Welcoming Sony NEC Optiarc Inc. as a new member, JRT Seminar Report,
CeBIT 2006 Report, India Seminar Report,
Introduction of New DVD Recorder from Sony, Special Lecture by Giga-Stream, Inc

The 36th RWPPI General Meeting was held on April 28, 2006 at the head office of Pioneer Corporation in Meguro (Tokyo).

The meeting started off with the speech by the RWPPI Representative, Mr. Aizawa. He said that DVD drives and recorders are now well acknowledged by the common users, and the product format issues are nearly gone. Time has come where the red laser format propaganda is nearing to an end. However, from the technical side, there are still higher recording speed standards coming, where more and more compatibility tests will become even more active than now. Furthermore, for the newly rising markets, I look forward to continued efforts in appealing the convenience of DVD-R and DVD-RW products. He ended the speech emphasizing to always bear in mind to promote worldwide by keeping the spirit of being in the user’s position, to be help make it beneficial for them.

Next, Mr. Fuse introduced the new member company Sony NEC Optiarc Inc. The company was established in April 3rd jointly by Sony and NEC for the optical disc drive business.
Shares are owned 55% by Sony Corporation and 45% by NEC Corporation. Although it is still a newly established company, Mr. Fuse expressed his strong ambitions in contributing to RWPPI activities such as the Round Robin Tests.

In continuation, the Report of "CeBIT 2006" held in Hanover, Germany from March 9-15, 2006 was made by the RWPPI Secretariat. Latest DVD-RW/R related product and discs displays, technical trends, and easy use of these products was appealing made. In addition, of the 6,262 visitors, a questionnaire survey and collection was also conducted, making the show in total a great success. Furthermore, plans to exhibit at "SINOCES" in July at Qingdao, China were made. It was then followed by the "DVD-R DV Seminar" report held on April 7th in New Delhi at the "Disc Tech Expo 2006," appealing on the RWPPI activities, and focusing on the Round Robin Test report. As the latest report, the JRT results report of the industry's largest DVD products compatibility testing group jointly with the RDVDC and RWPPI was held at the Tokyo Yaesu Hall on April 21st.

This was then followed by the annual RWPPI Members' Questionnaire Survey results summary report by Mr. Shimbo of Ongen Publishing Co., Ltd. The satisfaction level of RWPPI activities was quite high overall, reported to be continuously increasing over the previous years.

From the new products introduction corner this time, Sony's new recorder "RDZ-D97A" was made by Mr. Kinoshita, the Strategic Manager of the TV and Video Products Planning Division with actual demonstration and comprehensive explanations of its characteristics were presented. He stressed that "the recorder should not be just for recording purposes, but should be able to transcend data within the entire household, where the importance for easy access is also increasing in demand." Free real time "mobile phone timer recording" function possibility; visual sound analysis to variably adjust viewing time capability with "digest playback" function; and interconnection compatibility with DLNA and PSP to meet various user needs as the ultimate product was appealing made to the members.