Researchers have announced at ISOM 2006 important new developments involving high-speed recording on Blu-Ray media, presenting recordings on Blu-Ray discs at speeds as high as the 12x.

One of Scotland's biggest DVD pirates is behind bars. Nicknamed Captain Pugwash after the kids' TV character, Ricky Ralston, 49, was caught with 3663 illegal DVDs and CDs in a van. He's been jailed for jailed for 12 months at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

Two men who sold DVD vending machines out of Hollywood were convicted Friday of fraud charges in federal court in Miami, according to the U. S. Attorney's Office.

A Japanese sound boffin has come up with a glass CD which he reckons does not warp, distort, and looks and sounds nicer than those nasty plastic creations.

HP will next month ship its first internal DVD writer that not only burns at up to 18x speeds but also supports the LightScribe label etching system. Says who? Says Lite-on IT, the Taiwanese optical disc drive maker that manufacturers HP's drives. 18x "will" be HP's new writing speed standard, the PC giant's supplier has ruled.

The American Independent Media Manufacturers Association (AIMMA) has voted to support HD DVD as the next-generation blue-laser format at an October 10 general meeting, according to a press release issued by the organization, but Taiwan pre-recorded optical disc makers still see Hollywood studios as being the key decision makers in terms of adoption of next-generation DVD standards.

Maxell will be showcasing its holographic storage, Blu-ray and HD-DVD technologies at the National Association of Broadcasters to be held in New York from October 24-25.

Sony will delay the release of its Blu-ray HDTV DVD player, the BDP-S1, until early December. The device has already been delayed once, and rumours are that a "software issue" inside the device are the cause for the latest postponement.

Lite-On has launched its new-generation HDD/DVD recorder, the HD-A970GX, in a move to respond to the growing popularity of high-definition video market.

Philips Research has announced at ISOM 2006, the International Symposium on Optical Materials conference held this past week in Japan, important new developments involving near-field recording technology.

Sony seems to be determined to block any import of the upcoming Playstation 3 games console into Europe before its official release.

Google's new aquisition YouTube has removed 29,549 video files from the popular Web site after receiving a demand from a group of Japanese media companies over copyright infringement.

The AllofMp3 website which is based in Moscow and which the U.S. Commerce Department has branded the world's highest-volume online seller of pirated music plans to release hundreds of thousands of albums free, the site said.

Apple may be preparing to support not only Blu-ray Disc but also HD DVD, it has emerged. The next major relase of the Mac OS X operating system, 'Leopard' may allow users to play and burn both types of high-definition media it has be claimed.

While we've got our eye on that new Xbox HD DVD drive that's about to drop next month, one thing we didn't know is that it'll be able to connect to your regular ol' PC via USB -- so that basically means you can get a sweet external HD DVD drive for £200.

Launch titles for the PlayStation 3 are already "getting up close" to the 25GB limit on current Blu-Ray discs, according to Sony's worldwide studios boss Phil Harrison, who was responding to criticism of the PS3's adoption of Blu-Ray.

Contract-manufacturing quotes for slim-type DVD burners dropped 20% in the third quarter due to fierce competition among Taiwan, Korea and Japan makers, according industry sources.

Apple have admitted that some Video iPods purchased after September 12, may carry a Windows virus called "RavMonE.exe".

RipIt4Me takes up where DVD Decrypter bit the dust. The latest version can be coupled with some burning software or even DVD Shrink to easily create backups of your movies.

Creative has apparently bowed to RIAA pressure, issuing a firmware update for two of its players that removes the FM recording feature. In the past, the music industry has argued that recording from radio broadcasts hurt music sales, and has most recently attempted to stop satellite radio services from implementing similar features.