HP Media Hub Sneak Peek - And Where is LightScribe?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/1606-2-5519860.html' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/1606-2-5519860.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"This fall, HP will release a new media hub, offering a simpler interface for consumers who don't want a full PC experience in the livingroom. CEO Carly Fiorina gave attendees to her 2005 CES keynote address a sneak peek."</i><br /><br />I watched this video with interest because I was expecting it to be a Windows Media Center Edition PC - but it's not. Instead, HP seems to have created their own user interface, one that's similar in feel to the MCE interface, but quite different in terms of functionality. I wonder why HP would go this route, making their own custom 10 foot UI, their own electronic programming guide, etc.? Why reinvent what MCE already offers? I was excited to see LightScribe mentioned as well - it's a technology that I'm really excited about, but one that seems to be moving very slowly. LightScribe was announced over a year ago, and they make noise about licensing it to third party CD/DVD drive makers, but nothing seems to have come of it. <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/feature_stories/2005/05ces.html">This article has a blurb about LightScribe</a> for those of you not familiar with it:<br /><br /><i>"Using the same laser that burns data right inside your CD/DVD drive, this technology enables you to create customized, silk-screen quality labels directly onto discs with images and words that organize your digital collection and express your unique personality. LightScribe-enabled drives will be available in select models across HP's consumer PC line in 2005."</i><br /><br />As much as I salivate over being able to burn a CD or DVD with a laser-etched top, I won't purchase an HP PC to do so. Has anyone heard anything about drive makers such as Pioneer, Plextor, or LiteOn licensing this technology?

[wilkinsjme]

Yamaha had CD/RW burners in stores a year or two ago that could do this. Saw some at costco. I thought they would catch on. Never heard another thing about them until this HP.
A quick web search shows yamaha appears to still have them. But only for their CD burners.
http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/tech/discta2_01.asp

[Jason Dunn]

Yamaha had CD/RW burners in stores a year or two ago that could do this. Saw some at costco. I thought they would catch on. Never heard another thing about them until this HP.

Nope, Yamaha's T@too technology is different - yours burns on the underside of the disc, right? The same location as your data? The problem with that system is that if you have a full CD worth of data, it has no space for the image. The LightScribe technology burns the image on the top side of the CD, where it has the whole surface to work with, so you'll get much nicer images. 8)

[Jason Dunn]

Aha! I got some LightScribe info, it will be coming up tomorrow...

[wilkinsjme]

Sorry for the confusion. I don't own one. And I never really looked at what the Yamahas could do in terms of which side of the disc it burned the label on. I just knew the burner did some sort of label burning. I had forgotten all about this until I saw the HP commercial the other day touting lightscribe. But now that I see what the Yamahas capability is/was I'm not that impressed with it. Unless I decide to start burning CD's only half full (half empty) :D Plus it's only for CD's.

The HP technology looks pretty slick. Hopefully it will be available in stand alone HP burners. Or some other manuf's will license this tech.

[karinatwork]

I'm planning on getting the new Pavillion a820n desktop computer currently available at Staples, with the Lightscribe DVD writer installed in it already.

It's exciting... I liked the computer, and I didn't expect it to have this Lightscribe thingy installed in it... Now I'm on a hunt for media though, and apparently I can't find it anywhere.

Bummer... :(

K.