For the people looking for reliable Blu-ray writers in the market, Buffalo has released another one today but unfortunately for the Japanese market. The new model is the Buffalo BR-PX68U2-BK external Blu-ray writer, a device that measures just 137mm x 142mm x 20mm and weighs only 340 grams. It makes use of USB connectivity and has write speeds of up to 6X for BD-R, 4x for BD-R DL, 2x for BD-RE SL/DL, 8x for DVD-R/+R/+RW, 6x for DVD-RW, 5x for DVD-RAM, 4x for DVD-RW/+RW DL, 24x for CD-R and 10x for CD-RW.

The Buffalo BR-PX68U2-BK will be available in Japan by November for about $340.00.

(Source) Slippery Brick

Enjoy quick and easy transfer of home movies and digital pictures to DVD without a PC with the new Sony’s VRDMC6 DVDirect Multi-Function DVD recorder. The recorder can be easily connected to any camcorder, VCR or DVR and can record up to 12 hours directly to DVD.

The VRDMC6 can even transfer high-definition AVCHD video to DVD. For convenience, the recorder comes with four built-in slots and there is full support for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen video. Other outstanding features of the recorder include automatic DVD menu and title creation, 5 recording quality modes, consolidate mini DVDs, direct, real time recording of digital photos to DVD recording, automatic DVD chaptering and high definition resolution.

You can also preview video or up to 6 digital photos at a time using built-in 2.7” color LCD screen of the VRDMC6. The recorder records on 4.7GB DVD+R/+RW/-R/-RW and 8.5GB DVD+R Double Layer Discs. This recorder is priced at $249.99.

Via: Sony

If you are looking for a reliable DVD player/ recorder in the market, the Toshiba DR570 DVD Recorder with Built in Tuner should be a wise choice to consider. This Toshiba DVD recorder comes with a built-in tuner and can record -R/-RW, +R/+RW formats.

For playback, it recognizes the usual photo and video files such as JPEG, MP3, VCD and Kodak Pic. It also has a DV input and a 1080p Upconversion. This Toshiba DVD recorder/player is a great complement for people who want to store their captured shots for media viewing for the whole family to see. This is also a great multi-function player to include for your home theater setup.

Price: $179.99

(Source) Amazon

Portable DVD players are normally meant to serve the basic function of playing back the usual DVDs and VCDs for people on the go. But now thanks to Chinavision, a new technology has made DVD ripping available in these portable DVD players, bridging the gap between a reliable DVD player and the usual laptops that come armed with with CD/DVD burners.

Chinavision made all this possible with their Copy Capable Portable DVD players. This player can now rip files and transfer them to a standard SD card or USB flash drive and perform the basic expectations we know portable DVDs can deliver.

(Source) Press

Addonics Technologies unveils a Blu-ray drive and a new Pocket DVD-RRW drive. Both are believed to be the first portable optical drives with a built-in eSata and USB interface. As laptop users are slowly turning their mobile devices into virtual portable entertainment systems, the new portable Blu-ray drive is certainly a big boost to people who are transforming their notebooks to virtual entertainment systems or have laptops that cannot read Blu-ray discs.

The Pocket Blu-ray/DVDRW also comes with a DVD player and burner which should come in handy as well for people looking to maximize multi-functional portable drives and uses. They come with extremely fast eSATA and USB 2.0 interface. They are designed to be compatible with the latest Windows, Mac and Linux OS.

The Blu-ray drive retails for $235 while the Pocket eSATA/USB DVD-RRW is priced at $99.

(Source) Press

Looks like Toshiba’s not taking the whole Blu-ray win in the format war lying down.

While they’ve been promising a Blu-ray player for quite some time now, it looks like they’re hedging their bets on the whole thing by producing a line of standard definition equipment too.

Their slate of releases includes three models of a DVD player / recorder / DVR, with varying levels of storage all the way up to two terabytes of onboard space and starting at three hundred twenty gig.  Naturally, as some have pointed out, the chances of us seeing this little fella in the United States thanks to our copyright law is slim to nil, but the possibility does remain.  They’re looking to be sold only in Japan starting this September.

And of course, I’m all sorts of unhappy about this.  For crying out loud, how many sweet pieces of hardware are we going to be forced to miss out on because our government wants to protect corporations ahead of us?  But this is just a gripe against the overall fact–why is Toshiba hedging its bets like this?  Maybe it’s a critical commentary on the viability of Blu-ray as a medium, either in the short term or the long term.  Sure, Blu-ray looks fantastic if you’ve got all the necessary components required to view it, but for crying out loud, some of this stuff costs a fortune, and these days everyone’s watching their pennies.

Toshiba may have the right idea after all….

Ever since the Blu-ray came out, we have seen quite a few Blu-ray burners available in the market. But now, we are seeing the incremental release of such Blu-ray writers and the latest is the one from Buffalo with the Buffalo Blu-ray 10X Blu-Ray writers, BR-H1016SU2 (external) and BR-H1016FBS-BK (internal).

