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October 30, 2004
NEC to Market DVD Burners
Company's ND-3500A drive is not just for OEMs anymore.
NEC Solutions is taking an unusual step in today's modern age of CD and DVD burners: The company has begun marketing and shipping a DVD burner under its own brand.
NEC joins a crowded market, but the company believes there's room for one more player--especially given the super-low $100 price of its ND-3500A model.
The drive, which has been shipping for several months as part of OEM packages (and sold as a "bare" OEM drive online), can write at up to 16X for DVD-R and DVD+R; 4X for DVD-RW and DVD+RW; and 4X for DVD+R Double Layer.
Not New to Retail
As Glenn Brower, NEC's director of storage products, points out, it's not as if NEC has never marketed a drive before. "We've been making optical products for 15 years. We did retail kits 10 years ago, with CD-ROM drives," he says. "But we've been focusing on OEM since then."
So why is the company jumping into the fray now?
"We believe there's an opportunity to provide a great product kit--16X is the top write-once speed for DVD--with software," Brower says.
With this drive, he says, "we hope to spark volume and demand for the DVD category. The pricing has come down on these drives, but some vendors are still charging a bit too much. We've tried to price this in a way that, between the speed, the software, and the price, we'll have a triple benefit for consumers."
With certain 8X media, such as Verbatim discs, Brower says, the drive can write at 16X. "The reflectivity of the media has to be good enough to allow the drive to write at that speed," notes Brower.
The ability to write at fast speeds to slower media is handy given the low availability of 16X media at this time. Of competing 16X models, currently only Pioneer says its DVR-A08 can perform this hat trick.
Forging Ahead to Retail
In this first phase, NEC is marketing the drive through "tier one distributors, mail order, and catalog," says Brower. "In our second phase, it's possible we'll go into retail."
The drive's price (technically, it's $99.99) is $20 to $30 more than what the OEM version will cost you, according to PC World's Product Finder listing for the OEM drive. But that's still a bargain for consumers, for whom a drive with comparable software might cost more like $130 or $150 at retail. For the extra bucks, you get Ulead's DVD MovieFactory 3.5 Suite Deluxe and NovaStor Backup, as well as tech support through NEC for the drive (30 days through Ulead for the primary burning software).
More important, you also get the promise of firmware upgrades--which are critical given the ever-changing landscape of media. Firmware upgrades can broaden a drive's support for different media types.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 01:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2004
Credit Card Identity Theft
Winn-and-Sims.com is a blog about a case of identity theft, Winn and Sims Law Firm didn't take proper investigation before they got the money from the victim's bank account. I read the whole story in the time order and glad that Shawn got the money back. We should be able to learn something from the case.
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Category : Internet
Posted by dvd software at 10:23 PM | Comments (1)
October 25, 2004
Google Reply
I submitted some feature request about Google's desktop search, they replied as following:
Thank you for the praise and for your note. Currently, you can use Google Desktop Search to search the full text of .txt, .html, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. For other file types (including .pdf and .mp3), Desktop Search usually makes at least the file name searchable.
We appreciate your feedback about indexing additional filetypes and have added your suggestions to our list of feature requests. User feedback is very important to us as we work to improve this program, so stay tuned for additions and improvements in future versions.
Regards,
The Google Team
I asked a question before as an advertiser and they didn't answer, ok, I'm just a very small advertiser, spend less than $200 per month. Anyway this somewhat gives me the idea that desktop search supporter is more important than a small advertiser :-).
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2004
HD-DVD Drives Find a Place in the PC
NEC, Toshiba will put the next-generation DVD technology in desktops and laptops next year.
NEC plans to start selling desktop PCs equipped with HD-DVD (High Definition/High Density-DVD) drives at the end of 2005, the company says. Slimmed-down versions of the drives will be added to the company's line of notebook PCs in 2006, it says.
NEC did not announce which PC models would be sold with HD-DVD drives or how much PCs equipped with the drives will cost.
In addition to selling PCs equipped with HD-DVD drives, NEC will start selling the drives separately at the end of next year. The company will initially sell HD-DVD drives designed for desktop PCs and will later offer the slim-type drives for notebooks, says Yoshibumi Yashiro, an NEC spokesperson.
