Hi-def hack unlocks encrypted HD films 11:58AM
The companies behind an encryption system for high-definition DVDs are looking into a hacker's claim that he has cracked the code protecting the new discs from piracy, a spokesman for one of the companies said on Thursday.

The DVD player turned 10 this year, but it's only just surpassed the 30-year-old VHS video recorder in living rooms, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Toshiba has launched its new high-definition DVD player in Europe, marking the start of a battle for living room domination.

The Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) has reported that since Taiwan-based optical discs makers such as CMC Magnetics and Ritek will not run their plants during the Chinese New Year holiday in mid-February, the monthly production capacity of DVD discs in the industry as a whole will shrink by nearly one third.

Philips and CMC Magnetics today jointly announced that CMC has entered into Veeza, Philips' licensing program for CD-R discs.

Sony will pay $1.5 million and kick in thousands more in customer refunds to settle lawsuits brought by California and Texas over music CDs that installed a hidden anti-piracy program on consumers' computers.

The stalemate in the Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD battle to become the mainstream blue-laser DVD standard may encourage makers to offer dual-format optical disc devices compatible with both formats.

The leading producers of CD-R discs in Taiwan are booked full until the first quarter of next year and are considering whether to delay annual maintenance that is scheduled for the usually slow first quarter, according to industry sources.

Research firm Gartner turned soothsayer on Wednesday by predicting that Windows Vista will be the last big release of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The founders of the Internet telephone company Skype are closing in on launching a global television service delivered to customers through high-speed broadband internet.

Sony Media Software has announced the availability of DVD Architect Studio, a standalone program dedicated to DVD authoring for movies.

Ritek's CEO Gordon Yeh expects the company to generate profits in 2007 due the global demand for discs and their licensing agreement with Philips.

A file that allows users of the corporate version of Windows Vista operating system to bypass the software's anti-piracy mechanisms has been circulating online.

Verbatim have started to ship the first colour-background LightScribe CD-R media.

The write speed race continues with Pioneer's new 10x dual-layer drive, the snappily titled DVR-A12J.

A world famous Swedish file sharing links site has begun a campaign against a major Swedish internet service provider (ISP) after it blocked access to controversial Russian site Allofmp3.com.

Taiwan-based manufacturers of optical disc drives (ODDs), blank optical discs and pre-recorded discs are generally optimistic that Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system will increase business for them, according to industry sources.

Six Derbyshire men have been jailed for up to four years after being found guilty of running an Internet-based pirate DVD and music operation, PIR8.

Following price increases by first-tier optical disc makers in Taiwan, second-tier makers including Prodisc Technology, Gigastorage and Lead Data all raised prices of their CD-R discs by 3-8% since the beginning of this month, according to sources.

Pioneer is expected to release its second generation of Blu-Ray drives as well as a series of red-laser DVD burners in the following months.