The two drives carry a 4MB buffer and features write speeds of 10X for BD-R SL, 8x for BD-R DL, 2x for BD-RE SL/DL, 16 x for DVD-R/+R, 12x for DVD-RAM, 8x for DVD-R/+R DL and DVD+RW, 6x for DVD-RW, 48x for CD-R and 24x for CD-RW.

The Buffalo BR-H1016FBS-BK can be connected via USB 2.0 and the BR-H1016SU2 via eSata. Both are expected to be available by September and priced at $359 and $300 respectively.

(Source) Slippery Brick

A home. Theatre. PC.  How awesome an idea is this?

Lenovo’s taking its first steps into the still somewhat burgeoning home theatre PC market by offering up its IdeaCentre Q700 and its complementary model the IdeaCentre D400, both of which is set to cost about five hundred bucks.

The IdeaCentre Q700 is designed, by the look of it, to take advantage of virtually every possible kind of media that’s been produced in the last ten years. It comes with one of three Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a maximum of two terabytes (as in, one thousand gigabytes) and the capacity for plenty more storage.  Get this–this monster comes with eight USB ports and an eSATA port for an external hard drive.  This is a clear step up over the earlier version we’ve discussed, so they must’ve taken that bit about “lackluster specs” seriously.

It can support 1080p video and graphics, not to mention 7.1 channel surround sound, and also offers ethernet and wi-fi capability for streaming video.  And just in case there’s any TV you actually want to watch, a TV tuner is also available.

That, folks, is a LOT.  A lot of options, a lot of storage, a lot of everything.  Considering that a blank DVD holds roughly four gigs of material, that means the two terabyte hard drive by itself can hold about five hundred DVDs worth of material.  With EIGHT USB ports and an eSATA, you could conceivably bump that up another eighteen terabytes, bringing the whole system up to somewhere in the neighborhood of–brace yourself–FOUR THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DVDs.

Assume ninety minutes average per DVD, and that means you’re staring at almost seven thousand hours of video.  If you did absolutely nothing but watch movies, eschewing even sleep, you’d spend two hundred and ninety one days, plus sixteen hours, watching movies and never repeat the same one.

Of course, you’d probably have a hard time finding a way to put all those videos on your hard drive, especially since trafficking in the software to transfer them is still illegal….

Aleratec has done it again as it comes out with a Blu-ray disc duplicator in the Copy Cruiser BLU HLX Disc Duplicator. The device can simultaneously duplicate 3 copies of a single Blu-ray disc while connected to a PC via an external eSATA connection. Each drive has an 8 MB internal memory which acts as the buffer write data during the duplication process.

Features:

• Supports Blu-ray, DVD and CD duplicating and recording
• Up to 3 simultaneous direct to disc LightScribe DVD/CD Labels
• Up to 3 simultaneous BD copies at up to 8x speed
• Up to 50GB capacity per disc
• Dual Channel PCI Express eSATA host adapter included FREE with purchase
• Aleratec Disc Publishing Software Suite included FREE with purchase

The Aleratec Copy Cruiser BLU HLX Disc Duplicator retails for $1,575 and is available at all Aleratec distribution partners.

(Source) Press

Pioneer has today announced that they will be launching an ultra-lightweight, ultra-slim portable DVD burner for use with netbooks and notebooks.

As you can see from the above picture, it bares resemblance to a CD jewel case more than it does to a DVD burner but that’s the point; it’s ultra portable. Spec wise this thing will read/write DVD-Rs at 8x and CD-R/CD-RW at 24x.

This particular DVD burner will go on sale next month for a MSRP of $79.99. Now we’ll just have to wait a while longer before Pioneer releases a Blu-ray burner in this form factor.

The Samsung DVD-VR375A Combo Drive is a versatile unit that plays as well as records both VHS tapes and DVD discs. It delivers crisp pictures and high-quality sound. You can now easily transfer those VHS home videos to DVD for safe and compact storage. In addition, the unit supports an easy recording feature to help you immediately master the process.

Further, the DVD-VR375A offers up-conversion to 1080p for assured distinct and clear images. The HDMI output uses a single cable wire to deliver the sharpest, richest images possible. This help you to get rid of annoying tangled wires and enable you to easily transfer HD video from your DVD player to your TV or other digital device using a single cable.

The progressive scan feature of the DVD pushes the limit of standard resolution and takes watching DVDs to another level. The dual-layer recording allows you record up to 14-hours of programming on dual-layer discs. With the DVD-VR375A, you are sure to discover a whole new side of DVD.

Via: Samsung

So you want to record lots and lots of Blu-ray discs, right? Well admit it already, there’s no shame in that! And we have a new tool for you to consider. Amex has launched the BDR-S1/BDR-T28 4X_Blu-ray Recorder and you can use it with any system you like since it’s an external device. Hook it up to your machine via USB and let the recording begin.

The recorder comes in black and white and it will feature the ECO S.M.A.R.T technology which will increase laptop batter life by up to 40%, the STAT Drive technology which will offer you a 30% increase in data transfer rate and a Liquid Crystal Tilt/Blur Compensator which will offer you an improved recording/playing experience. So let’s hear it Amex! How much does it cost?

