Hackers are using the digital rights management feature in Microsoft's Windows Media Player to fool people into downloading spyware and viruses, a security company claimed on Wednesday.

Lite-On IT and BenQ are feeling the pressure on OEM prices for 16x DVD burners from Samsung wjo have recently been lowering retail prices of its 16x DVD burners by 30% to US$69 (£37) in the US and European markets, according to the optical disc drive (ODD) makers.

As we reported on Monday,Philips has taken action to prevent DVD players made by Chinese makers who refuse to pay royalty fees from being imported to the US and Europe. This will likely be a favorable development for the FVD market, and should boost sales, according to Der-ray Huang, deputy director of Taiwan's Opto-Electronics Systems & Laboratories (OES), the leader in developing the forward versatile disc (FVD) standard.

TDK pledged to render recordable Blu-ray Discs more resilient yesterday when it announced a new coating material that it claims eliminates the need for protective cartridges.

At CES, HP announced they had cut a deal with Panasonic to support the other company's DVD formats, so HP will be incorporating DVD-RAM into their next generation desktop computers while Panasonic will tuck DVD+R support into their devices.

A man has been sentenced to 18 months in an American jail and had his computer equipment seized for distributing pirated software worth up to $120,000.

Press Release: Klegg have used CES 2005 to launch their EMC 280-DIVA 4-in-1 media center. Viewers can record up to 200 hours of TV to a built-in hard drive or, using the integrated DVD recorder; burn up to 15 hours of high quality video directly to a standard DVD-R. The Klegg EMC also links to home computer networks to play MP3s, view pictures and stream audiovideo files to the living room. EMC owners can download online movies and surf the web.

People already use their mobile phones to read e-mail messages, take pictures and play video games. Before long, they may use them in place of their wallets.

Major TV industry and entertainment representatives issued urgent calls Saturday at the ongoing 2005 International Consumers Electronics Show (CES) to unify the HD DVD/Blue-ray systems to prevent an emerging formats battle.

Intel's home media strategy is about to take a sharp left turn, and take it into waters that it has only ventured into before. It is going to launch a complete barebones system for home media centers.

The idea may seem odd, but history has proven the adult entertainment industry to be one of the key drivers of any new technology in home entertainment. Pornography customers have been some of the first to buy home video machines, DVD players and subscribe to high-speed Internet.

While games publisher Vivendi Universal was touting its support for the Blu-ray Disc format yesterday, the movie business in which it owns a 20 per cent stake, Universal Studios, was announcing plans to release 16 HD-DVD titles in the US.

Philips has been focusing its attention on DVD makers in China, working to get all DVD players made there banned in the European and US markets on royalty issues, according to Taiwan-based makers. Philips has shifted all of its OEM orders to makers in Taiwan and South Korea, running many China makers out of business.

When it comes to high-definition video discs, movie fans finally have something more to look forward to than a format battle. Three major Hollywood studios and hardware makers backing the HD-DVD format committed on Thursday to releasing players and high-definition movies in the by the end of this year.

For some website's the latest Hollywood blockbusters are the subject of intense discussion and evaluation. But unlike typical movie fan sites, computer users dish out praise or criticism about the caliber of video and sound achieved by online groups whose sole mission is to make available unauthorized copies of Hollywood films within a day or two of a movie’s debut, if not before.

The Blu-ray Disc Association strengthened its ranks at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas after Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments pledged their allegiance to the recordable DVD standard. The move turns up the heat in the bitter war against the rival HD DVD group over which will become the de facto standard for next-generation DVDs.

According to sources, from the middle of March Plextor will support DVD-R DL burning with the fastest available speed of 6X (not so sure about either P-CAV/Z-CLV) in there firmware 1.05 verion release. According to already posted specs, the DVD-R DL writing was expected at 4X, but as it seems Plextor boosted the writing speed to 6X.

DVD recorders will supersede standalone DVD players within the next four years, newly published market research has predicted.

Confused? You won't be, well not after you read DVD legend Flash's review of these varying optical writing techniques. Click to find out What are CAV, CLV, PCAV, ZCLV & OPC.

DVD Guru Flash has managed to get some more detailed specs on the Pioneer 109 DVD Burner. Have a look <a href="http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Reviews+index-req-showcontent-id-133.phtml"_blank">here for his findings.