Toshiba's Plans
NEC is not the first company to announce plans to sell PCs equipped with HD-DVD drives. Earlier this week, Toshiba announced plans to start selling notebook PCs equipped with HD-DVD drives in December 2005.
Initially, Toshiba's high-end notebook models will be equipped with slim-type HD-DVD drives, according to Keisuke Ohmori, a company spokesperson. "We'll start with the high end, and release more [HD-DVD-equipped] models in 2006," he says.
These first HD-DVD-equipped notebooks from Toshiba will be priced between $1855 and $2793, Ohmori says. Toshiba hopes to sell about 1 million notebooks equipped with the HD-DVD drives during the first year following the launch, he says.
The NEC and Toshiba announcements underline the determination of companies that support the HD-DVD format to get products into shops next year.
Gaining Support
HD-DVD technology was mainly developed by Toshiba and NEC. In August, another of Japan's major consumer electronics products makers, Sanyo Electric, announced support for the standard. Both Sanyo and Toshiba unveiled prototype HD-DVD players earlier this month at Japan's premier electronics show, Ceatec Japan 2004.
Sample HD-DVD discs made by Memory-Tech, Ritek, Prodisc Technology, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, Hitachi Maxell, Imation, Cinram International, and Advanced Media were also shown at the exhibition.
Competing with HD-DVD is the Blu-ray Disc format backed by a group of companies led by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial. Matsushita recently launched its first Blu-ray Disc player, while Sony put its first Blu-ray Disc on sale last year.
Paul Kallender, IDG News Service
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2004
Great Hosting Company
I can't help praising a hosting company - icdsoft.com, I used their service for my personal website for two years, I never needed the support since it's only several pages. After I opened second website and asked for support for three times, all were replied within 10 minutes in a very helpful and informative way, they even offered to check my scripts. Compared to other hosting service I used, it's simply amazing!
Now they have three hosting plans, the main differences are disk space and traffic volume(5/10/15 GB). The entry level is 5GB/Month for $50/year, which should be enough for most new websites, you can easily upgrade if your websites grow. It's a pity they don't have hosting plan for high traffic website, otherwise I will move my main site (40GB/Month) to them.
DVD-software.info doesn't use their service, you may notice some down time occasionally, I'm considering changing it after the one-year contract ends.
Category : Internet
Posted by dvd software at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2004
TiVo CEO Interview
Engadget's correspondent J.D. Lasica interviewed Mike Ramsay, CEO of TiVo, at the Web 2.0 conference. Lasica asked many interesting questions including their planned TiVoToGo service.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 07:29 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2004
Funny Chat Bot
Here is a very interesting chat bot for AIM and AOL, you can send it out to chat with your friends, the bot will send the talking back to you via email after finishes the chat. But be careful, it could get big problems with your friends.
Category : Fun
Posted by dvd software at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2004
Google Desktop Search
Google finally released a beta version of their long-waited desktop search tool. I played with it for a while, it's even better than I expected, searching my hundreds of emails in Outlook Express is instantaneous. Now you can forget about the search functionality in your Windows system. Can we uninstall it? :-)
It's definitely a must-have tool, install it now.
Google desktop search reviews on searchenginewatch.com and searchenginelowdown.com.
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 06:43 PM | Comments (1)
JVC Sides With Blu-ray Disc
JVC has joined the Blu-ray Disc Association, the company and association say in a statement issued this week.
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is the group responsible for promoting the Blu-ray Disc optical disc format, which is being positioned as a successor to current DVD discs for high-definition video content. In this area it faces competition from a rival format called HD-DVD (High Definition/High Density-DVD).
While its membership is new, JVC's support for Blu-ray Disc has been known for a long time. It was among the first Japanese companies to show a prototype Blu-ray Disc player in 2002 and has continued to show prototypes based on the system at Japanese trade shows since then.
"We're really excited to have them join, they are clearly a major brand and one of the last major ones that have not committed," says Andy Parsons, senior vice president of advanced product development at Pioneer Electronics (USA) and a representative of the Blu-ray Disc Association.
Its membership comes a week after another big-name company, Twentieth Century Fox Film, also joined the Blu-ray Disc Association.
Content is Key
The support of content providers, like Fox, is seen as vital to the success of both Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD because, without commercial content, the formats are unlikely to appeal to a wide customer base.
