| 31-05-99 |
Sony to launch DVD-RW drives in U.S. in autumn |
Yahoo! Finance |
| Sony
said today that it would begin marketing digital video disk re-writable (DVD-RW) drives for personal computers in the United States this autumn. The new drive allows PC users to read and write in DVD-RW disks with a data storage capacity of 3.0 gigabytes.
Sony plans to manufacture 10,000 to 20,000 units of the drives per month at a domestic plant ahead of the scheduled U.S. launch in the second half of 1999, a company spokesman said. |
| 29-05-99 |
Memorex Introduces 700MB/80 Minute CD Media |
Yahoo! Finance |
| The CD-R 700 Mb disc is Memorex's first high capacity recordable CD featuring 700MB or 80 minutes of capacity. Compatible with leading software supplied with most CD recordable drives, this new product gives consumers the benefit of increased capacity without making their current drives or software obsolete. The product will be available in a Audio and a Computer format. |
| Sony Gears Up for DVD+RW Launch |
EMedia |
| Sony has announced plans to introduce an internal 3.0 Gb DVD+RW drive. The DRX101S/C will support 1-1.25x DVD recording, 1-2.5X DVD read speed, 24x max CD-ROM playback, and incorporate a SCSI interface. The drive is expected to come bundled with a variety of DVD tools, including UDF File System software for drive letter access. And, unlike the majority of DVD-RAM drives, DVD+RW devises do not require caddy-based media. Sony is aiming for a fall 1999 release of the DRX101S/C. |
| The Week in Review |
| CD Recordable Info: |
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| DVD Info: |
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| Software Releases |
CDR-Info Page |
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| 26-05-99 |
HP announces First DVD+RW Drive |
Yahoo! Finance/HP |
| Hewlett-Packard Company announced the first DVD+ReWritable drive (DVD+RW), the HP DVD Writer 3100i. The new HP DVD Writer 3100i drive reads and writes to DVD+RW discs, which have 3.0 Gb of storage capacity, which is equivalent to 100 minutes of high-quality digital video. In addition to DVD+RW media, the HP DVD Writer 3100i can read DVD-ROM, DVD movie, CD-RW, CD-Recordable (CD-R), CD-ROM and CD audio. DVD+RW discs provide users with the familiar CD experience and do not require a cartridge. DVD+RW discs can be read by DVD-ROM drives at virtually no additional cost. HP is working with DVD-ROM and chip manufacturers to create or adapt products to take advantage of DVD+RW capabilities. More info at Yahoo! Finance or in the HP
press release. |
| Matsushita develops higher-capacity DVD-RAMs |
Yahoo! Finance |
| Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd has developed DVD-RAM (digital video disc random-access memory) discs and drives with a single-sided capacity of 4.7 Gb, compared with the current standard of 2.6 Gb. The new DVD-RAM has a double-sided capacity of 9.4 Gb and is suitable for editing and accessing various multimedia information such as movies and music, it said. The new drive is compatible with current 2.6 gigabyte DVD-RAM discs, and is capable of reading other DVD and CD formats. |
| Vaddis IV - New DVD IC with MP3, DTS & DVD-Audio Support |
Yahoo! Finance |
| Zoran Corporation, a leading provider of integrated circuits (ICs) and software for digital video and audio applications enabled by compression, announced today the availability of the Vaddis IV
(ZR36730) DVD decoder IC optimized for fourth generation DVD players. The new Vaddis IV decoder further expands the functionality of the efficient Vaddis(TM) architecture by integrating new key functions, enabling the design of advanced, yet affordable, new DVD players. Main New Features of Vaddis IV:
- Integrated NTSC/PAL Encoder with Video DACs
- Integrated MPEG5.1, DTS
and DVD-Audio Decoding
- Expanded Audio Functions Including MP3, HDCD, Enhanced Karaoke
- Expanded Video Functions Including Progressive Interpolation, Sharpness and Brightness Equalization
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| 22-05-99 |
Ritek & Philips start Joint Venture in Europe |
Yahoo! Finance |
| The Components Division of Philips Electronics NV
has signed a letter of intent to establish a European joint venture to manufacture optical media with Taiwan's Ritek Corporation. Ritek Corporation will take a 70 percent shareholding in the new company which will have it's headquaters located in Wiesbaden, Germany. The joint venture is set to become operational in the second half of this year and will be manufacturing magneto-optical (MO), CD-Recordable and CD-Rewritable media.
The new company will be selling its products to Philips and other OEM's and planned to invest in production capacity for CD-Recordables. |
| Plextor PlexWriter RW 8/2/20 CD ReWritable |
Yahoo! Finance |
| Plextor brings its renowned reliability and performance to the high-end of the CD rewritable/erasable (CD-RW) drive category with its announcement of the PlexWriter 8/2/20. Plextor's new 8X records CD-R discs at 8X speed and reads both CD-R and CD-ROM discs at 20X max with 170ms average access time. CD erasable media can be written at 2X and read back at 8X for quick restoration of data backed up to CD-RW media. With the PlexWriter 8/2/20, users get three functions -- the world's fastest CD-R, high quality CD-RW and blazing CD-ROM -- all in one tough shell. |
| News of the Week |
Yahoo! Finance &
News.com |
| CD Recordable Info: |
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| DVD Info: |
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| MP3 Info: |
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| CD Software releases |
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| COMPRO CD Master Duplicators |
| Added the COMPRO CD Master duplicators to the Standalone CD-Copier page. |
| 21-05-99 |
CD Software releases |
CDR-Info Page |
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| 18-05-99 |
CD Info |
| Added CD Info/Pictures for: |
- Maxell DVD-R 3.95 & DVD-RAM 5.2
- TDK DVD-R395S
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| CD-Writer/DVD-Writer Technology Updates |
| Added about 20 CD-Writers to the CD-Writer Technology page and 2 DVD-Writers to the DVD-Writer Technology page. |
| 17-05-99 |
Standalone CD-Copier - CopyALL |
| Added a new Standalone CD-Copier
page which will feature all available standalone copy devices. CopyALL is a device which is able to convert almost any CD-Reader and a CD-Writer, upto 8x speed, in a standalone CD Copy station.
