NEC Ships Blu-ray / HD-DVD Hybrid Chip

NEC Ships Blu-ray / HD-DVD Hybrid Chip
Marcus Yam - October 10, 2006 10:39 PM
Hybrid players due early next year

With no foreseeable happy ending to the HD-DVD/Blu-ray format war, NEC has
done us all a favor today by shipping a chip that is compatible with both
formats.

According to Reuters, "the chips go on sale for 10,000 yen ($84), roughly
the same price as NEC Electronics' chips which read only Blu-ray or only
HD DVD formats." Players incorporating the new chip will be available
sometime early 2007, reports AkibaNews.

While we now have silicon to rule both formats, the optical pick-up lens
capable of reading both HD-DVD and Blu-ray is still currently in
development. Until such a hybrid pick-up becomes reality, dual-players
must utilize two separate lenses, which no doubt drives up costs.

A NEC spokesperson commented that a hybrid chip and optical pick-up would
likely make up more than half of the cost of a player.

Developments to bridge the gap between the two warring formats isn't
exclusive to hardware. Warner recently filed a patent outlining plans of a
hybrid-disc that will be compatible with both HD-DVD and Blu-ray by means
of layering one format on top of the other.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4492

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