"I think the content providers [like Fox] are an essential part of the overall equation," says Parsons. "It's also very important to have a number of companies to release products to play back that content."
To this end, the Blu-ray Disc Association is talking "on an almost daily basis" to content providers, says Parsons. The recent inclusion of the MPEG4 and VC1 video codecs to the read-only BD-ROM specification was as a direct result of these conversations and the requests of content providers, he says.
Standardization work on the BD-ROM format is currently underway. Version 1.0 of the physical format has been set and the Blu-ray Disc Association is aiming to complete the first version of the application format and navigation format by the end of 2004, says Parsons.
Fox also took a seat on the board of the Blu-ray Disc Association and will play a part in discussing and setting the Blu-ray Disc format. There are 13 other companies on the board: Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, Philips Electronics, Pioneer Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony, TDK, and Thomson Multimedia.
The competing HD-DVD is supported by the DVD Forum and backed by NEC, Toshiba, Sanyo Electric, and optical disc maker Memory-Tech.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 06:07 PM | Comments (0)
DVD Burning FAQ
Burning could be very confusing due to different DVD formats and data to be burned. Check out these frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Category : DVD Articles
Posted by dvd software at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2004
MSN Search Preview
Microsoft has been working on their new search technology for a while, they launched the second preview last week.
DVD-software.info is ranked #1 for the competitive keyword "DVD Software", which is quite surprised.
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
DVD Discussion
Setup a DVD forums with the following topics:
DVD Discussion
DVD Software
DVD Authoring
DVD Players
DVD Technology
DVDR
DivX
UK DVD
Adobe Premiere
Miscellaneous
Desktop Video
Video Discussion
Video Production
TiVo
VCR
Digital TV
HDTV
ReplayTV
Cable TV
Video on Windows XP
Digital Photo
Audio Technology
Professional
High-end
Home Cinema
Live Sound
Minidisc
Tubes
Car Audio
Category : Discussion & View
Posted by dvd software at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2004
Fox Splits High-Definition DVDs Bet
Twentieth Century Fox's decision to join the Blu-ray Disc Assn. represents a calculated gamble by the studio that it can influence critical decisions about the next generation of DVD without fueling a ruinous format war, studio officials said last week.
"This is Fox's opportunity to influence the development of these formats, and we're going to take it," Fox Home Entertainment senior VP Danny Kaye said. "But it's true that it carries certain risks."
In addition to joining the Blu-ray Assn., Fox was given a seat on the group's board, where it will join 13 other companies that formed the original Blu-ray Disc Founders Group. The association, which officially bowed Oct. 4, boasts 73 member companies from the electronics, IT, media and software industries.
Fox officials noted the studio also recently joined the DVD Forum, the worldwide standards-setting body that is backing rival high-definition format HD DVD. But Fox had sought to gain a seat on the Forum's policy-making steering committee and was turned down (VB, 1-19).
Also on the Blu-ray board are representatives of the format's primary developers--Sony, Matsushita and Philips--with the panel serving as final arbiters of the format's technical specs.
By joining the board, Fox thus assures itself that its concerns about copy protection, licensing compliance and other aspects of the format will be heard. But it also risks being construed as an endorsement of Blu-ray at a time when Hollywood is trying to husband its leverage carefully to try to avoid a format war between Blu-ray and its rival technology, HD DVD.
Developed largely by Sony's engineers, Blu-ray can already count on Sony-owned Columbia TriStar in the race to line up studio support for the competing formats.
Last month, Sony added MGM to the Blu-ray column by agreeing to acquire the Lion.
As the first non-affiliated studio to join the group's letterhead, Fox handed the Blu-ray camp at least a minor public-relations victory. To date, no studio has committed to releasing titles in HD DVD.
But in making the announcement, Fox emphasized that its involvement with the group did not represent an endorsement or a commitment to publish titles in Blu-ray.
Still, the move further roiled Hollywood's already heated high-def politics.
Although none would speak for attribution, executives at some other studios sharply criticized Fox's decision.
By appearing to line-up with Blu-ray, Fox's critics said, the studio would only encourage Sony, et al., to forge ahead with their launch plans for the format on their own timetable and diminish chances of reaching a compromise that could avert a format war.
