A new look for CD Team

The CD Team brand re-launch has been a work in progress for several months and we are really interested to hear what you think of our new look.

We believe the new branding reflects the products and services CD Team provide today and at the same time defines our future proposition. Whether distributing or storing your content on optical disc, USB flash drives, hard disk drives or flash memory cards, CD Team deliver tailor-made solutions that utilise the very latest technology.    

CD is certainly still very much our core business, as is DVD and Blu-ray.
However, we are also increasingly advising, supplying and project managing the delivery of content on other physical formats and therefore it was time for our name, CD Team, to reflect this wider range of products and services. Over our 15 years of trading, we have built up strong brand recognition and are well known within the industry as a trustworthy company, so by adding Content Delivery rather than a complete name change we are able to encompass optical discs and other digital delivery methods within a familiar brand that many of you have come to depend upon.

Team is also at the heart of our business.
As many of you know, being a CD Team customer allows you access to our team of experts: you work closely with your friendly account manager; get advice from our technical specialists and graphics designers. Our team ethos extends to all aspects of our business. This enables us to retain dedicated and enthusiastic team members needed to provide you with the excellent service you expect.

Content Delivery Team
Having already invested in high capacity dual layer DVD-R and Blu-ray (BD-R) disc equipment we have expanded our duplication facility to include all forms of USB flash drives and flash memory cards such as SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) so we can offer a range alternative delivery methods to optical discs and ensure that we can continue to meet seemingly impossible deadlines, securely, across a wide range of media formats. Whatever the format, our services are always flexible and reliable. We offer practical solutions for business requirements today and into the future.

New Website - http://www.cdteam.co.uk/
By launching our NEW look brand in conjunction with a new website, designed specifically to provide the information you need quickly and easily, I believe this demonstrates our continued commitment to meet your needs and exceed your expectations every time you choose to use our products and services.

If you would like to talk to me, or a member of the team about finding the right content delivery solution for your business, please call today on 01491 636373 or visit our website and complete the new 'how can we help' form. If you have any feedback on our re-branding or the new website we are always interested to hear your views.

Author: Jo Fone, Managing Director

Calling all Blu-ray boffins...

There are some interesting advances going on in the world of Blu-ray technology so we thought we'd share them with you...

Blu-ray is no longer the preserve of games developers and the big film studios; independent publishers – even the smaller ones – are coming on board as well.  Already in the UK, Blu-ray accounts for 26% of 'District 9' disc sales, 23% of 'Terminator Salvation' sales and 22% of 'Inglourious Basterds' and ‘Star Trek 11.  The ever increasing size of data files for certain evidence data and the security sector is pushing the uptake of Blu-ray recordable drives and media into the professional non-entertainment markets too.  This was the same pattern for DVD in the early days with transition from CD to the next generation larger capacity format.



The forthcoming Blu-ray Disc Academy forum at Frankfurt on 19 May will be Europe’s first event showcasing 'live' advanced Blu-ray features and BD-Live applications that push the creative boundaries of the high-definition format, and how these can unlock commercial opportunities.  Such as a BD disc linking Internet-based social networks; a BD player communicating with WiFi-enabled smart devices; a pay-per-view video delivery service that lets users rent movies via their BD player; a low-cost ’out-of-the-box’ BD-Live content management solution with back office server; a copying software added to a Pure Audio Blu-ray service; an application which allows mobile phone users to send videos to any BD-Live-enabled BD player. Not to mention the arrival of 3D on Blu-ray.  There are also a few early examples of BD-live being used for business-to-business applications.

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has announced two new media specifications that use Blu-ray Disc technology.  These provide targeted functionality for commercial and consumer applications. The specifications for BDXL (High Capacity Recordable and Rewritable discs) and IH-BD (Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray Discs) are expected in the next few months.

 

The BDXL specification, targeted primarily at commercial segments such as broadcasting, medical and document imaging enterprises with significant archiving needs, will provide customers with write-once options on 100GB and 128GB capacity discs and rewritable capability on 100GB discs. The discs reach these capacities by incorporating three to four recordable layers. A consumer version of BDXL is also expected, particularly in those regions where BD recorders have achieved broad consumer acceptance.

 

Professional industries have expressed a desire to find optical disc solutions that enable them to transition away from magnetic media for their archiving needs.  The Blu-ray Disc Association Global Promotions Committee chair. "Leveraging Blu-ray Disc to meet this need provides professional enterprises with a compact, stable and long-term solution for archiving large amounts of sensitive data, video and graphic images using a proven and widely accepted optical technology."



The IH-BD incorporates a single BD-ROM layer and a single BD-RE layer so as to enable the user to view, but not overwrite, critical published data while providing the flexibility to include relevant personal data on the same physical disc. This allows for consumer specific applications where combining published content with related user data on a convenient, single volume is desirable. Both the ROM and the RE layers on IH-BD discs provide 25GB of capacity.



As both BDXL and IH-BD are specially designed formats with specific market segments in mind, newly designed hardware is required to play back or record BDXL or IH-BD media. However, because the new media specifications are extensions of current Blu-ray Disc technology, future BDXL and IH-BD devices can be designed to support existing 25GB and 50GB Blu-ray Discs.

Should you have any queries with regards to Blu-ray and how it could benefit you please call today on 01491 636373 or email our technical team on technical@cdteam.co.uk

Author: Alex Ashur, Technical Manager