e*news

S&C.news

December 11, 2006

Magazine for the Media Manufacturing Industry

Expo.news

Association.news p5

Industry.news

www.media-tech.net

Industry News

BVA expects UK DVD volume boost
The UK's British Video Association, which represents the major movie houses, believes that DVD volumes will increase next year. Standing in for BVA chairman vicechairman Anthony Peet said that despite this year seeing several notable industry casualties such as Silverscreen, Global, Major and Changeover, 2006 is expected to record a yearly volume growth of approximately two to three per cent while value is likely to remain flat. We are all part of a very substantial industry, worth around 3 billion and as we are a market that is approaching 30 years old, it is not surprising that we are maturing, he said. But this year has also seen some very positive milestones; these look set to impact on the market for years to come. Legal digital distribution became a reality this year with many distributors now active in this exciting market that is set to see substantial growth in the year ahead. While noting the falling dependency on theatrical successes to drive DVD sales, Peet emphasised the success of TV programme DVDs, which he says now represents 20% of the DVD sales by value. He also noted that the new generation of interactive DVD titles now represents an estimated five million unit sales. While praising the development of HD Video he underlined that the BVAs hope for a resolution to the format war.
Important dates for events for MEDIA-TECH's members
Following the news that the MEDIA-TECH Association is developing a new Showcase & Conference event in Barcelona, the Association is also moving forward with a range of co-operations with other major events in specific markets. "Working with organisations and conference developers in markets surrounding our industry, we can build up the number of events that relate to our members' day to day activites, without overloading their show schedules," says MEDIA-TECH Managing Director, Bryan Ekus. The latest event that is assocated with the Association is the 5th Disc-Tech Dubai Conference (formerly the Middle East Recording Media + DVD Summit) being held last week. Themes for this year's event were the DVD Recordable Formats, an Iranian Market Report by Nagess Golshan, Shima film, market data presentations by Understanding & Solutions, discussion panels and the presentation of the 2nd Disc-Tech Awards. The Association is also working with Disc-Tech for next year's Disc-Tech Expo which is being held on April 18-19, at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai, India. In January, the Association is working with the Entertainment Storage Alliance, the organizers of the Storage Visions 2007 Conference, which is being held on January 6 & 7, 2007 at the Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas. This event explores a range of content storage issues covering the content creation and distribution requirements and products, content protection, set-top boxes, PVRs media centres and storage for portable and mobile markets, games, data and commercial storage systems. The Association has ceased its co-operation with the Chinese 2007 Replication Expo event. Storage Visions Conference 2007 January 6 - 7, Las Vegas, at The Flamingo Hotel, USA MEDIA-TECH Showcase & Conference March 6-7 2007, Barcelona, Spain Disc-Tech Expo 2007 April 18-19, Taj Lands End, Mumbai, India MEDIA-TECH Expo 2007 May 15 17, Long Beach Convention Center, USA
[ e news Magazine for the Media Manufacturing Industry ]

S&C.news

MEDIA-TECH Showcase & Conference 2007 for March 6-7, 2007 in Barcelona Announced!
Following its members wish to change the timing of its annual events, the MEDIA-TECH Association has decided to hold its MEDIA-TECH Showcase & Conference 2007 in Europe on March 6-7 in Barcelona, Spain. The Hotel Rey Juan Carlos wi ll ho s t t h i s o n l y E u r o p e a n M E D I A - T E C H e v e n t n e x t y e a r. The MEDIA-TECH Showcase continues its tradition offer the package media industry the opportunity to present its products and technologies of emerging high-definition media formats. It promises to be the most important annual forum for displaying the latest developments for all current and future storage formats. Bryan Ekus, Managing Director of the MEDIA-TECH Association: The Association is always focused on adapting to the needs of our industry. Therefore the 2007 edition of the MEDIA-TECH Showcase & Conference will feature several innovations. Those innovations include: NEW VENUE: BARCELONA For the first time, the MEDIA-TECH Showcase & Conference will take place on a hotel-level. Being a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos own Palace of Congress offers modern and functional meeting and showcase facilities. One of Europes most popular destinations, Barcelonas major air hub makes it an NEW BOOTH PACKAGES The MEDIA-TECH Showcase 2007 offers a new booth plan for this table-top show, offering smaller and more economical packages for smaller companies including empty space (2 x 3 m / approx. 6 x 9 ft) or hardwall (2 x 3 m / approx. 6 x 9 ft or 2 x 4 m / approx. 6 x 13 ft). Ekus comments: We offer you an all-new booth package plans for this tabletop show. As an exhibitor, you have the choice between several packages at different rates and sizes with more economical packages for smaller companies. For more information about the new packages and the pricing refer to the info box on the next page. NEW STRUCTURE To maximize the traffic for both the exhibits at Showcase and the Conference presentations and hence the benefits for exhibitors and attendees, the two parts will be running more separately. With less overlap, this structure will give all attendees more time to visit both Conference and Showcase. Furthermore, conference admission will be free of charge. ideal location to meet customers from Europe, Asia and Africa all in one place. NEW DATE: MARCH 6-7, 2007 As a result of the MEDIA-TECH Association members request to hold the future events within the first two quarters of the calendar year, the 2007 edition of the Showcase & Conference has been moved to March exactly the time of year when most customers make their buying decisions and the business for the year is made. Bryan Ekus has some last words for all readers: With the full support of our members, I am sure we will be able to make this first event a really successful one. So, make sure to book your booth today before the bests spots are taken! To learn more about MEDIA-TECH Showcase & Conference 2007 go visit www.media-tech.net or contact the MEDIA-TECH Showcase Sales Office at barcelona@media-tech.net or +49 (0) 80 20/42.

