Pioneer have released a new firmware for their DVR-107. The new firmware is version 1.09 and adds media support at 6x and 8x for the following media codes: MXL RG02, CMC MAG. AF1, SONY08D1, TYG02, FUJIFILM03, TTG02. Flash tells us he hopes a hacked (and therefore region free) firmware will be released in the coming days so stay tuned folks. You can download the new version from our 107 firmware page.

Toshiba has unveiled two new DVD recorders recently, the SD-R5272 and the slim line SD-R6372 for notebook use. Both drives are dual format recorders but the SD-R5272 supports 8x recording to DVD±R media while the SD-R6372 supports 4x recording to DVD±R media.

Intel has outlined it's vision of the digital home at it's developer forum. The high-performance PC can store, record and play every kind of digital media and connects directly to your TV.

Japan's consumer electric giant Sony has announced that its latest DVD players, due out this autumn, will be housed in a nonflammable, environmentally-friendly biomass plastic casing.

Flash has posted into us his independent review following our report of the rave reviews the disc is getting around the web. The good news for anyone looking for high quality budget media that burns well at 8x is that even after after being sceptical in the beginning and putting the discs to a number of vigourous and high-tech tests Flash says "I still cannot believe that these Bulkpaq Branded discs are so consistently good." High praise indeed from the guru.

EDITORS NOTE:
Since publishing this review we have had many enquires from dealers enduser and distributers who wish to purchase this product.Sorry we cannot help you with this!!! so please do not email us. We would suggest you contact Bulkpaq directly to visit the bulkpaq website please click here.

If you are looking for a new color printer, are a digital photo buff and always wanted to print your CD and DVDs, this hardware may be of interest. The 6 color printer can print directly to printable optical media and claims it is "fast". We have seen this before, but not for such a low price. Available soon in UK for about £75.99 from Epson retailers.

Federal agents targeting movie bootleggers filed charges Thursday against three former employees of a post-production company and a fourth man who got his films from a veteran Hollywood character actor.

InPhase Technologies, the leader in holographic data storage media and systems, have announced that it has developed and is shipping the first blue laser holographic media that enables greater amounts of information to be stored on a single disc.

The two top manufacturers of optical discs in Taiwan (Ritek and CMC) are confident of maintaining gross margins on DVD-R discs at 40-50% this year, despite falling product prices.

Lite-On IT and Behavior Tech Computer (BTC), two main optical storage drive producers in Taiwan, are inclined to forgo offering 12x DVD-Dual burners and directly step into production of 16x models.

The bulkpaq printable surface 4x dvd-r has proven to be a winner for bulkpaq in their latest attempt to increase market share in the increasingly competitive European market. The disc which is manufactured for bulkpaq by Prodisc has been well received by many end users.

Here are a few comments we found on the internet about the disc:

“just brought 200 of these burt 80 so far with no coasters work on x-box a treat the print top is quite good as u get quite good results”

“Tried some out. No problems here either. They are the same style as the datawrite 4x grey tops. Same dye prodisc03, same serial number format and same dye colour. bit of a bargain as i loved the 4x greys. Playback on standalones and readback to HD no problem.”

“Burnt all 75 not one coaster top disc”

“these in my case are the muts nuts”

“just gone through 20 of these in the last couple of hours no probs all write at 4x didnt even have to change the f/w on my picky burner. also speed graphs giving better results than any g04 disc i have tried.”

Hopefully the release of a high quality disc at such a bargain basement price will result in a round of price cuts buy other brands who have seen their market share diminish!!

For a picture of the bulkpaq 4x printable click here.

To read the review By Flash on the Bulkpaq 4x click here.

Since publishing this review we have had many enquires from dealers enduser and distributers who wish to purchase this product.Sorry we cannot help you with this!!! so please do not email us. We would suggest you contact Bulkpaq directly to visit the bulkpaq website please click here.

Our regular contributor Flash says: "Thanks to >NIL: from the Firmware Forum we have the patched firmware for the Pioneer 107. This firmware makes the drive RPC1 region free, removes the 2x rip speed limitation for DVD-VIDEO and enables 8 speed burning to any DVD-R media. I have been involved in the testing of this firmware and I am impressed with the 8x speed results from RITEKG04 4x speed media and PRINCO 4x media. You can download it from our downloads section."

Maplin Electronics, a retailer with 80 shops across the UK, has moved to discontinue the sale of three devices capable of circumventing Macrovision copy protection technology, the company said last week. Maplin said the move was a response to the controversial European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), a far-reaching modification of European anti-piracy law implemented in the UK last October. It is the first time a major UK company has publicised such a move.

Press Release: Lite-On have announced the availability from March of its latest half-height 8X DVD Dual ReWriter, the SOHW-812S.

Lead Data, a second-tier optical disc manufacturer in Taiwan, will expand its monthly DVD-R/+R disc production capacity to 15 million discs by year-end from five million units currently, according to company chairman Lin Lai-shun.

Ritek, one of Taiwan’s top two producers of optical discs, is well poised to expand its production capacity of blank DVD-R/+R discs this year, with the pace hinging on market conditions, according to company CEO Gordon Yeh.

NEC, the world's largest producer of DVD burners in 2003, has reduced its OEM price for 8x DVD-Dual burners from US$110-120 (£59-64) at the beginning of this year to about US$95 (£51), according to Taiwanese manufacturers.

According to a German website, Philips will present at Cebit their DVD Dual Layer burner - the snappily titled 'DVD+RW 885K'. The dual-layer DVD+R media it burn will have nearly twice the current capacity of 8.5 gigabytes at data.

Flash has kindly posted us his thoughts on the new 8x DVD+R burner from Pioneer - the 107. One of the major issues currently seems to be that although the drive supports 8x burning few media brands currently produce genuinely 8x media. There appears to be only one DVD+R 8x speed disc that will actually burn at 8x speed and that is by Verbatim.

Italy has the highest level of film piracy in the western world, according to industry publication Screen Daily. The country's anti-piracy watchdog FAPAV said the black market for videos and DVDs was worth about 30% of the total market, the magazine reported.