Advanced Media, Inc. (Ritek USA), manufacturer and marketer of the popular RIDATA brand of recordable CD and DVD media, is the first optical disc manufacturers to introduce the new Blu-Ray media in the United States. The company is now shipping the blue laser format RIDATA HD DVD-R media with Blu-Ray disc availability scheduled for the first quarter of 2007. A Blu-Ray disc holds up to five times the storage of a normal DVD with 25GB of capacity on a single-layer. It also has three times the transfer rate of a normal DVD for fast recording of large amounts of data.

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While North American consumers have been playing with Nintendo’s new console Wii since November 19, it wasn’t until this weekend that they launched Wii in Japan. Thousands of gamers lined up outside of Tokyo’s electronics stores and roughly 400,000 consoles were sold and many locations were completely sold out by noon. Amazon.com in Japan also sold out of its allocation.

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Sony has announced that its first dedicated Blu-ray Disc player, the BDP-S1 model, has begun shipping to major consumer electronics retailers and specialty dealers nationwide. This next-generation device is capable of playing both high-definition Blu-ray Disc (BD) prerecorded titles as well as traditional DVDs.“I’m thrilled that it’s here just in time for the holidays,” said Randy Waynick, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics Home Products Division. “Combining a Sony 1080p HDTV set and our new BD player with an HDMI™-enabled A/V receiver and surround sound speakers provides the epitome of the high-definition lifestyle.”

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