Booth Packages for MEDIA-TECH Showcase 2007
T h e M E D I A - T ECH Showcase 2007 off e r s a b o o t h package plan for eve ryone! Exhibitors have the choice b e t w e e n s e v e ral packages at different rates and sizes. P a c k a g e 1 : E mpty Space 2 x 3 m ( a p p r ox. 6 x 9 ft) P r i c e s p e r u n i t: M T A - members N o n - members Package 2: Hardwall (2x3) 2 x 3 m (approx. 6 x 9 ft) Prices per unit: 1850 MTA-members 2250 Non-members Package 3: Hardwall (2x4) 2 x 4 m (approx. 6 x 13 ft) Prices per unit: 2350 MTA-members 2750 Non-members
Improved Structure for MEDIA-TECH Conference
terested visitors to join this important educational platform. With the MEDIA-TECH Association expanding the scope of its activities, the focus of the Conference track will not solely be on highdefinition optical media but also on opportunities in magnetic storage or solid-state memory, as well as RFID and thin film coating. The Keynote Sessions will as always feature invited international experts from science and industry who will present the latest developments in optical disc and other storage technologies. Technical details, production news, and groundbreaking new technologies will be discussed in the afternoon Training Sessions. These exhibitorled technical presentations provide attendees with the most up-to-date technical and manufacturing expertise from the people who are developing the systems. For updates of the program, visit www.media-tech.net.
Apply for a Training Session!
After the successful integration of exhibitor-/member-led Training Session presentations into the MEDIA-TECH Conference program in Long Beach, CA in October, the nex event in Barcelona will again offer these opportunities! All interested companies may apply for a Training Session slot to present their technologies to the international audience. Presentations slot are 30 minutes in length and are free to members - non-member will have to pay 500. To apply for a slot, please visit www.media-tech.net! Slots are assigned on a first come first served basis. First priority will go to MEDIATECH members.
With the move to the new venue in Barcelona, the MEDIA-TECH Conference will also feature a new structure. With less but more focused presentations it will certainly continue to be the top European Conference for the entire media manufacturing industry. As part of the redesign of the event, no conference fee will be charged to allow all in-

Barcelona: Beauty by the Sea
Barcelona is known throughout the world as a cultural city, with an important heritage and a permanent and exciting range of activities on offer. Barcelona is an open-air museum - discover the city and enjoy its bustling streets! Its location on the shores of the Mediterranean means that it enjoys a warm, welcoming climate and pleasant temperatures all year round. Between the Barceloneta district and The River Besos, the city has over four kilometers of perfectly equipped beaches which are frequented by its residents during most of the years. Barcelona also has an Olympic harbor, which provides excellent conditions for water sports. In any season of the year, Barcelona basks in the sun. You can eat in open-air restaurants or have a drink on the terraces, by the shores of the Mediterranean Sea! Nos vemos en Barcelona!
The New Venue: Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I
Since the opening of the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I, member of The Lead i n g H o t e l s o f t h e W o r l d , d ays befo r e t h e O l y m p i c G a m e s o f Barcelona , t h e h o t e l h a s e n larged its m a j e s t i c f a c i li t i e s. I t i s n ow one o f t h e b e s t c i t y c o m p l e x e s resorts in t h e w o r l d , c a l l e d H o t e l Rey Juan C a r l o s I B u s i n e s s & City Resort thanks to the add ition of t h e R o y a l F i t n e s s , T h e Royal Catering, the restaurants a nd pools l o c a t e d i n i t s s p e c t a c ular garde n s a n d t h e s t a t e o f t h e a r t Catalonia Palace of Congresses. T o book y o u r r o o m t o d a y a n d t o b e n efit from t h e s p e c i a l M E D I A - T E C H rates, download the hotel order from www. m e d i a - t e c h. n e t.