It's also likely to turn up the pressure on the other studios to take sides, as both the HD DVD and Blu-ray camps move closer to launch.
"It was totally unnecessary," one major studio home video chief said. "All it does is foster the sense that we don't need to get to one format."
While acknowledging the danger, Fox officials said there was more to be gained by trying to influence the development of the formats directly rather than waiting on events.
"Some of the companies that are saying those things have already had an opportunity to have an influence," Kaye noted.
Both Warner and Disney sit on the DVD Forum's steering committee, where they're able to vote on technical proposals.
Disney, in fact, came close to signing up with Blu-ray as well earlier this year, but backed off after word of the plan leaked and the studio feared its move would be construed as an endorsement.
Time Warner, meanwhile, is a key patent holder in the current DVD standard, and would benefit from the success of HD DVD, which is based on similar technology.
Last month, sources at several studios said Warner sought to encourage a general industry move toward HD DVD by circulating a draft press release announcing plans to release product in the format. A Warner spokeswoman last week denied the studio had drafted such a release but declined to discuss the matter further.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 09:08 PM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2004
Google SMS Search & Print Example
Google denied the Browser speculation
"Google board member and investor John Doerr said that despite speculation, the search giant would not enter the web browser market, but he predicted others would.
Doerr later joked, however, that just because he was on the board of Google didn't necessarily mean he knew what they were doing."
From Google dampens browser speculation.
Google Print Example
Search "Lord of the Rings" (my favorite movie) and you will see a book result.
Google SMS Search
Google launched SMS service, it's basically for "business listings", "product prices" and "dictionary definitions".
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2004
Comment System Works Again
I have no clue how the comment system was suddenly broken. Anyway, a blog without comments can't be a blog and must be fixed. I asked on MT support forums and want to get some possible reasons, but no luck, it's normal because I thought it's a weird error.
After tried several hours (basically recover old files and templates), I almost wanted to setup the blog from scratch, suddenly it works again. I don't know exactly how it was fixed, the most probable reason is that some file attributes (e.g. mt-comments.cgi) were changed somehow, but I failed to reproduce the error.
Category : Blog Issue
Posted by dvd software at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)
Pioneer, Sharp Let Blu-ray Play
Prototype products include the first such drive for use in a PC.
Two companies supporting the Blu-ray Disc optical disc format unveiled prototype players at the Ceatec 2004 exhibition, taking place here this week.
Among the prototypes was the first Blu-ray Disc drive intended for personal computer use.
The drive is from Pioneer and uses a recently developed system that combines a signal processor and control circuitry for a blue laser and red laser in a single chip. The blue laser is used for Blu-ray Disc and the red laser is used in DVDs, meaning the new drive supports both disc formats. Until now most prototypes made use of multiple chips to accomplish the same task.
Formats supported by the drive include read-only BD-ROM discs, write-once BD-R discs, and dual-layer rewritable BD-RW discs, all at 2x speed, and a host of DVD formats. These include DVD-ROM at 12x, read-only support for DVD-RAM at 2x, DVD+/-R at 8x, DVD+/-RW at 4x, DVD-R dual layer at 2x, and DVD+R dual layer at 2.4x.
Pioneer also showed a larger prototype Blu-ray Disc player intended to be used with a television.
Release dates and target prices for the prototypes were not available.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2004
Google PR Update
Today is very unusual for webmasters - Google finally updated the PageRank(PR) after more than 100 days - which supported to updated monthly. Now you can check your website or blog to see what PR you get.
If you don't know what PR value is good or bad, here is a rough idea:
PR 3 or 4 is quite easy, you may have it already even if you aren't aware of PR before; PR 5 normally needs some work, you should find some websites to link to you; PR 6 is quite hard, you must have many good links; PR 7 is pretty hard and needs hundreds of good links, don't after it unless you are in a serious business; PR 8 needs some links from big websites - which normally you have to pay a lot.
This blog is two months old and got a PR 5, I'm very happy :-).
Now Google is launching a new search feature "Google Print", we know Google likes fresh content, now it even crawls into the library :-).
