORM capabilities and bit-by-bit recording and addressing.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: March 19, 2007 04:37AM
Author: Dale Shuck
ExtremeMhz - I will start by saying that the most popular DVD writer reviewed here was the Samsung SH-S182M. Till this day, it continues to be of high interest to many. Why? Well, with BenQ out of the optical drive market, along with the lack of full-featured drives offering some decent overall performance, many are now turning to the drives from Samsung. Supporting all types of CD and DVD media, including high speed DVD-RAM and LightScribe, these low cost drives simply seem to be the best option for many. With that said, I decided to take a look at their latest drive, the SH-S183L and also provide a comparison over the SH-S182M wherever applicable. While basically offering the same features, the 183L breaks the norm and now features an SATA interface. But does this mean better performance?
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: March 17, 2007 09:10AM
Author: Dale Shuck
Overclockers Online - The Lite-On LH-20A1H really is a Super All Write as it comes packed with features. Not only is this drive the fastest on the market by supporting 20X DVD±Rs, Lite-On has made is possible to take regular media and either have them finish their writing process faster or do so with fewer mistakes.
Category: Optical Drives
Posted: March 13, 2007 11:41PM
Author: Dale Shuck
InformationWeek - Hitachi-LG Data Storage reportedly plans to unveil this month the first PC drive that can read Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. The new GGW-H10N is a combination Blu-ray disc burner and reader, and an HD DVD read-only drive. The device is scheduled to be shown at the CeBIT conference in Germany in the middle of the month, the Web site CDRInfo reported on Tuesday. The drive can record up to 50 Gbytes of data, which is more than the market standard, and will cost about $1,200. The new product is scheduled to ship in May.
Category: Optical Drives, Manufacturers, General News
Posted: February 27, 2007 04:48PM
Author: Dale Shuck
InformationWeek - Sony Electronics has introduced a Blu-ray disc player with a price tag that's 40% less than the previous model in an attempt to attract buyers beyond gadget enthusiasts. The BDP-S300 is similar to the older BDP-S1, but the price difference takes the former model closer to the mainstream market. The newer player sells for $599 and the older model $999. Sony introduced the less-expensive model to "broaden the market," a spokesman said. "It's to make these types of products available to a wider market, versus just those looking at the higher-end pieces." Sony, however, acknowledges that the differences between the two machines is likely to be noticed only by electronic enthusiasts, not the average consumer -- similar to how a symphony conductor might hear more at a Beethoven concert than the average listener. Sony plans to continue selling the BDP-S1.
Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, CPU's, Cases, Memory, Optical Drives, Sound Cards, Power Supplies, Operating Systems, Storage / Hard Drives, Small Form Factor, Modding
Posted: February 25, 2007 06:58PM
Author: Dale Shuck
ExtremeMhz - The interest in home theater PC's has grown tremendously over the past couple of years. What many will quickly notice when they venture into it is not only what kind of benefits it offers, but just how much better it is to run such a system over standard A/V options. However, the process of building one can indeed be quite overwhelming for many. What many will quickly find is that there's much to learn in order to build a system that will not only work for you, but one that is designed to enhance your overall home theater experience. That's the purpose of this new "Extreme Guide" here at ExtremeMHz. We will help you with your build and cover everything from hardware to software, as well as provide some recommendations that will help you in the long run.”
|