Expo.news

Looking Ahead to MEDIA-TECH Expo 2007
The Showcase & Conference this October marked the premier of MEDIA-TECH events in Long Beach, CA. The industry will return to California next May for the MEDIA-TECH Expo 2007. Taking place from May 15-17, 2007, the MEDIATECH Expo 2007 will be the most comprehensive show of the year. It will be the place to see the latest products for DVD, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD as well as being a perfect place to meet with business friends and make new contacts within the industry. Located at one of Southern Californias bestknown venues and supported by a substantial marketing and press campaign, this 3-day event offers a unique marketing platform for every organization with a product, service, or message for those operating in the optical disc industry. If you would like to book your booth, have questions about travel or just want to learn more about our events, your organizing team of Messe Frankfurt Ausstellungen will be happy to help you out. Just call them or send an email: Barbara Kaelberer phone +951 66-18, Barbara.Kaelberer@mfa.messefrankfurt.com Vanessa Perner phone +951 66-46, Vanessa.Perner@mfa.messefrankfurt.com Shirley Hill phone +951 66-65, Shirley.Hill@mfa.messefrankfurt.com

Digital Printing is on the Rise!
High-qual i t y p r i n t i n g i s m o r e i m p ortant th a n e v e r i n t h e p a c k a g e d media industry: Without appealing printing, even the greatest Hollywoo d m o v i e w o u l d g o u n n oticed on D V D. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , s maller d u p l i c a t e d p r o d u c t i o n r u n s increase t h e n e e d f o r f a s t e r a n d more economical printing solutions as w e l l a s m o r e i n d i v i d u a l a nd pers o n a l i z e d p r i n t s. T h e r apidly changing printing industry n eeds a f o r u m f o r i n f o r m a t i o n a n d e xchange o f k n o w l e d g e a n d i d e a s : Dont loo k a n y f u r t h e r t h a n M E D I A T ECH Exp o 0 7. It will be n e x t y e a r s m o s t s i g n ificant ex h i b i t i o n a n d m a r k e t p l a c e for the in d u s t r y. M a k e su r e y o u r e there to show your capabilities a nd produ c t s t o k e y i n d u s t r y r e p r esentatives. Whether silk screen, o ffset or d i g i t a l p r i n t i n g - i n l i n e , offline or printing on demand: MEDIA-TE C H E x p o w i l l b e t h e business forum for the printing industry. With digital printing technology rapidly e v o l v i n g , t h e r e a r e m a n y business opportunities for those offering new and creative prod ucts an d s e r v i c e s. T h e l o o m i n g challenges of on-demand media a nd third g e n e r a t i o n o p t i c a l d i s c formats w i l l f u r t h e r i n c r e a s e t h e n eed for n e w a n d i n n o v a t i v e s p e c ialist p r i n t i n g t e c h n o l o g i e s a n d materials. J o i n t h e g r o w i n g l i s t o f e xhibitors t o d a y a n d i m p r o v e y o u r b usiness o p p o r t u n i t i e s !
Long Beach: MEDIA-TECH Expo 2007: The Packaging Focus of Optical and Other Storage
As part of its campaign Expanding MEDIATECH Expo, the MEDIA-TECH Association and its Expo organizers Messe Frankfurt Ausstellungen have announced more details about their expansion focus. This leading annual trade show of the optical disc industry will put a special focus on packaging. Creative and high quality packaging solutions are more than ever an essential component of marketing in capturing the consumers attention. Upcoming challenges of packaging in mass production of optical media and new on-demand media production as well as the new third generation optical disc formats Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD will make innovative specialized packaging solutions necessary. MEDIA-TECH Expo promises to be the forum for packaged media not to be missed! It will be a unique opportunity to get in touch with the movers and shakers of the optical disc industry and to directly talk to machine builders and replicators in this challenging market. Major players in optical disc packaging have already signed up for Long Beach! Klaus Kndler (KRAPACKMAT) says: With its comprehensive exhibitor structure, the MEDIA-TECH Expo attracts media manufacturers from all over the world and is the only exhibition of true international significance in this business area. Gaby Cividati( GIMA) shares these sentiments: MEDIA-TECH Expo events have proven to be our companys forum of choice for the presentation of new machines and the best opportunity, even in this difficult moment of the media industry, to connect with our important customers. To book your booth now, contact Messe Frankfurt Ausstellungen by phone +951 66-18/46/65 or email media-tech-expo@mfa.messefrankfurt. com. Get the full package of business opportunities become part of the MEDIA-TECH Expo 2007!

