Kahl am Main, July 18, 2008 – SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES (SINGULUS) installed the first BLULINE Blu-ray disc production machine for the Southeast Asian market at Axiom Technologies MFG PTE Ltd in Singapore this month.

At the inauguration ceremony “AXIOM GOES BLU” on 18 July 2008, the Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. George Yeo, was the Guest-of-Honor and along with Mr. Bernhard Goh, Managing Director of Axiom (AXIOM) they took the opportunity to praise Blu-ray technology and its advantages in the S.E.A. region.

Mr. Goh stated: “We are proud to be the pioneers for Blu-ray in our region, and will certainly promote this competitive advantage. Each adopter of this new technology will further nudge the optical business towards the 3rd generation formats and HDTV. The decision to buy a production system from SINGULUS is the right insurance for us to achieve this target.”

“With this first step, we are helping to develop the Southeast Asian Blu-ray market, and in particular to set the course for future SINGULUS business activities,” added Ms. Sylvia Hitzel, Vice-President Sales and Marketing at SINGULUS.

View full press release here.

As part of our Summer 2008 promotion we have restructured some of our duplicator and printer solutions. The CD-writer.com disc factory offers amazing value for money providing rapid return on a minimum investment, via a high speed and scalable solution that can produce 1000’s of discs per day. The latest bundle offer features the best selling StorDigital Proburner DVD CD Copier with 11 Pioneer recorders, and the fantastic Primera Bravo Pro Printer. The combination of these 2 powerfull work horses provides an output capacity that can help ensure the success of new or growing companies offering DVD and CD Duplication services. See the new Bravo Pro and ProBurner disc factory here.

Customers at CD-writer.com can benefit from a great special offer on Primera Bravo Pro Disc publishers until 31st July 2008. With the registration of every new publisher ordered, customers will get a £100 CASH BACK rebate from Primera. So now using a Primera Bravo Disc publisher Pro bought from CD-writer.com, not only saves your time, but it also saves your money.

See the £100 CASH BACK offer on the Bravo Pro Publisher here.

~ StorDigital’s LightScribe duplicators offer easy disc burning & labelling ~

New from StorDigital the LightScribe duplicator supports silkscreen-quality disc label printing direct from a DVD and CD duplication tower.

Burning and printing large volumes of discs has never been easier, thanks to a new range of DVD and CD duplication towers from StorDigital. The new standalone LightScribe duplicators are available in configuration from 1 to 15 targets and allow users to burn and label their discs in a traditional-style standalone tower copier. This is the perfect solution for any company or individual who wants to make the best impression with their disc.

StorDigital LightScribe duplicators feature patented HP LightScribe disc labeling technology. By utilising a special disc, LightScribe duplicator operators are able to burn their discs, then flip them and then burn a label or image on to the top of the disc. By offering duplicators featuring this enhanced functionality StorDigital Systems are revolutionising the traditional in-house production process.

Nic Ranshaw (MD of CD-writer.com and CEO of StorDigital Systems) had this to say: “The introduction of our LightScribe duplicators really does represent a turning point in the way people approach disc publishing. Traditionally if a tower duplicator customer wished to produce a disc that is both copied and labeled they would have to purchase a separate printer. We have transformed the process, making production simpler and reducing expenditure.“

He added, “We don’t consider that the LightScribe system is perfect for everybody. It won’t replace our automated inkjet printers, but having a tower duplicator that can also label your discs is a strong selling point”.

StorDigital LightScribe duplicators featuring HP LightScribe technology are available now from CD-writer.com Ltd and StorDigital Systems on 0208 293 0777. To register for a CD-writer.com trade account log on to http://reseller.cd-writer.com.

Retail customers can get more information and buy online at www.cd-writer.com

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Epson UK has announced partnerships for the distribution of the new Epson DiscProducer PP-100 in the UK and Ireland.

BannerBridge has been selected as the distributor.  Specialist resellers already recruited are CD Team, RAM Peripherals, Fortuna Power Systems and Multi Media Replication.

The DiscProducer, equipped with Epson’s advanced robotics and printing technologies is designed to burn and print up to 100 customized CDs or DVDs on demand.  Epson’s patented AcuGrip™ robotic arm ensures highly reliable single disc pick up and a built in 6-colour inkjet printer uses Epson’s patented Micro Piezo™ inkjet technology. The printhead provides precise control of the ink droplets, ensuring labels with sharp text and vibrant graphics.

Chris Smith, Channel Manager commented “We have chosen this team of distributors and resellers as they are acknowledged as leading suppliers of disc replication technology.   We believe that their wide product portfolio and extensive knowledge of the disc replication market combined with their product knowledge and committed teams will ensure our customers receive the best possible level of service.

LaCie announced the last 28th May that is has doubled burn speeds to 4x for it d2 Blu-ray Drive and has updated the aluminum alloy case and software suite. The drive records, rewrites and reads 25 gigabytes (GB) or 50GB BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable), as well as DVD±RW DL and CD±RW. The LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive come fully equipped with Roxio burning software and dual FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces.

“In early 2007, LaCie was the first vendor to ship worldwide an external solution for professional Hi-Def video recording for both Mac and Windows. Since that time, Blu-ray technology has proven to be the dominant source for video recording and playback,” said Patrick Salin, LaCie Business Development Manager. “Burning up to 50GB of data can take a reasonable amount of time, so doubling burn speeds not only increases work performance, but provides a cost-effective, long-term archival process for storing data to sturdy scratch-resistant media.

LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drives come with full-featured Roxio software including Easy Media Creator® for Windows, and Toast® Titanium for Mac. Easy Media Creator and Toast Titanium products are easy-to-use burning applications that provide a timesaving solution for regularly backing up important files at an impressive data transfer rate.

Blu-ray 50GB discs offer 10x more capacity than a single layer DVD. This increased capacity gives professionals the freedom to choose much higher bit rate codecs when mastering content, ultimately improving picture quality. For increased audio quality, Blu-ray technology allows for up to eight channels of 192kHz/32 audio streams.

Get more details here

Four leading consumer electronics companies including Sony Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Exceed and Lucky Light, have agreed to license patents owned by a Columbia University Professor Emerita that cover basic semiconductor technology used in Blu-ray video players as well as mobile phones, digital cameras and other devices, Dreier LLP announced today.The agreements with Sony, Sanyo, Exceed Perseverance Electronic Ind. Co., Ltd. and Lucky Light Electronics Co. Ltd., are the latest settlements reached in an LED and LD patent case against 31 companies that was brought before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) by Columbia University Professor Emerita Gertrude Neumark Rothschild.

Earlier this year, Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd, a South Korea-based maker of LEDs, and Taiwan's Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd. signed agreements with Professor Neumark Rothschild, who conducted groundbreaking research in the 1980s and 1990s into the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes crucial to a host of today's consumer electronics products.

Get more details here

It didn’t take too terribly long after Warner chose Blu-ray as its new best friend for every single wagon wheel to fall of the HD DVD carriage, and now that the funeral has been set, we’re quite curious as to what the HD DVD early adopters plan on doing. Head over to Engadget HD and let your voice be heard — even if it’s but a whimper….

Full content at: Engadget