In case you’re not looking for a new Blu-ray player then how about getting a HDD/DVD recorder? What if Toshiba were to make it? The company has launched two new machines, the RD-E304K and the RD-E1004K. These recorders come with a 320GB and a 1TB, respectively, hard drive and they also offer HDMI and LAN connectivity. The recorders will be available sometime in August and they will cost $500 or $650, depending on your storage needs. Interested?

via Toshiba

Texas-based manufacturer, EZPnP is pleased to announce the availability of its new EZDigiMagic line of Stand-Alone Desktop DVD Burners. Designed as a response to the customer demand, these burners come packed with unique features. This series include the new model called DM550-P20.

The new EZDigiMagic DM550-P20 comes featuring one-touch direct copy function from the flash memory card or USB drive. It also features a USB 2.0 interface along with disc spanning and time stamping. This new model has been designed to enhance speed performance.

The EZDigiMagic Stand-Alone Desktop DVD Burner series has this new burner with a 2” color screen. The preview function on this product provides multiple-image and single-image viewing. It can be yours from mid-June at a price of $349.00.

Samsung Electronics is enjoying a profitable season these days, apparently to the growing demand for handy and reliable DVD storage solutions which are coinciding with strong netbook sales. The whole logic is quite simple. While most notebooks these days come with large storage hard drives, the growing file size of new files have made them up for debate.

The practice of turning towards external DVD writers has been around and normally, they are left out of the specs that some current notebooks have at the moment. Normally, most laptops have a CD writer but between them and DVD writers, we all know the storage capacity is wider by a mile.

Another thing is cost. To help bring down the cost of buying a laptop, some features are taken out, opting to make do with the storage space from hard drives since they will have options for external hard drives or optical storage such as DVD writers.

“The netbook is a streamlined economical PC with limited storage capability, designed for mobility and Internet access,” said Jin-soo Lee, vice president of Samsung’s Optical Disk Drive (ODD) marketing division. “Netbook consumers often need an external disk drive, such as a Samsung external DVD writer, for disc booting and installation of application software from CDs or DVDs.”

Samsung has two different types of slim external DVD writers: the SE-S084, which is a slot-in DVD writer and the SE-T084, a tray-type DVD writer. They are all available in local retail stores at the moment.

(Source) Press

There are a lot of portable DVD burners in the market today and while they carry practically the same intent, it all boils down to the features that they carry. And one of the new features that the EZDigiMagic DM550-U20 has added is the photo viewing option.

With the addition of the photo viewing option, people who are planning to burn DVDs can be able to review contents prior to burning. This preview function offers both multiple-image and single-image viewing, while it also provides zoom-in, zoom-out, and scrolling options for each displayed photo.

Other features:

• One-touch direct copy from flash memory card or USB Drive
• USB 2.0 interface
• Disc-spanning
• Time-stamping

The new DM550-P20 model is scheduled to begin shipping in mid-June and has a suggested retail price of $349.00.

(Source) PR Web

Here is the new external USB DVD Burner from Burner from Buffalo Japan. The Buffalo DVSM-U242 DVD Burner achieves fast 33.24MB/s speed which is 24 times faster then previous models. It can write a 4.38GB DVD R media in only 4 minutes and 4 seconds. Apart from fastest speeds, it features 1080p DVD upscaling, thereby writing your favorite movies at HD quality.The DVD writer will be available in June bundled with CyberLink’s Software Suite for a price of  12500 Yen.

Source: Buffalo

Here is the new DVSM-U24FBS  DVD Burner from Buffalo Japan. Unlike the regular DVD Burners, DVSM-U24FBS incorporates special functionalities for added convenience. The powerful DVD writer is capable of Upscaling DVD videos to HD 1080p format. The SuperMulti DVD Burner can write to DVD+R DL/-R DL at 8X,  DVD-RAM at 12x. DVD+/-RW and also supports CD-R/RW. The Buffalo DVSM-U24FBS DVD Burner is available now in Black and White models with a price tag of 5800Yen, approximately 60USD.

Via: Buffalo

Pioneer Japan unveiled its new Ultra Slim DVR-XD08 External DVD Writer. The DVR-XD08 is the company’s first to integrate PURE READ and PowerRead Technology. The  External DVD Writer is capable of playing high resolution DVD Video and Audio. Its 18.9mm thickness and the body weight of 360g make it a highly portable device. The Pioneer DVR-XD08 External DVD Writer with a USB 2.0 Interface is expected to be released in early May.

Buffalo Japan introduced its newest BRC-P258U2 External Portable Blu-ray Combo Drive. The Blu-Ray drive can write on all DVD media however can access BD media for read-only purpose. The combo drives offers a writing speed of DVD±R @ 8x, DVD±R DL/±RW @ 4x, CD-R @ 16x, and CD-RW @ 10x. The BRC-P258U2 drive is coupled with “PowerDVD 8” to offer DVD and BD playback options.

The Buffalo BRC-P258U2 External Combo drive is proposed to be released this month for an price of ¥23,205 (about $235).