Stories about: Lite-on

There are plenty of free disc-burning alternatives out there - and enough articles pointing to them - but the strength of Nero's offering is welcome. There's absolutely no questioning Nero's expertise with all things optical.

The Lian Li PC-K8 is a mid-tower PC case with modest looks and plenty of space. However, its power supply isn't suited to high-end gaming systems because it lacks native 8-pin and 24-pin power connectors.

It's ironic: The copy protection created to stop the illegal copying of DVDs is the same technology that has prevented users from legally downloading paid-for content and then burning it to a DVD for playback in their living rooms. At the time the copy-protection rules were created, they had no provision for user recording of protected content to a recordable DVD, as opposed to a factory-replicated DVD-ROM.

High-definition movies are here. Whichever format you choose--be it Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD--you'll find your viewing experience enhanced by more-accurate and better-saturated colours, and greater detail. These two formats are vying to be the sole successor to standard-definition DVD, the dominant format for the past decade; with no clear winner in sight, you'll have to pick sides when buying a player, whether it's for your living room or your PC. Choose the wrong format, and your player's technology--and your movie collection--may become obsolete.

Off the CES show floor Lite-On was displaying its new Blu-ray Disc drive, the 2X Blu-ray Disc Triple Writer LH-2B1S, available with a SATA interface for just US$650. For those keeping track at home, that's a 35 percent price drop in just the first six months of Blu-ray Disc burners shipping; when the Pioneer BDR-101A debuted in May 2006, that model cost US$999.

New movie releases, more market entrants, improved technology and 1.8 million HD DVD players from Toshiba are the weapons companies plan to use in the format battle against rival Blu-ray Disc this year, according to company executives.

After much bluster and a few false starts, high-definition DVD has arrived. At least in the US. You'll find several products meant for the living room and for the PC at your favorite store, with more on the way. Unfortunately, high-def DVD comes in two, incompatible formats -- Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD -- and the formats' supporters have not resolved their differences. That means buyers must carefully weigh their options while everyone waits to see which technology will reign as successor to DVD, both as an entertainment medium and as a storage medium. You may want to wait before you lay out your cash.

Taiwanese optical disk drive maker Lite-On Technology has acquired the optical disk drive manufacturing operations of BenQ, making Lite-On the world's second biggest producer of the storage devices, it announced on Monday.

The European Commission announced Friday that it has approved the creation of an optical disc drive (ODD) joint venture between Sony and NEC.

Sony has blitzed its DVD-burning competition with the release of the DRU-810A - the fastest dual-layer burner we have tested.