Association.news

Association Member News
Upgrades for Pi Mastering system
ODC Nimbus has released two significant upgrades for the Pi Mastering System, both designed to substantially improve performance. The upgrades are the result of extensive customer dialogue and cooperation with the companys technical staff comments director of sales and marketing, Gary Helfrecht, The result of this effort is a much improved Pi Mastering System, one which is even more flexible and user-friendly than the original. We are pleased to make them available now. The control centre software upgrade corrects bugs and introduces cosmetic improvements and introduces the new Programmable Pre-Emphasis Filters. This allows the assignment of various pre-emphasis filters (modulation patterns) to each of the different DVD layers by automatically downloading the assigned filters prior to mastering. The new Pi Auto-Developer has been designed to ensure even greater consistency between masters. It constantly monitors pit geometry during the development cycle and automatically stops the process when a preset reference state, or end-point, is reached. Two independent monitoring and preset channels, one of CD and one for DVD, are provided. A third optical channel measures the zero order intensity allowing normalization of the first order signal. With no moving parts used in the auto-developer optical assemblies, the system very robust and reliable, says Helfrecht, and the entire upgrade fits into the existing developer station.
M2s Thai production facility officially opened
Amid festivities spread out over two days, the new M2 production facility in Amata Nakorn, Thailand was officially opened. Although the facility was finished some time ago, and M2 machines have already been delivered from the facility, this event marked the first time that guests were allowed to see inside the facility. The new production facility is located in the duty-free industrial zone in Amata Nakorn, near Chon Buri, just southeast of Bangkok. It is located near the recently opened Suvarnabhumi airport, as well as the international sea port in Laem Chabang, and will take full advantage of the supply chain available on Thailands eastern sea board, and an excellent infrastructure. The fact that M2 already had a strong presence in Thailand, combined with a dedicated and highly skilled local team, also made Amata Nakorn a logical choice for the new facility, the company says The production facility will enable M2 to be less reliant on the outsourcing of production, and ensure higher quality of products and services and also enables M2 to be more reactive to market developments, as well as be more responsive to developments in Research and Development. The SQM mastering system and SQ20 finishing lines are currently being produced in Amata, with plans for the transfer of other product lines in the near future.

