Topic: News

American cinephiles will soon be able to enjoy their movies without sex, violence, swearing - indeed, without any of the interesting bits. Wal-Mart, the country's mightiest retailer, is preparing to ship a $79 (£44) DVD player that automatically strips out potentially offensive content.

Shortly before popping off on his holidays Flash managed to file a quick review of the new Datawrite Version 3 Red 4x DVD-R. The discs are entirely new as they are manufactured by a different company: MCH . Datawrite hope the discs "will be the most stable entry level disc on the market". You can find out if they are by reading Datawrite Reds v3.

Software giant Microsoft is likely to release copy protection software that will enable the online music industry to rent out titles legally. Codenamed Janus, the software adds a clock function to portable music players using Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (WMA).

Sima have announced the availability of there new video enhancement tool, the CT-2. With GoDVD! you can copy DVD to VHS, VHS to DVD and DVD to DVD. Both NTSC and PAL conversions are included for videos recorded or viewed overseas. The GoDVD! digitizes the video signal to reduce sync "noise" and features 4 output settings to improve image quality.

Jon Lech Johansen's code that circumvents iTunes DRM has been given a fresh workout. A project named 'playfair' allows users with an iTunes key to create unencrypted AAC files. Apple uses the AAC format in combination with FairPlay DRM to lock down the music bought from its iTunes Music Store.

The Opto-Electronics & Systems Laboratories (OES) under the Taiwanese government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) have formally introduced its self-developed DVD format, FVD (forward versatile disc, originally called finalized versatile disc).

Despite an expected short life cycle, Lite-On IT will offer 12x DVD Dual burners later this month because the new 12x models can command higher OEM prices, according to the company's Optical Disc Drive Business general manager Michael Gong.

Sony's forthcoming handheld console will follow the example of the Game Boy Advance and feature no region coding for its games, according to SCEE boss David Reeves - who also confirmed that the system's RAM has been upgraded.

According to a report by Asahi PC magazine, Sony may be considering using Blu-ray Disc (BD-ROM) technology in the PlayStation 3. The news comes from an interview that the magazine conducted with Kiyoshi Nishitani, Sony's management director in charge of Blu-ray Disc development and next-generation home electronics.

The DVD Forum have been carrying out an appraisal of a new DVD format from Taiwan. The FVD (finalized versatile disc) format is a self-developed red-ray high-definition DVD format. Taiwanese government-backed researchers at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) intend demonstrating the new optical disk format for storing high-definition video on Monday.

Disc-it have come up with a very simple but practical way to help relieve you of the inconvenience and clutter of jewel cases and similar storage devices from the desktop, stereo, entertainment center and practically everywhere you might have a little pile of recently used discs.

The days of sitting in the pub wishing you'd remembered to set the video may soon be over. Opera Software have unveiled their 'mobileIPG' (mobile Interactive Programming Guide) which enables a mobile phone to trigger the recording of a TV program on a satellite or Internet-enabled Personal Video Recorder (PVR).

Leading international brands of DVD burners are co-developing, rather than adopting an OEM relationship, with Taiwanese manufacturers to produce single-sided double-layer DVD discs, according to Taiwanese optical disc makers.

Flash says, "I hope you all enjoyed my April Fools article yesterday, I know I did. A lot of you were fooled by it and even some of the on-line retailers were fooled. The technology to do this particular job has not yet been invented but in my opinion it is possible perhaps in about 10 years time when the current system will be long out of date.

DVD guru Flash has contacted us excitedly with some very interesting news. Flash says, "I have just been advised of a new DVD writable format being developed that will produce a DVD in a matter of seconds. It works using a similar principal to the the one used in the production of commercially pressed DVDs. The drive is compatible with both + & - DVD writable media but the way it operates is completely different from the way we currently know. The whole of the burn is done in one step and the actual burn takes about 10 seconds from start to finish.

Blu-ray Disc (BD) -- the next generation of optical discs which will be especially suited to storing high-definition movies -- will have by far the highest capacity of any optical disc storage format ever developed for consumers with disc-making costs that are comparable to those for DVDs when manufactured at mass volumes, according to Panasonic, Philips and Sony.

Recently we have covered in our news section several stories about the advent of new discs and burners that use Dual (or Double) Layer technology and have had considerable feedback asking us to explain exacly what this means. This review should hopefully do that: What Are Dual Layer (DL) Discs?

Macrovision, creators of the SafeDisc copy protection among others, will be holding a 'Hacker University' at this year’s E3 Game Conference in Los Angeles. The intention is to provide workshops that will allow games developers to learn the tools and techniques hackers use to create 'free' games and how Macrovision’s SafeDisc Security API technology can be implemented to minimize this threat.

Sony has announced an upgrade service for the BDZ-S77, the industry's first personal Blu-ray DVD recorder. For a cost of 10,500 yen (£55), users can upgrade the system to record and playback not only broadcasting satellite digital TV programs, but also digital terrestrial broadcasting and 110-degree CS digital programs with excellent picture and sound.

A few weeks following the distribution of its first PSX upgrade disk, Sony has gone about finalizing details on the second. Set to be made available from this Wednesday, this upgrade adds even more of the features that went absent from the system in its rush to the Japanese market late last year.