Hitachi-LG Data Storage Develop the Industry's First 4x Blu-ray Disc Drive

Business Wire, July 25, 2006

TOKYO -- Hitachi-LG Data Storage (under CEO Kazuya Hori) has developed the half-height Blu-ray disc drive GBW-H10N for built-in use in PCs that achieves 4x high-speed recording for the first time in the industry. Production is slated to begin in late July 2006.

This product or so-called super-multi Blu-ray disc drive can record and play back Blu-ray format discs BD-R and BD-RE, play back BD-ROM, record and play back all-format DVDs (DVD-RAM/R/RW, R/RW), as well as CD-R and CD-RW, and play back DVD-ROM and CD-ROM.

--  Outline of 4x Blu-ray Disc Recording Drive "Super Multi Blue
    GBW-H10N"

        Product                  Model           Shipping    Remarks
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Blu-ray disc drive       GBW-H10N                             OEM
for built-in use in PCs  (with ATAPI interface)  July 2006  product

The GBW-H10N can record and play back 25GB large-capacity Blu-ray discs BD-R and BD-RE suitable for storing high-quality images. For BD-R in particular, this product achieves quadrupled data transfer speed as fast as 144 Mbps for the first time in the industry. Video data saved on a HDD can be transferred to a disc and a large volume of data backed up in a short time. Moreover, the BD-RE 2x recording speed is realized as the currently highest speed in the industry.

Also for DVD/CD other than Blu-ray discs, the GBW-H10N provides recording and playback functions similar to those of the HLDS conventional super-multi disc drive. Only with this drive can you enjoy 12 types of BD/DVD/CD discs.

By combining the technologies of affiliates, HLDS commercialized the product through comprehensive development starting from key components to the final end product. To support BD/DVD/CD in particular, HLDS newly developed a highly functional optical head and a DSP (1) capable of high-level signal processing in support of various recording formats. In addition to these key components, the LD driver with write strategy, buffer underrun error prevention, and many other technologies accumulated in conventional super-multi drive development were adopted to ensure very stable recording and playback.

(1) Digital Signal Processor (DSP): A digital integrated circuit for controlling recording and playback

The main technologies developed and employed to realize this drive are as follows:

--  4x High-speed Recording (Blu-ray Disc)
        Laser driver IC for data transfer speed as fast as 144 Mbps
        was developed, with a high-output blue laser to accommodate
        the quadrupled speed employed, and the write-strategy
        optimized to realize 4x recording on BD-R (SL). Thus, the
        recording time is reduced by half of that of 2x recording.

    --  CAV High-speed Playback Up to 4.8x (Blu-ray Disc)
        The adaptive equalization and adaptive Viterbi decoding of
        high-speed playback signals achieves low-error playback. As a
        result, BD-ROM and BD-R (closed disc) can be played back using
        4.8x CAV even faster than recording.

    --  Highly functional Pickup and DSP
        The recording and playback of various discs were realized by
        developing a new single-lens 3LD pickup capable of recording
        and playing BD, DVD, and CD and a new highly integrated,
        highly functional DSP that integrates conventional DVD and CD
        signal processing, as well as BD signal processing.

ABOUT HITACHI-LG DATA STORAGE, INC.

Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc. is a joint company of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) and LG Electronics, Inc. that started its business in January 2001. We develop and sell optical data storage disc drives for PC OEM and keep top share in the world. Our main products are DVD writable drives, DVD-ROM drives, CD-RW drives, CD-ROM drives and its combination drives. Development sites are located in Tokyo (Japan) and in Pyungtaik (Korea).

