Ricoh's new part brings HD-DVD Blu-ray closer

CNET ^ | July 10, 2006 9:17 AM PDT | Michael Kanellos

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Ricoh, the Japanese electronics giant, has come up with a component that will let manufacturers built drives that read and record both HD-DVD discs and Blu-ray discs, potentially brining some peace to the disc wars.

Ricoh will show the device at the International Optoelectronics Exhibition '06 near Tokyo, which takes place near Tokyo on July 12-14, according to EE Times. The company will start selling it to manufacturers by the end of the year.

The part in question is a diffraction plate. Say what? It basically sits between the laser and the lens and adjusts the light beam so that it focuses on the proper portion of the disk. Reading both formats isn't easy. The data layer of the Blu-ray Disc resides 0.1 mm from the surface, while the HD-DVD data layer is 0.6-mm deep. Both standards will sport multiple layer discs too.

The HD-DVD/Blu-ray battle has consumers up in arms. People are afraid of buying a player based on either standard because they are afraid it will become obsolete in a few years. And the decision is far more difficult than the Betamax-VCR decision because it affects more components. Not only do you have to worry about what player---HD-DVD or Blu-ray--to buy for your TV, you have to consider the issue when buying a PC.

Having a common component does help make it a little easier for manufacturers to come out with a player that can read both standards. Still, a minefield remains. Negotiations for unity broke down last year in acrimony, according to sources, and its hard to say if the leaders of the different standards (Sony, Philips, et. al. for Blu-ray; Microsoft, Toshiba and Intel for HD-DVD) are in a mood to talk right now. The Blu-ray backers stand to gain millions in royalties if their standard becomes dominant and HD-DVD backers likely stand to lose potential royalties too. Engineering pride also mixes into the equation. Legal and technical issues will need to be ironed out.

It's really the Israel-Palestine of consumer electronics.

Posted by Michael Kanellos

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Posted earlier:

Japan's Ricoh finds way of reading both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats - report

Not sure whether it can handle the TDK 8 layer 200 Gigabyte disc.

[Gay State Conservative]

Went to Best Buy the other day and almost pulled the trigger on HD DVD.I also saw the Blue Ray,but there's no way I pay $1000 for one.

If they come out with a combo player that's decently priced I'll probably go with it.Titles available will also be important to me.

[Echo Talon]

sheesh, do you have stock in blu-ray or something? :D

[TommyDale]

"If they come out with a combo player that's decently priced..."

Call me when they get below $40 like the current DVD burners.

[Publius6961]

The HD-DVD/Blu-ray battle has consumers up in arms.

Not this consumer...

I am happily exploring my DVD recorder that satisfies all my needs for the next few years.
They can sort things out in the meantime.

Does not affect me in the slightest.

[A CA Guy]

Doesn't make any sense, you throw a 480P disk into an up scaling DVD player and with the movies you get darn close to HD now.

I think it is just a new thing they are trying to sell you that will have lots of security stuff more so in it for them to make all the prior hardware you paid thousands for garbage.

I'm not getting the stuff.

[Gay State Conservative]

Doesn't make any sense, you throw a 480P disk into an up scaling DVD player and with the movies you get darn close to HD now.

Agreed.The picture quality I get with my standard DVD player and Sony HDTV is pretty close to breathtaking.But not quite as good as some of the stuff you see on,for example,Discovery HD.Some of the nature programs shown in HD are absolutely astounding,IMO.

If the price is right,I may well be willing to spring for that small improvement in picture...particularly if National Geographic starts releasing HD-DVD's.

[A CA Guy]

Keep in mind the Discovery channel was recorded with HD cameras and IMO the movie Business will never go that way because it would look to live to seem like a movie anymore.

The quality I get with my LST-3510A playing DVD with a projector onto 13 feet of wall is far superior to the picture I can get in the actual movies.

[HAL9000]

Doesn't make any sense, you throw a 480P disk into an up scaling DVD player and with the movies you get darn close to HD now.

Is your set's native resolution 720P, 1080i or 1080P?

I suspect that scaling 480P to 1080P would show some noticeable artifacts, compared to a native 1080P signal. But I haven't tested that theory yet.

[A CA Guy]

I go from the 480P dvd disk to 720P and it is spectacular surpassing by far what I see in the theaters.

I view the stuff with a projector making a 13 foot wide picture.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

No , but I do like the 200 Gigabyte bluray disk that is somewhere out there in the fur\ture.....archival quality storage....is what TDK is claiming....

[Dinsdale]

I would like to remind all freepers that SONY corp, the backers of Beta-ray, is the same bunch of criminals that shipped millions of audio CDs infected with computer damaging software that automatically installed itself on PCs.

Until and unless the executives at Sony and Sony USA are held criminally responsible for this I will never send another penny to SONY or any affiliate of SONY.

I recommend all freepers adopt the same policy.

[HAL9000]

I view the stuff with a projector making a 13 foot wide picture.

Sounds like a nice system.

I'm waiting on Samsung's forthcoming 1080p DLP sets with LED illumination and no wobbulation. It should be a nice display for a Mac mini with Blu-ray disc drive.

[A CA Guy]

I was a great shopper, my whole system including the sound stuff costs less that most people's big screen TVs.

[Echo Talon]

No , but I do like the 200 Gigabyte bluray disk that is somewhere out there in the fur\ture

that would be nice.. I'll wait and see what the alternatives are.. :)

[Varda]

I did pull the trigger on a HD-DVD player. Very satisfied and am enjoying my SD-DVD & CD collection more than ever. I consider the HD movies a fabulous extra. I probably wouldn't have done it if my DVD player was still working.