Never mind those fancy BD-R critters, how's about a 42GB DVD? Researchers with a good deal more intelligence than us over at Tohoku University have reportedly figured out a way to "multiply the amount of data that can be stored on a DVD or CD by 9." Based on our best guess at translating a foreign language (we kid... sort of), the achievement was realized by shaping the pits on a DVD's surface like Vs, essentially making the disc more capacious in the process. Unfortunately, said project will probably never see any mainstream attention, as existing DVD / CD players won't recognize the malformed media, and worse still, the process can't be applied to Blu-ray Discs.

[Via CrunchGear]

From what we can tell, this is just marketing hoopla to get you to buy a drive "certified" for use in a particular application; in all actuality, users can connect any USB 2.0 external hard drive to their DISH Network HD DVR and expand their storage capacity for a one-time fee. Nevertheless, Western Digital has just let loose its 500GB My DVR Expander, which "more than doubles" your available recording hours by storing up to 300 hours of SD content and 60 hours of high-def goodness. As predicted, the drives work with the satcaster's ViP family of HD DVRs, and WD is apparently looking to expand the brand to other carriers as soon as they get with the program and enable USB storage. Those willing to fall for this ploy can procure the half-terabyte drive for $149.99, but considering that the port activation fee is still charged, we can't imagine looking elsewhere first.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

If you aren't rocking any kind of upgraded / external storage alongside your primary DVR, you just aren't with the times, man. Thankfully for those relying heavily on a DirecTV HR20 / 21, you can finally grab hold of a storage solution that doesn't destroy the aesthetics of your overall setup. Granted, any DVR that accepts eSATA expansion will play nice with the TenBox family, but it's fairly evident which boxes these things were designed to sit atop. The trio of models differ from typical external storage solutions by utilizing three ultra-quiet fans to keep noise to a minimum, and while it certainly looks more at home in your AV cabinet than propped up beside your PC, it'll function just fine as a backup HDD should you need it to. TenBox is offering up the device with 1TB (TB1000), 1.5TB (TB1500) and 2TB (TB2000) of storage, but considering the $1,199, $1,499 and $1,999 price tags, we sure hope you weren't counting on a bargain.

[Via TV Squad]

Earlier this year, we saw that WeaKnees was offering up TiVo HD boxes with enough storage to hold a staggering 144 hours of HD content, and now the company is aiming to make a few holiday wishes come true by more than doubling that previous number. You heard right, TV packrats can now order up a TiVo HD Series 3 DVR from WeaKnees that can hold 292 hours of HD programming (or 2,800 hours of SD content). The DVR itself will house a 1TB SATA hard drive and come bundled with a 1TB external drive, and will cost you a whopping $1,599 (after $200 rebate, no less) to claim one as your own.

We just know no one ever tires of discussion about the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, so why should something as obscure as enterprise storage get overlooked? Top Tech News has a short intro piece on archival storage and how the two formats are attempting to get ingrained there, with Blu-ray touting its larger layer size, and HD DVD showing off its perceived lower cost to switch from DVD or other optical formats. We've certainly heard these arguments before when it comes to video storage (although thankfully codecs don't matter here!), but the article mentions that with the costs of disk- and network-based storage being so low, might business even notice which side "wins?"

In great news for torrent freaks worldwide, Taiwanese optical disc giant Ritek has announced its accreditation to manufacture rewritable versions of both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, meaning that pricing on the still-rare media should begin to drop once production ramps up in the third quarter. According to a company spokesperson, archiving all those TV shows and movies onto 20GB HD DVD-RE and 25GB BD-RE discs will set you back around $10-per-platter, though you are getting either quadruple or quintuple the capacity, respectively, of a regular DVD-RW. No matter, we'll be tossing these things around like cheap CD's in no time anyway.

[Via Gadget Lab]

Cablevision once had dreams of keeping all your recorded shows on a network-based DVR system, which would have kept them from having to send boxes to all their subscribers. Then Hollywood and the TV networks stepped in with the lawyers last May, and here we are today, with a ruling that this would have broken copyright rules by effectively "rebroadcasting" the programs. The cable operator is considering an appeal, although Scientific Atlanta, Motorola, TiVo, and other DVR manufacturers are likely relieved that their revenue streams are firmly intact.