--  COMPANY PROFILE

Company Name                 : Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc.
Established                  : November 22, 2000 (business started on
                                January 1, 2001)
Head office Location         : 4F MSC Center Building
                               22-23 Kaigan 3-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
                                108-0022 Japan
Phone                        :  81-3-5427-8600
Representative Director, CEO : Kazuya Hori
Capital Stock                : JPY 1,500M

Main Specifications

1.  Interface                  ATAPI (Enhanced IDE Interface)

 2.  Buffer Memory Size         4Mbytes

 3.  Recording Speed     BD     BD-R       SL      4x
                                BD-RE      SL      2x
                         DVD    DVD-R      SL      Max. 12x PCAV
                                           DL      4x
                                DVD-RW             6x
                                DVD-RAM            3-5x (PCAV)
                          R/RW   R         SL      Max. 12x PCAV
                                           DL      4x
                                 RW                8x (ZCLV)
                         CD     CD-R               8x
                                CD-RW              10x

 4.  Reading Speed       BD     BD-R       SL      Max. 4.8x
                                BD-RE      SL      2x
                                BD-ROM     SL      Max. 4.8x
                                           DL      Max. 4x
                         DVD    DVD-ROM    SL      Max. 16x
                                           DL      Max. 8x
                                DVD-R      SL      Max. 10x
                                           DL      Max. 8x
                                DVD-RW             Max. 10x
                                DVD-RAM            3-5x (PCAV)
                          R/RW   R         SL      Max. 10x
                                           DL      Max. 8x
                                 RW                Max. 10x
                         CD     CD-ROM/R           Max. 40x
                                CD-RW              Max. 40x

 5.  Reading Disc Type   BD     BD-ROM  (SL 25GB), (DL 50GB)
                                BD-R    (SL 25GB) (Ver.1.1)
                                BD-RE   (SL 25GB) (Ver.2.1)
                         DVD    DVD-ROM
                                DVD-R(Ver. 2.1 for General), DVD-R
                                 DL(Dual Layer),
                                DVD-RW, DVD-RAM(Ver.2.2),
                          R/RW  DVD R, DVD R DL(Double Layer), DVD RW
                         CD     CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, Video CD,
                                 CD-Extra,
                                CD-TEXT
                                Photo CD, CD-DA, Super Audio CD,
                                CD-R, CD-RW

 6.  Recording Disc Type BD     BD-R (SL 25GB) (Ver.1.1)
                                BD-RE(SL 25GB) (Ver.2.1)
                         DVD    DVD-R SL 1.46GB/4.7GB (Ver. 2.1 for
                                    General)
                                      DL 8.5GB (Ver. 3.0)
                                DVD-RW  1.46GB/4.7GB (Ver. 1.2/ Rev
                                 1.0, 2.0, 3.0)
                                DVD-RAM 1.46GB/side, 4.7GB/side
                                 (Ver.2.2)
                          R/RW  DVD R SL 4.7GB (Ver. 1.3)
                                      DL 8.5GB (Ver. 1.1)
                                DVD RW   4.7GB (Vol. 1/Ver.1.3,
                                 Vol. 2/Ver.1.0)
                         CD     CD-R  discs conforming to "Orange Book
                                 Part 2"
                                CD-RW discs conforming to "Orange Book
                                 Part 3"

 7.  Recording mode      BD     BD-R: Sequential Recording Mode
                                       with Pseudo-Overwrite
                                     Sequential Recording Mode without
                                     Pseudo-Overwrite
                                BD-RE: Random Recording
                         DVD    DVD-R: Disc-At-Once, Incremental
                                 Recording
                                DVD-R DL: Disc at Once, Incremental
                                           Recording,
                                          Layer Jump Recording
                                DVD-RW  : Disc-At-Once, Incremental
                                           Recording
                                          Restricted Overwrite
                                DVD-RAM : Random Recording
                          R/RW  DVD R   : Sequential Recording
                                DVD R DL: Sequential Recording
                                DVD RW  : Random Recording
                         CD     CD-R/RW : Disc-At-Once, Track-At-Once,
                                           Session-At-Once, Packet
                                           Write

 8.  Installation               Horizontal, Vertical

 9.  Power Requirement          DC  5V,  12V

10.  Dimension                  146 (W) x 200(D) x 41.3(H) mm(w/o
                                 Bezel)

11.  Weight                     Approx. 970g