Association News

DaTARIUS and Dr. Schenk supply QOL
The France based replicator, Quantum Optical Laboratories (QOL) has installed testing solutions that include third generation abilities from Dr. Schenk and DaTARIUS. The DaTARIUS DATABANK test systems are equipped with HD DVD drive cubes. One system is equipped with an HD DVD Analyzer Stamper 1X for HD DVD stamper and pre-recorded media testing and the other is a dedicated disc-only tester. This sale follows on from previous work on third generation formats, says Thomas Hackl, CCO DaTARIUS Group. We have already installed several BD and HD DVD test systems, so it is encouraging to see the first HD DVD system now shipped to a customer. This reflects the markets acceptance of both formats. QOL chose a Dr.Schenk PROmeteus MT-200.blue offline measurement system to complement the integrated ISM inline scanners for its entry into HD DVD following on from working QOL with Dr.Schenk systems with its DVD production. Since its foundation in the year 2001, QOL has continuously extended its production capacity to a total of seven DVD manufacturing lines, with up to three lines being also laid out for HD DVD.
HamaTech Recordable explores re-location
The HamaTech AG management board is examining the possibilities of a transfer of its entire optical disc activities from Sternenfels to Kahl as a means of exploiting further synergy benefits. The optical disc activities had originally comprised the Pre-Recorded and Recordable Divisions. The acquisition of HamaTech AG by SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG at the start of 2006 initially resulted in a consolidation of the Recordable Division at the Sternenfels
location. This was followed by the consolidation of the Singulus and HamaTech pre-recorded activities under the Singulus branding With no recovery expected in the current demand for systems for the production of recordable discs, the board is looking at pooling all activities involving the development and marketing of optical disc systems of all formats at a single location. This should realize further synergy benefits, says the group and there is potential to achieve positive results also for the recordable systems.
tainment devices, including the HP Media Vault, HP MediaSmart LCD TV, HP Pavilion dv9000t series entertainment notebook PC and the HP Pavilion MediaCenter TV m7600 series PC. These solutions allow consumers to build their digital movie, photo and music libraries as well as protect, stream and display content throughout the home, simply and securely. Delegates will also see the inner workings of digital storage devices and consumer products using digital storage courtesy of Inside-Peek (www.Inside-Peek. com). Podcast interviews of conference attendees and demonstrations of other rich media creation and distribution in the exhibit area show the role of storage in content creation and distribution. Sponsor companies will give demonstrations of products, new standards and technologies during an extended afternoon break on Saturday January 6 in the exhibit area. Exhibitors at SV07 also includes Blogtronix, Fujitsu, LG Electronics, Parks Associates, RLTA, SanDisk, Seagate Technology, Silicon Image, STMicroelectronics, Trusted Computing Group, and Verbatim. During the reception that evening the annual Storage Visions Awards will be announced.

Storage Visions connected world
The Storage Visions Conference, Storage Visions 2007 which is a partner to the International CES, will be held January 6 & 7, 2007 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The Conference, which brings together digital storage and the entertainment content value chain, has announced CE Storage Sessions as well as keynote talks. On January 7, 2007 two sessions will examine pressing issues associated with digital storage for consumer electronics. The session on Integration of Storage in Consumer Devices, moderated by Melissa Perenson of PC World, explores use and design of digital storage in CE applications, future requirements for CE digital storage and whether and how applications might be integrated into CE digital storage. Companies participating in this session include: Agere, AMD, DataLight, Sanyo Electronics, STAKTEK, STMicroelectronics, and Toshiba. The session on Choosing a Mobile CE Storage Product, moderated by Gerry Purdy of Frost and Sullivan, looks at the fierce competition between flash and HDDs for mobile applications and the future of flash, HDD and other mobile storage technologies. Companies participating in this session include: SanDisk, Samsung Semiconductor, Migo, Micron, Kilopass, and Hitachi GST Jerry Pierce, Senior Vice President of Universal Studios and Maureen Weber, General Manager of Hewlett Packards Personal Storage Business will give keynote talks on January 6 and 7 respectively. Omneon is sponsoring session A1: Storage and Content Creation, Editing and Distribution while Fujifilm is sponsoring the executive roundtable, Session B2, on January 7 moderated by Lee Gomes of the Wall Street Journal titled: Digital Storage for the Content Value Chain: What sort of Business is this ? A hands-on demonstration of the potential of the connected entertainment world, gives attendees the ability to experience first hand a digital living room, where HP is showcasing its suite of connected enter-

Co-Operative Event News

Upbeat DVD & Beyond
The November London DVD & Beyond conference supported by MEDIA-TECH was upbeat on the future of CD, DVD, BD and HD DVD. The conference gave several major analysts in the digital delivery markets the opportunity to show how their industries will hit physical media business. Surprisingly every speaker spoke of a world where digital delivery would take 8%-15% of the entertainment market and much of that will be new business such as ringtones and downloaded single tracks. Consultant Bob Auger saw that even broadcast TV with bit rates of just 6-8Mbps will never compete in quality with HD DVD or BD leaving the disc market wide open for HDTV enthusiasts. Martin Oluassen, senior analyst of consultants Strategy Analytics saw that there the growth in bundled online packages will account for at most 8% ($6 billion) of the worlds consumer movie purchases by 2010, by which time he predicts that the overall DVD market will have increased by $11 billion.