To use Google Print, just do searches on Google as you normally would. Whenever a book contains content that matches your search terms, we'll show links to that book in your search results. Click on the book title and you'll go to a "content page," where you can see the page containing your search terms and other information about the book. You can also search for other topics within the book. Click on the "Buy this Book" link and you'll go straight to a bookstore selling the book online.
P.S. The comment system is broken, you can reach me by email "info AT dvd-software.info" for any questions/suggestions regarding this website or Gmail/Orkut invite.
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 01:31 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2004
Fox Joined Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA)
Blu-ray format got a big boost from Twentieth Century Fox Film. Hollywood movie studios is one of the most important player in the High-Definition DVD format war, together with Sony Pictures, Blu-ray seems to have the overwhelming advantage in the movie industry.
IDG News - Fox Film Trots Towards Blu-ray
Twentieth Century Fox Film has joined the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), but the Hollywood film studio has stopped short of committing to releasing its movies on the Blu-ray Disc format, the company says.
"We are not ready at this time to commit any of our content to this format," says Michael O'Neill, special advisor at the company's Fox Technology Group. He spoke at a press event before the inaugural meeting of the association that began in Tokyo on Monday.
Fox has become a member of the association to study the format and develop copyright protection technologies to prevent illegal copying of Blu-ray discs, he says.
"The only agreement is to collaborate with work to help develop the format. We are very positive about the possibilities down the road," O'Neill says.
The move lends significant support to the Blu-ray Disc format against the HD-DVD (High Definition/High Density-DVD) version as both camps seek to build alliances with manufacturers and major studios, according to Sony senior vice president Kiyoshi Nishitani.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)
Sanyo Shows HD-DVD Player
Sanyo Electric unveiled a prototype player supporting the next-generation optical disc format HD-DVD at the Ceatec 2004 show here this week.
The company's HD-DVD player was on show alongside a prototype from Toshiba, which has been seen at other events. No additional details of either machine were available, although the presence of a Sanyo player at the show points toward a start to HD-DVD development at Sanyo before the company announced its support for the format on August 31.
HD-DVD was developed under the auspices of the DVD Forum and draws heavily on technology from both Toshiba and NEC. Major Japanese optical disc-maker Memory-Tech has also been involved in disc production technology. The format uses a blue laser to enable storage of several times more data than a conventional DVD on an equivalent size disc.
A group of other companies, led by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), has proposed and developed a rival format called Blu-ray Disc.
On Display
The new Sanyo player and Toshiba prototype were on show in a joint HD-DVD promotion booth that also had on display several sample discs made by a number of companies, including Memory-Tech, Ritek, Prodisc Technology, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, Hitachi Maxell, Imation, Cinram International, and Advanced Media.
The discs included single-sided and double-sided ROM discs, or 15GB and 30GB capacity, and single-layer HD-DVD-R discs of 20GB capacity. All of the discs were genuine samples, as opposed to other optical discs with HD-DVD labels, and all the companies were preparing for mass production, a Toshiba spokesperson says.
Toshiba and NEC have promised to commercialize HD-DVD during 2005. The first commercial Blu-ray Disc machines are already on the market in Japan, although sales have been limited by a high price tag and an inability to play back prerecorded content.
- Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
Comment System Doesn't Work
I just noticed the comment system stopped working, really have no idea how this could happen since I didn't change anything :-(
Category : Blog Issue
Posted by dvd software at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2004
Why Google Should Make a Browser
This is a deep analysis about Google's browser rumor from Business Week.
Microsoft owns about 94% of the browser market and is moving steadily into search. Sure, the software giant hasn't taken much advantage of the traffic delivered to its sites from buttons built into Internet Explorer. Nor has it marketed a feature that lets users simply type search queries into the browser's address box, taking them directly to an MSN search-results page. But some analysts say that once Microsoft puts it all together, Google could be sorry.
Besides, much of the grunt work required to build a browser is already done. Google could simply piggyback on Mozilla's open-source technology, then devote its resources to customizing the browser for Google's myriad services. "If Google doesn't have a browser in three years, it could be a big hole in their business," says Mahaney. It's a no-brainer.
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)
Presidential Debate Audio
The first presidential debate between Republican incumbent President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry took place at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, on September 30, 2004. The focus of this debate was foreign policy. PBS's Jim Lehrer was the moderator.
Audible.com made the debate audio available for free. To listen to it, you need to register and download a software first.