The whole device is build into a very small box which plugs in the SCSI Connector at the back of an external SCSI Casing.
Just press the Copy button and make a 1:1 backup of any kind of CD. For the more difficult CD's, protected or just scratched, an additional Save button has been added which enables writing at 1x speed. This should make the whole duplication process more smooth and stable. |
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| CD Software releases |
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| Yamaha CRW6416SZ |
| Yamaha Corporation of America once again raises the bar for the CD recorder market with the debut of the CRW6416SZ, the world's first and only 6X recorder with 4X rewritability. More info at Yahoo! |
| PCMCIA & Notebook CD-Writers |
| In the last few weeks alot of companies have released very small PCMCIA
CD-Writers for the Japanese market:
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| 15-05-99 |
Hi-Space/MPO CD Info |
| Two weeks ago we received a package from MPO containing the following CD products. It took some time to retrieve the information & to scan all pictures but here it is:
MPO manufactures and markets, under the Hi-Space brandname, a comprehensive range of recordable media: CD-R, CD-R Audio, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM & Mini-Disc. With their head-office located in France, they are one of the biggest CD manufacturers here in Europe.
Checkout the very cool looking ShockWave Hi-Space site - Thanks Benoit de Cuverville for sending the package! |
| Searching for CD-R Media's |
| We are looking for CD Media's which are usually included with certain CD-Writers (like Hewlett Packard, Teac, Yamaha, etc.). These CD Media's are usually not sold seperatly and therefor very hard to come by. If you send in empty CD-R media, which are not yet included in the CD-R Media List, then we will send you 2 CD-R's in return! |
| Teac CD-R56S Test CD-Writer |
| At the moment we replaced our Yamaha CRW4416S Test CD-Writer for a brand new Teac CD-R56S. The main reason that the Yamaha
has been removed is that is still, after 6 months, has the same stupid Test-Mode BUG which makes it impossible to retrieve OverSize/OverBurn
values for certain CD Media. For normal use this is not a problem but for testing CD Media the drive is useless. |
| Feurio ROHLING.DAT update |
| Updated the Feurio ROHLING.DAT
file which holds the OverSize/OverBurn results from all availble CD-R/CD-RW media in our database. |
| 14-05-99 |
CD Info |
- Ritek CD-R74 Audio, CD-R21 , DVD-R39 & DVD-RAM
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| Generic SafeDisc 2.0 Update |
| Updated the CD Protections
and added the Generic SafeDisc 2.0
Patch which will bypass the latest SafeDisc protected games! |
| CD-Writer Technology Update |
| Updated the CD-Writer Technology with a few more new CD-Writers and corrected a few broken links. Thanks to everyone sending in comments and information! |
| 10-05-99 |
Philips CDD3610 Firmware Update |
| We have been testing the latest (unofficial) Philips CDD3610 3.08 Firmware update but the rumors that this firmware would support OverBurning/OverSizing
and CD-Text are both not correct. Overburning
a CD-R still fails at about 660 Mb, the data beyond the 660 Mb is totally corrupted.
The firmware fixes the previous problems with reading 80 minutes CD-R's and has better DMA support - Thanks Smart Projects [Belgium] & Passarino [Italy] for the additional info. |
| CD-Writer Software Update |
| Alot of people replied with CD-Writer Software info & corrections - Thanks to everyone sending in the comments! |
| CD Software releases |
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| 09-05-99 |
CDR Identifier Update |
G&M |
| Added the CDR Identifier 1.28 to the CD-R Utilities page. 5 more CD manufacturers have been added. |
| CD-Writer Software |
| Added the CD-Writer Software page which gives an complete overview of all availabe CD-Writer software. It also tell which software is the best to use and where to get it! |
| DVD-Writer Software |
| Added the DVD-Writer Software page which gives an complete overview of all availabe DVD-Writer software. This overview is not that big yet as there are not many companies developing software for it. |
| 08-05-99 |
CD Info |
- Impega CD-R74 - Thanks Nico Boersen.
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| CD Software releases |
CDR-Info Page |
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| 07-05-99 |
CD Info |
| Added CD Info/Pictures for: |
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| Philips CDD3610 Firmware Update |
| Here is the (unofficial) Philips CDD3610 3.08 Firmware update. This firmware is at the moment being used in Gateway 3610 OEM drives. It is rumored that this firmware should support OverBurning/OverSizing
and CD-Text but this has not been confirmed yet! We will test it this weekend if this is correct or not. So stay tuned for more! |
| CD Software releases |
CDR-Info Page |
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| 02-05-99 |
CD-Writer Repairing |
| Added a new page called: Repairing a CD-Writer/CD-ROM. It explains how to "repair" a CD-Writer when it is causing too many problems & coasters. |
| Burning Tips |
| Added a new page called: CD-Writer Burn Tips. It explains how to configure the workstation to avoid burning coasters. |
| CD-R/CD-ROM/DVD Reviews Update |
| Updated the CD-R/CD-ROM/DVD Reviews page and included alot of new CD-Writer & DVD
reviews on this subject! |
| 01-05-99 |
CD Info |
CD-R World Domination |
| Added CD Info/Pictures for: |
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| Create a Copy Protected CD Update |
| Updated the Create a Protected CD article and added 3 tools which will be very helpfull: FreeLock, EPCD & CDRCue |