Panasonic has announced five new high definition digital video recorder units for the Japanese market, with all models sporting hard drives from 250 GB (DMR-XP11 and DMR-XP21V) to 500 GB (DMR-XW31 and DMR-XW41V) to 1 TB (DMR-XW51) and DVD drives for burning archives or placeshifting content. Two of them (the V-series) also include VHS recorders for converting that old pile of Miami Vice episodes you've got lying around. The largest of the models has the one terabyte drive, which should get you, what, at least half of American Idol this season? Each of the five recorders has HDMI output, with the DMR-XW51 model using progressive scan 1080p, and all include S-Video and composite inputs for recording other sources. We'd imagine this makes them upscaling DVD players as well, but that isn't mentioned in the release. Most include an ethernet jack for getting program guides and downloading track data from the online Gracenote music database when recording CD audio onto the drives. They utilize a quick-start power-saving mode that allows them to begin recording in three seconds from standby. Because these are Japan-specific recorders, they include BS/110 CS digital or analog tuners, with the VHS-less models freeing up room for two tuners instead of one. They will be released in April and May with prices ranging from ¥80k to ¥200k ($669 to $1,688).

It's one thing when the most taxing task your DVR will ever face is the furious fast-forwarding necessary to get the next scene in your favorite recorded drama, but if you've got over 100 hours of HD VOD to churn through while recording tonight's game and sifting through next week's programming list, having a more intelligent hard drive just might help out. In an effort to reduce DVR hard drive fragmentation, lengthen the life of set-top boxes, improve the quality of service / speed to the end user, and give your average DVR the ability to "manage up to 14 HDTV (19.3Mbps) streams from a single 3.5-inch HDD," Hitachi has developed AVSM technology to help your DVR's HDD think things through before going through the motions. The background software differentiates between "streaming applications and best-effort, non-real-time applications" such as electronic program guides, IPTV downloads, and photo browsing in order to manage the line of tasks more efficiently. Overall, the software reportedly reduces duty cycles "by up to 60 percent" and all but eliminates disc fragmentation, but realistically, with new units popping up entirely more frequently than your average hard drive takes to perish, hooking DVRs up with all these smarts might be a bit unnecessary for those who stay on the bleeding edge.

Mvix has certainly found its way to your living room before, and we've heard the rumblings of its latest HD streaming / storage device coming to fruition, but just before the holiday rush the firm is officially releasing the MX-760HD Wireless HD Media Center. This feature-laden box supports wireless media (HD thankfully included) streaming over 802.11g with full WEP support, and comes packed with an optional 200 to 750GB hard drive to store files remotely. Sporting a 7.4- x 7.6- x 2.3-inch enclosure, the Linux-based box plays nice with Windows systems and outputs in NTSC / PAL, and even includes an external LCD to give you quick updates on what's going where. Aside from WiFi, it also features Ethernet connectivity and USB ports, and Mvix even includes a remote to control the action from afar. On the rear, you'll find outputs for DVI, component, composite, stereo, and optical / coaxial digital audio to play back any of your DivX, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV, ASF, DAT, DVD, IFO, VOB, ISO, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, PCM, AC3, DTS, BMP, JPEG, and PNG files -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg. So if you're scouting a svelte HD streamer with internal storage to boot, the MX-760HD can be pre-ordered now (sans an internal HDD) for $329.

[Thanks, Chris and Rich]

If you're really ready for next generation DVDs, this guy on the CDFreaks message boards is selling NEC HD-DVD HR-1100A readers for your desktop PC. Not sure why you'd want one since we don't know when you'll actually have HD-DVDs to play on it and probably no software to play them with, but you would still be first. We've seen commercial Blu-ray players from Japan pop up on eBay before, but this may be the first opportunity to have HD-DVD technology all to yourself, and for only $120.

Since you won't be playing HD-DVDs anytime soon, enjoy your stunning 32x CD/8x DVD playback speeds and wonder what might be ... someday. As soon as HD-DVD drives are available from somewhere other than some-guy-on-a-forum, we'll let you know.

[via digg]

Instead of asking "HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?" next year, we might be asking "Holographic Video Disc or other inferior products?" We're not even done with the current format war and the troops are already gearing up for the next one. Actually, from the sounds of the new HVD, I may bypass the high-def DVD silliness completely.

We mentioned 200GB HVDs last month, but already Maxell has come forth with plans for 300 GB of digital capacity. It's still not enough for a whole season of "24" in high-def, but we're getting closer!