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Macsimum News:  TDK says it’s achieved a capacity of 200GB that will double the capacity of their current 100GB Blu-ray prototype. One 200GB disc could store approximately 18 hours of high definition video.

The initial Blu-ray Disc standard allows for 25GB single layer Blu-ray Discs and 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Discs. However, a recent signal processing innovation stretches the physical limits of optical media, realizing 33.3GB capacity for each of the disc’s six layers. As with the 100GB disc, and other Blu-ray Disc media, TDK’s 200GB blue laser disc is single-sided.

The company’s 100GB prototype disc uses four 25GB layers to reach 100GB capacity. For the 200GB technology development, TDK has stretched the physical margins of the Blu-ray Disc format, enabling a disc to store up to 33.3GB per layer while staying within the tolerances of the BD playback specifications, according to Bruce Youmans, vice president of product research & development.

A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can hold 25GB, which can be used to record over two hours of HDTV or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV. There are also dual-layer versions of the discs that can hold 50GB.

TDK has already begun shipment of its single-layer 25GB recordable and rewritable media in the first quarter of 2006.  50GB discs, which are dual layer, have now just begun shipping, retaililng at €35 for a write-once, and €45 for a re-writeable disc.

More at CD Freaks.com

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Tech Digest & various sources: It’s the world’s largest consumer electronics show – and it will be open from today until 6th September. Here are some highlights from the manufacturers:

Philips: they’ll be announcing a new Skype VoIP phone, a new Windows XP Media Center for the living room with 250GB hard drive and Blu-Ray (again the product was first shown last year). See www.ifa.philips.com for more.

Pioneer: their latest line-up in Plasma, AV Receivers, DVD players and Sat Nav systems, plus a few surpises.  Expect samples of their Blu-ray player, the BDP-HD1, their new 60-inch Plasma TV – the PDP-607XD and a new HDMI DVD Recorder DVR-940H with huge 500GB hard disk.  See Pioneer’s news release for more.

LG: plan to launch new TVs with built in DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) following the success of the 43-inch plasma model launched in May.  Apparently LG has shifted two million handsets of its ‘hero product’, the chocolate phone, but no news on a successor yet.

Samsung: Among the new products will be the company’s Blu-Ray DVD players which are due to go on sale before the end of the year. Also showing off an LCD TV that uses LEDs as a backlighting source.

Grundig: Now part of the Alba Group, Grundig is showing off a pair of wireless stereo speakers which according to the blurb ‘have the potential to be design icons’.

Thomson: Unveiling a completely wireless (2.4GHz) system for linking up various devices in the home, including DVD player, set top box and TV screen.

Yamaha: The company plans to launch two new Sound Projector models (a single speaker mounted below the TV screen which replaces five or more surround speakers).

Daewoo: An interesting sounding GPS system with built in DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) system so you can listen to the radio and watch TV whilst navigating.

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Tech Digest: Daewoo announced at IFA (Berlin), that they will be releasing three new satellite navigation systems into Europe – seemingly targetted at walkers and cyclists.

The DPN-3500 has a 3.5-inch LCD display and the DPN-5600 has a 5.6-inch display, and both sound to be fairly standard portable sat-nav devices.

The third sat-nav device, the ANK-6160, also boasts a Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) receiver which is supposed to allow you to receive audio and video data such as radio/TV programmes and service information.

As yet, no pricing information is available.

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Reuters UK: LG Electronics and Sharp Corp. said at IFA (Berlin) yesterday that they expected prices of flat LCD television sets to drop by at least 20-30 percent in 2007 amid overproduction and cost reductions.

“Last year we saw about 30 percent of price reductions for plasma and a little bit more for LCD.  In 2007, we expect about the same,” Young Chan Kim, head of global marketing for LG’s displays division told journalists.

Katsuhiko Machida, president of Sharp, said he expected a fall closer to 20 percent on average for LCD TVs.

Machida said low-resolution TV sets with screen sizes of 40 inches and above might suffer a 30-percent fall in prices.

“But for full-specification, high-resolution sets – due to limited supply compared with demand – we don’t see that big a drop,” he added.

LG reiterated its goal to become the world’s No. 1 display company by 2007. It is currently the second-biggest plasma television producer.

Machida said Sharp expected to regain market share – which it began losing a year ago because it had insufficient capacity to meet demand – from October, when Sharp will start selling LCD TVs made with panels from its new plant in Kameyama, Japan.

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USA Today:  Panasonic said yesterday at IFA (Berlin) that it would start selling the world’s largest plasma TV, a 103-inch (262-centimeter) screen, for $80,000 (around €62,000).

“That’s before installation cost,” said a Panasonic spokesman at the IFA consumer electronics fair here.

The set is just five inches thick.

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DigiTimes: Today’s Chinese-language Economic Daily News reports that in order to avoid a 5% tariff on LCD modules (LCMs) imported into Europe, some Taiwan-based panels makers are now evaluating the possibility of setting up LCM plants in Eastern Europe, according to the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Starting from July of this year, any LCM shipped to Europe is imposed with a 5% tariff by the European Union (EU), compared to a less than 5% tariff in the past, IDB said in the paper.

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