Second generation HD DVD players released
Toshiba has launched its second generation HD DVD players into the Japanese market, rolling out the HD-XF2 and the HD-XA2, which will be available from late December. The new HD DVD players are smaller and offer improved speed in loading and response times over the HD-XA1, the worlds first HD DVD player, released by Toshiba in March. The new high-end HD-XA2 supports Deep Color technology, an optional standard under HDMI that improves representation of colour tones and achieves finer colour gradation. HD-XA2 also provides support for 1080 progressive scan output. As well as all of the HD audio standards, the players can up-convert standard DVD to a resolution of 1080i or 720p (1080p for HD-XA2) through an HDCP-capable HDMI output. And on the environmental front, Toshiba has worked to minimize power consumption, size and weight and ensure that the players comply with the European Unions RoHS directive, which came into force in July 2006.

Industry.news

DVD6Cs licenses cover patents owned by the 6C member companies that are essential for products that comply with the DVD-format specifications defined by the DVD Forum. Membership of Samsung in the joint licensing program will benefit existing and future licensees of DVD6C, who will obtain a license to additional essential patents for the DVD products at no additional charge, notes the DVD6C whose name derived from the original number of member companies.
DVD6C goes up to 9 as Samsung joins licensing body
The DVD6C Licensing Group (DVD6C) says that Samsung has joined its worldwide joint-licensing program which provides manufacturers of DVD products the ability to license essential DVD patents owned by the groups members. Samsung joins with Hitachi, Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Sanyo Electric, Sharp, Toshiba, JVC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc in using the DVD6C as their licensing body for its
essential DVD patents covering DVD-Recorders, DVD-Audio Players, DVD-R, -RW and -RAM Drives, DVD-Audio, -R, -RW, -and -RAM Discs and Cases.
Six 50GB Blu-ray lines running at DADCz
Sony DADC says that it now has six 50GB Blu-ray Disc production lines up and running with three fully integrated Blu-ray packaging lines, and the company is currently ramping up production to 60,000 discs per day. We are encouraged by the performance of both our 25GB single layer and 50GB dual layer production technologies, both of which are meeting our expectations, commented Michael Mitchell, executive vice president, manufacturing and engineering for Sony DADC. My hat is off to our development and process engineering teams worldwide, all of whom have contributed tirelessly to bring these capabilities to life. In addition to the six dual layer lines currently running, the company has nine 25GB Blu-ray Disc production machines in operation and has shipped over three million Blu-ray Discs for a client base of over 35 customers since beginning production in May of this year. Sony DADCs Terre Haute facilitys two Phase Transition Mastering (PTM) systems have been mastering 50GB discs since mid-September 2006. Over 130 BD titles have been mastered, which include both 25GB and 50GB titles and both PTM machines are capable of mastering PS3 titles as well. Sony DADC has three fully integrated Blu-ray packaging lines, all of which are fully operational and capable of supporting video and PS3 titles in both 25 GB and 50 GB formats.

New Technology Center for GE Plastics
GE Plastics has officially opened its new Japan Technology Center (JTC) located within its Moka City facility. The new JTC will provide Japanese customers with state-of-the-art application development capabilities. As one of the seven GE Global Application Technology (GApT) centers worldwide, the JTC will serve as a technical Center of Excellence for developments in several industries including work in the electronics industry in optical media for Blu-ray discs. The new facility occupies a three story, 3,700-sq.meter building. The plastics processing laboratory will provide advanced support for all aspects of plastics processing. Major equipment items include general-purpose injection moulding machines, as well as an optical disc moulding system. The JTCs chemical analysis laboratory is equipped with various types of chemical
analysis equipment and electron microscopes, and provides customers with plastic component analysis, as well as a data service. Takashi Hata, president of GE Plastics Japan, comments, The objective of establishing the Japan Technology Center is to offer advanced technical support to our Japanese customers. Today, customers are demanding the latest innovative materials and best-in-class technical support with speed. We firmly believe that the JTC can offer these solutions and further expand the possibilities of engineering plastic materials.

