Press Release: Ahead Software will exhibit a formidable line-up of Nero Digital technologies. Centred around MPEG-4, Digital offers a complete codec solution embracing MPEG-4 video, and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), LC and HE (High Efficiency) with Parametric Stereo extensions.

Our friends at Bulkpaq seem to be right up to their necks in it. Apparently, the media trade newspaper CTO has refused to run their latest advert claiming it’s "too raunchy" and "indecent". Here’s a sneak preview of part of the campaign.

Bulkpaq have offered readers of DVD-Recordable the chance to be famous in a stunning competition they are running as part of their "Save Your Favourite Home Video Moments to DVD" campaign, which is going to be running in various enduser and trade magazines throughout Europe and the Middle East. They are offering a prize of £1000 worth of Bulkpaq products.

Press release: Samsung has announced the newest entry in its optical disc drive family, the Writemaster TS-H552B 16X DVD ReWritable drive. The double layer-capable TS-H552B supports all the popular DVD recordable/rewritable formats. The TS-H552B provides double-layer data storage up to 8.5GB in one disc with supported DL media. To reduce noise when recording or reading at high speeds, the TS-H552B features Samsung's Silent Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) technology and an Automatic Ball Balancing System (ABS).

Press Release: Sonic have launched MyDVD Studio Deluxe 6, a significant upgrade to the consumer DVD and CD creation software. MyDVD Studio Deluxe 6 includes many new features and enhancements including freeform button placement, state-of-the-art encoding for up to four hours of video on a single-layer DVD, true anamorphic widescreen support, up to 1,000 photos per slideshow, enhanced audio control, and a new interface that elegantly integrates all DVD and CD creation tasks.

Press Release: ViewSonic has announced two new networked media devices which allow users to enjoy their digital music, videos and pictures on their TV and home stereos.

Press Release: Panasonic have unveiled five new models of DIGA DVD recorders. The recorders have 160 to 400 GB hard disk drives, providing massive recording and storage, high-speed dubbing, and superb home and mobile networking capabilities. The new products, DMR-E500H, DMR-E330H, DMR-E220H, DMR-250V and DMR-E87H will be introduced in the Japanese market from September 21.

Sales of Microsoft's Xbox console tripled in the UK in the week following its price-cut to £99, according to sources in the UK retail sector - bringing weekly sales of the system up to around the 15,000 mark.

Netflix and TiVo are to team up to deliver movies over broadband, according to NewsWeek. The magazine expects the partnership to go public later this month, although neither company would comment, and details on pricing and availability have yet to be disclosed. It's hardly unexpected: the two companies are natural partners and are already close: TiVo's CEO is a Netflix board member.

Japanese retailers have slashed the price of Sony's PVR-*****-games-console, the PSX, by almost 50 per cent in a bid to drum up consumer interest, according to Internet reports.

Japanese newspaper the Nihon Kaizai Shimbun said that Mitsubishi has mastered a technology to improve the response speed of pixels on LCDs by 100 per cent or more.

A new startup d_skin LLC is bringing out a "skin" for optical discs. This thin sheet of clear plastic grabs on to the edges of the disc and protects the playing surface. Crucially, you can leave it on when you insert the disc in the player -- the laser pickup shines right through the "skin." When you're finished playing the disc, you can leave it lying around in good conscience, saving you the 15 seconds it would take to put it back in the case.

The gap in time-to-market for 16x DVD+R/-R and 8.5GB DVD+R DL (single-sided double-layer) discs between top- and second-tier manufacturers of optical discs in Taiwan is expected to increase, compared with the existing disc market due to increasing technological barriers, local makers of optical discs indicated.

Gigabyte, a leading motherboard manufacturer in Taiwan, have unveiled a 16x DVD Dual burner, the snappily titled GO-W1608A. The burner has writing speeds of 16x for DVD+R, 8x for DVD-R, 4x for DVD+RW/-RW, 2.4x for 8.5GB DVD+R DL (single-sided double-layer), 48x for CD-R and 24x for CD-RW as well as reading speeds of 16x for DVD and 48x for CD.

For many collectors, owning DVDs is becoming more important than actually watching them. The average DVD buyer has amassed nearly 50 movies but up to 10 percent of those titles have gone unwatched, according to consumer surveys for Universal Studios Home Video. That’s an average of five movies — at least 10 hours of filmmaking, not counting all those extras — sitting on the shelf, perhaps still in their wrappers.

Now that DVD recorders and media have become almost as cheap as their CD predecessors, the newer technology is poised to dominate the market.

DVD pirates are offering a £5million 'bounty' for a bootleg copy of the sequel to Bridget Jones. Movie bosses are so concerned they've hired one of the world's biggest security firms to guard the film.

The UK Consumer Associations Computing Which? Magazine tests 18 brands of blank DVDs this month and reports that only three of them achieved an above average score.

Press Release: Microboards have announced the addition of a ten-recorder duplicator to their award-winning tower duplicator line. This affordable, professional-level CD/DVD copying system is easy-to-use and fully contained, operating without being connected to a computer.

A warning to DVD pirates: make sure your vehicle and driver registration details are up to date and accurate. The Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA) and the Los Angeles police this week busted a major counterfeiting operation after traffic cops were given false driver ID information.

BenQ have debuted the EW1621, its first external 16x DVD Dual burner, catering to end-users who seek the fastest-available DVD writing speeds and increased capacity in a portable unit.