Japan's Sony Corp said on Monday it would start sales next month of the world's first DVD recorder that uses blue laser light and can pack a two-hour high-definition TV programme onto a single disc. It won't be cheap, with a retail list price of 450,000 yen (£2,500). But with digital satellite broadcasts in Japan, the United States and elsewhere now bringing high-definition TV to a small but growing number of households, Sony wants to get an early start in what could become a hot product.

Just a quick reminder about our monthly newsletter. Anyone who joins before the 31st of March will be entered into a prize draw to win a Pioneer A05 and 200 4 speedDatawrite.DVD Discs. Details of how to join our mailing list are on the left hand side of our homepage. This competition has been sponsered by Datawrite.The new brand from Datasafe Media.

LG has let slip that it will be launching a new DVD writer at Cebit. The drive will support every major standard out there: DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM and CD-R/RW. Hopefully we can expect price wars soon.

Samsung Electronics announced the launch of its SU-408 CD-R/DVD-ROM combo drive for notebooks. Company officials claimed it is the lightest and slimmest optical drive to date. The SU-408 is 9.5mm thick, 25% thinner than drives generally available in the market, and weighs 145 grams, 35% less than the 220 grams for conventional models.

In the war against online piracy of music content, Metropolis DVD, a Grammy nominated creative studio specializing in DVD design and production, has been enlisted by several major record labels to produce bonus DVDs for bundling with CD releases.

Looking for something that little bit extra special for the DVD Geek in your life? With many DVDs we get to see what went in to producing the movie. Between audio commentaries, making of featurettes, documentaries we are given a window into the world of movie magic. But have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at a DVD production facility? Wonder no more as a new DVD 'DVD Discoveries' provides a glimpse into the process and companies involved with bringing your favorite movies on to DVD. Fantastic.

Sony recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Taiwan-based optical drive manufacturer Lite-On IT, reported the Chinese-language Commercial Times. The news follows shortly after BenQ and Philips Electronics announced a new joint venture on February 12.

321 Studios law firm (Keker & Van Nest) is looking for an actual user of the software to file a motion on behalf of that user to intervene in our landmark fair use lawsuit. This will ensure that we are able to assert the rights (First Amendment, fair use, etc.) of DVD owners and 321 customers in this litigation.

KUALA LUMPUR, The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) today launched an anti-piracy initiative to complement the Malaysian Government’s efforts to eradicate optical disc piracy, particularly digital video discs, in the Asia-Pacific. Vice-president and Regional Director of Asia Pacific Office Michael C. Ellis said for a start, RM570,000 (£95,338) in rewards were being offered under the MPAA DVD Rewards Programme.

With prices dropping to about US$100 (£63), demand for DVD+RW burners will double this year, stated Philips’s Strategic Alliance manager Dr Frans C Bos in an interview on February 20.

The DVD+RW Alliance announced late Monday that Microsoft had joined its ranks, adding that the software giant will also have a seat on its policy-setting team with representatives from Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical/Verbatim, Philips, Ricoh, Sony, Thomson and Yamaha. The DVD+RW Alliance is a group of companies that promotes and develops the DVD+RW format.

Not be outdone by the music industry's lawsuit against Bertelsmann, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is also adding to the media piracy soap opera with its latest trick of recruiting informants in Asia to give them leads into the organised DVD rackets that operate on the continent.

Here a quick round up of industry news. The shortage of DVD-R has resulted in price increases, which are expected to continue over the next couple of months. However there is light at the end of the tunnel as one UK wholesaler told us “there is a lot of other high quality DVD-R which is as good as the major brands destined to land in Europe in the next few weeks”.

Choice 1x / 2x DVD-R : This disc is manufactured for Choice by a Ritek subsidiary.

Princo 4x DVD-R: another high quality disc. Which is just being made available in Europe. This disc is distributed both by Datawrite and also under the “Ice White“ brand name.

Nanya 2x DVD: Nanya are relative newcomers to the DVD-R market. But we hear that White Label media have signed a European exclusive contract with them. Expect top see this product on the shelf’s within the next few months.

Prodisc: Prodisc have two new products on the market they have a new 2-speed disc, which is based on a Prodisc id (this disc works at 2x on the A05). They also expect to launch a 4x disc within the next month. Both products are to be distributed by Datasafe Media Ltd.

Bulkpaq 4x: Bulkpaq have done it again. This month they launched a 2.4 speed DVD+R and next month they propose to top that by launching a 4 speed DVD-R.

Philips (, Intel, and Silicon Image today demonstrated the world's first DVD+R/RW data drive with integrated Serial ATA interface onboard at the Intel booth. The demonstration utilizes Intel's next-generation performance desktop chipset with integrated Serial ATA and a Philips DVD+R/RW drive using a Silicon Image SATALink(TM) SiI 3611 device bridge chip.

According to the Japanese-language Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, Toshiba is launching HDD/DVD player/recorders in the US and UK. It launched versions of these products in Japan last year. Toshiba will release the RD-XS30 HDD/DVD player/recorder in the UK in April. This HDD/DVD player/recorder, which Toshiba claims to be the thinnest DVD player in the market at 78mm, features a built-in 60GB HDD for recording. The company launched the same model in Japan last November. Toshiba projects selling 1,000 RD-XS30s in the first month of release and up to 10,000 units per month this summer in the UK. The device allows users to dub data/recordings from HDD to DVD-R, DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW discs.

A VAT reduction on CDs could boost the struggling recorded music industry in Europe, according to research. A report, compiled on behalf of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, questioned consumers in five countries about their music spending habits. It found that 60% of people over the age of 16 would buy more CDs if they were made cheaper.

Ahead Software people are busy staying ahead. Just recently they released a network enabled version of their Nero product family. Now they are targeting corporate customers and programmers.

The DVD RW drive market is poised to explode this year. Offering large storage capacity and proliferation of digital media, this young market offers a great deal of potential. Not unlike other young markets, however, the DVD RW drive market faces steep obstacles to realize its full capacity. The DVD RW drive market must not only combat the ongoing format war and high price points, but also it must educate a fairly ignorant consumer base to realize its full potential. Once these three obstacles are dealt with, the DVD RW drive market will phase out its predecessor, the CD RW drive market.

Oponents of Hollywood's drive to strengthen copyright law are mounting a new strategy: Require anything that has antipiracy technology built in to be clearly labeled and let consumers decide at the cash register.

Software maker Roxio is set to release a new version of its market-leading Easy CD Creator application, for the first time combining tools for burning CDs and DVDs.