It's really difficult to stay on topic for me, maybe I should rename the blog, how about "Google, Internet, DVD and anything interesting"? :-)
Category : Internet
Posted by dvd software at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2004
DVD Recorder Getting Cheaper
Reuters reports: DVD recorders are getting cheaper and easier to use (expected to hit $150 sometime later this year), but that may not be enough to spark demand for the sluggish selling devices.
Part of the problem is that customers have not yet been convinced of the value of the devices in relation to products like digital video recorders or even their home computers.
But you may not need a standalone DVD recorder. If you want to copy DVDs you’d need to buy a PC anyway, if you want to record TV shows you’re way better off with a proper digital video recorder.
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)
Google's New Challenge
60% of Google's 1900 employees now hold stock options worth at least one million dollars, according to experts in this Reuters article.
"While some workers may choose to go back to school, start a new company, or join the ranks of high-tech early retirees, analysts also note that $1 million is not what it used to be."
Not all Google employees are so lucky, Brian Reid - former executive at Google - was fired just nine days before Google IPO was announced, and he lost millions of dollars stock options.
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2004
Most Ridiculous Software Patent
This has to be the most ridiculous patent I have ever heard: Kodak wins Java lawsuit. If a program "asks for help" from other application, then it pilfered the patent, if this can be a valid patent, I'm afraid most software companies have to pay Kodak.
How could I have bought two digital cameras from this shameless company?
Category : Industry News
Posted by dvd software at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)
Orkut Invite
Have your ever heard of Orkut invite? Maybe it remind you of Gmail invite immediately, yes, Orkut is also created by Google - an online community which can be joined only by invitation from other members. All the members are connected through friends.
Orkut is an online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends.
We are committed to providing an online meeting place where people can socialize, make new acquaintances and find others who share their interests.
I think it's a very interesting place with some new ideas, although I only login several times after I joined, maybe I'm a little older for this kind of community. I can send you invite if you want to experience yourself, simply leave your email address, better with your full name, so that I don't have to use a fake name for the invite, but it's not necessary.
With Orkut, Hello.com and Gmail, an instant messenger tool like MSN Messenger is the next step of Google IMO, actually I'm looking forward to it.
Category : Google
Posted by dvd software at 02:55 AM | Comments (4)
October 02, 2004
TV-on-DVD Gets Popular
TV-on-DVD titles have become so popular they will drive revenue growth at Hollywood studios beyond previous expectations.
Sales of such releases will rise 30% a year to produce almost $4 billion in 2008, the analyst said.
Separately, the Inernational Federation of the Recording Industry said music DVD sales surged 27% in the first half.
Category : Entertainment
Posted by dvd software at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2004
Why Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio haven’t caught on
Displacing the CD? Not so fast… There’s an old saying that says that says “standards are great, that’s why there are so many of them.” The truth is, everyone wants to control the standard du jour, and there’s been a (not so) quiet battle going on to displace the CD with new music formats. Back in ‘99 Sony and Philips (the same companies who came up with the original CD in the ‘82) came up with the the SACD format to move beyond the CD. Less than a year later, a number of manufacturers, under the DVD Forum, launched a competing DVD-Audio format. To date, neither has had a major market impact; in a recent Jupiter Research survey, only five percent of respondents had ever purchased a disc in either format.
There are a lot of reasons behind this, but it really boils down to three. To successfully introduce a new standard, three constituencies must be aligned: hardware manufacturers must rally behind the standard, media companies must adopt the standard, and consumers must be convinced of the format’s superiority via clear and visible differentiation. All of these ducks were in a row for both the CD and DVD. None of these have occurred for SACD or DVD-Audio in great enough numbers to either to achieve critical mass. Consumers are far more interested in the compatibility as well as the portability of their CD content (via MP3) than a small increase in quality that most people don’t appreciate. Given these barriers, neither SACD nor DVD-Audio will displace CDs, DVD-Video, or MP3 files over the next three years.
Category : Discussion & View
Posted by dvd software at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
DVDDecrypter Guide
DVDDecrypter is a free and very popular DVD ripping utility, DVDDecrypter Guide is an easy-to-follow step by step tutorial.
Category : DVD Articles
Posted by dvd software at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)