Testronic acquires PMTC

Consolidation has hit the independent disc testing sector. Testronic Labs, the leading independent international Quality Assurance facility for packaged and on-line media industries has announced that it has completed the acquisition of competitor PMTC, based in Diepenbeek, Belgium. This follows the acquisition of the LA based IQC organisation just over a year ago The enlarged 200-strong company, already operating from the UK in London and its HQ at Pinewood Studios as well as the IQC Los Angeles base, and Warsaw, will operate as Testronic Labs. Testronic is now Europes only independent all media QA facility that is not an extension of a test equipment manufacturer.
Chinese demand for high definition TV and programming will be driven by the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. The Chinese broadcasters are gearing up for an all-HDTV presentation of the games, which is expected to trigger one of the first major event-driven pushes for Chinas home consumer electronics market. Memory-Tech is concentrating on the production of the China-specific HD DVD format approved by the DVD Forum last September. Whilst based on the standard HD DVD format, this variant integrates some differences proposed by OMNERC (the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center, a Chinese research organization. The variant of the HD DVD format has the same basic physica structure, but with some changes to make the disc playable on Chinese market players only. The video application set is more restricted and the Chinese have insisted on using their own AVS audio/video encode decode specification. Playable on MPEG-2 decoders, AVS was developed by the Audio Video Coding Standard Working Group of China, with its own IP technology and no IP costs - as the AVS website puts it, avoiding.the outmoded technology and extortionate price of MPEG-2.

Memory-Tech to roll out Chinese HD DVD discs
Memory-Tech has said that it is increasing its investment in the Chinabased Shanghai United Optical Disc so that it can begin production of pre-recorded HD DVD discs with an initial annual capacity of about two million discs in 2007. The company says that this investment is specifically to produce pre-recorded HD DVD discs for the China market and that it will be providing manufacturing equipment and technology to SUOD, with the expectation that a strong

CD-R prices on the up?

Ritek is s a i d t o b e r a i s i n g i t s CD-R pri c e s b y j u s t un d e r % from US$ 0. t o U S $ 0. 1 2. This refl e c t s a n e x p e c t e d g e n e r a l global sh o r t a g e o f C D - R m e d i a a situation that is also confirmed by other T a i w a n e s e b l a n k m e d i a producers. The press u r e o n R i t e k s p r o d u c t i o n is also d r i v e n b y t h e r e c o g n i t i o n of major b r a n d s o f R i t e k s r e c e n t agreemen t t o j o i n P h i l i p s V e e z a I P licensing s c h e m e , w h i c h h a s l e d t o orders fo r m i l l i o n C D - R a n d million D V D R d i s c s. R i t e k s a y s t h a t it is adju s t i n g i t s p r o d u c t m i x f o r 2007 and t o i m p r o v e m a r g i n s R i t e k is increa s i n g.
Blu-ray gets US promotional push
Blu-ray Discs support group is launching a set of TV, press and marketing activities to drive the new format to consumers during the holiday shopping season. The group which includes Twentieth Century Fox, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Sony and Warner Bros has produced a 30-second commercial shot for high-definition television that has already debuted in the US This spot, along with broader placement in print and online media outlets, builds upon earlier advertising efforts directed at home-entertainment enthusiasts. The new high-definition commercial uses movie clips and animation accompanied by dramatic theater-quality music. We chose to go heavy on film clips from several studios to reinforce the widespread industry support that Blu-ray enjoys. These popular images will strike a chord with a wide range of the target market, plus its just a great way to demonstrate the Blu-ray experience, stated Chris Wood, creative director at the groups creative agency, SicolaMartin.

The ads can be seen on HD cable stations such as Discovery HD, INHD and HDNet. The expanded print campaign now runs in lifestyle magazines, including GQ and Popular Mechanics, in addition to those targeted at the AV enthusiast such as Home Theater, Home Entertainment and Wired.
PUBLISHER MEDIA-TECH Association P.O. Box 1104, 63793 Kahl, Germany EDITOR Tim Frost Tel: +532112 Email: enews@MEDIA-TECH.net DESIGN MetaCom Corporate Communications Tel: +9828042 Email: s.feess@go-metacom.de
(to view the advert go to: http://www.sicolamartin.com/bluraybroadcast/.)
JVC releases 25GB BD-R/RE media and new encoder
JVC are moving on two fronts with BD and high-def. Later this month the Japanese company will be releasing BD-R and BD-RE media, which features its own U-HD hard coat surface. The 2x record speed discs will be available in single layer versions only, at the moment. In addition, JVC has developed its own MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoder, using what it calls Intelligent HD encode technology. JVC says that this offers high encoding accuracy, is efficient and reduces the amount of the required processing resources. The encoder can be part of a low-cost PC-based system and uses a 2-pass encoding algorithm, in order to offer high image quality when processing complicated scenes on a movie. The encoder can compress full HD image of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 24p/60i at rates of between 12-24Mbps.