AfterDawn: News

Ricoh component is key to HD DVD / Blu-ray combo players

Japanese electronics giant Ricoh has developed a component that could bring the prospect of HD DVD and Blu-Ray compatible hardware being developed by manufacturers to life. The component in question is a diffraction plate. The component sits between the laser and the lens and adjusts the light beam so it focuses on the proper potion of the disc. The company claims it will allow both reading and writing to the disc formats.

The data layer on a Blu-ray disc resides 0.1 mm from the surface, whereas HD DVD's data layer is 0.6-mm deep. "This diffraction device is the first one that is ready for four formats, including BD and HD-DVD," claimed a Ricoh spokesman. "It will make it possible to build players and recorders ready for all formats, which will benefit consumers,"



Indeed it would benefit consumers, as the format war has put most consumers off the idea of investing in either HD DVD or Blu-ray due to fears the hardware will be obsolete in the near future. The war could be much worse than the VHS-Betamax situation, as with HD DVD and Blu-ray, you don't just keep movies in mind, you have to consider the issue even when buying a PC.

Ricoh will show the optical device at the International Optoelectronics Exhibition '06 outside Tokyo on July 12-14. The company intends to offer the device to OEMs by year's end.

Source:
EE Times

Written by: James Delahunty @ 10 Jul 2006 20:46

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• 20 comments

• ZippyDSM

  Oooo this is neat if they can get the tech out not try and make a killing ff it then the format wars will brought down to just a squableing couple insted of waring rivails *L*

  10.7.2006 23:27 #1

• GrayArea

  Hey, I know, how about they settle on ONE HD disc standard?
  
  Dipwads...

  11.7.2006 08:27 #2

• Dela

  Few answers.... Money, Money, Money, Greed, Arrogance, Ego - you get the idea.

  11.7.2006 08:47 #3

• ofolion

  I knew this would happen!! I've been saying this since they started talking about the "format war"!!
  
  Just goes to show: i'm always right lol. No but seriously its pretty obvious move for a company to make... it would of happened sooner or later

  11.7.2006 08:56 #4

• ZippyDSM

  heres a stupid question if hollywood realy wanted to stop piracy why not make one standard non PC make blue ray a player only much like how nintendo devolped thier GC disc.
  
  

  11.7.2006 09:03 #5

• wolf123

  I was tsaying someone should put the two lasers in one drive in another forum.
  
  I'm not worried about which format is going too win but what happens when the next gen comes out they already announced it the holographic dvd then what happens everyone dumps all the the ones before.

  11.7.2006 09:19 #6

• jutsu

  eek! these high capacity and high density Disc make me worry.
  CD-R when scratched, still can be read veary good
  DVD-R when scratched, can be read slooowly
  
  so with HD-DVD and bluray high data density, i think when it get strached, the data will be VERY HARD TO READ. not good.

  11.7.2006 18:15 #7

• JRHacker

  actually i read some where that the blue ray discs will have a new coating that will make them very hard to scratch

  11.7.2006 22:11 #8

• damo_red

  the side which offers the best scratch resistance wins my vote. blank DVD scratch very very easily and its stupid.
  
  i have always back HD dvd from day one, reading that blue ray may have a better protection layer may just swing it for me.

  12.7.2006 01:41 #9

• mystic

  hey its like when they came out with the cd/dvd combo drives it took them a few trys to get it to work right now its common place most people I know us dvd dual layer writers and they burn their cds and dvds just fine so if all they need to do is bend the light then let them, the best part is if someone releases the drive capable of running both not only will the war be over the prices will drop quicker... because you'll have the option of a blue-ray or hd dvd or the combo drive (which will smoke the rest in sales)my question will come if I have the new combo drive will i finally be able to run my playstation games or xbox games on the computer?

  12.7.2006 05:38 #10

• Ankoku

  @jutsu
  There is a company that came up with the idea of extra protection for dvd and cds, Should the hd/bluray dvds have that problem you can always go out and buy d_skin's Glad to hear that this is a possibility as well :-) you can always count on the techies to solve a crisis, and make a lil money on the side. Peace

  12.7.2006 20:25 #11

• ZippyDSM

  poo to d skin I still the cartridge design the msot,you dont have to worry about smudges or scratchs,its almost a shame thy wont use a slim design for the case/cartridge they can halve the size of it almost.
  
  mystic
  "my question will come if I have the new combo drive will i finally be able to run my playstation games or xbox games on the computer?"
  If your question is if you can read/copy the discs the simple answer is yes(long answer is if they use tricky copy protection then it will take soem tiem for it to be cracked).
  
  EMluation is required in order to paly them on the PC and the PS2 is not even fully emulated yet *L*
  speaking of whitch I see why sony made "hardware" emluation for the PS2 in the PS3god forbid they lose use game sales if they made a software emu for linux *L*

  12.7.2006 21:25 #12

• mystic

  thanks ZippyDSm for the answer with all the new dvd options blue-ray and hd dvd has anyone heard if apple was making a stand on either side of this war? with their daul core system being able to run tiger(work) and xp(games) you'd think they would want to be the first to release the dual formate combo drives in their system and they would be able to carve a nice place in eveyones home and office..

  13.7.2006 06:12 #13

• flyingv

  I have tried these "D skins" and not had much luck with them. I thought they would be a great idea, but they will not work in several of my devices. Blu-ray has a silicon based surface which makes is extremely resistant to getting scratched, but it's not scratch-proof.

  13.7.2006 14:29 #14

• sundance

  Interesting, since the data layer on the HD-DVD is .5 mm deeper than on the Blu-ray disks, I would think the disks will be much more durable.

  13.7.2006 15:08 #15

• ZippyDSM

  flyingv
  D skin is tricky ,it has to bond well otherwise it wontwork quite right I use them on my cheap reitek DL DVDs I palce them on after I burn them and for the msot part they are all readable.
  best bet to try and get them to bond well is one you get them on the disc take a que tip ad help press it on it might help,altho I wonder even if bonded well will weaker lens be able to still read it 0-o
  you ask me the cartridge design is turely the ebst a slim ase design about the size or smaller of a slim CD case it could realy work and it would save use fromhaveing to make a ton of backups but then once you take into conseriation that they want to sell backup stuff and then complain about thier preious stuff being backed up..it never ends....

  13.7.2006 16:16 #16

• nchantim

  Cartridges for DVDs would have been nice, but the extra few cents per disc would have been too expensive for the consumer who's paying not nearly enough. Plus, there would have been less chance for selling replacement DVDs for ones that get damaged.

  14.7.2006 04:26 #17

• ZippyDSM

  nchantim
  I know on one hand they would stop some copying with the cart design,and on the other they would lose sale of copying stuff as well as not selling as many "repalcements"
  
  since they the coperations wont do anythign about it I wish they would stop whineing about it *L*

  14.7.2006 09:49 #18

• wolf123

  15.7.2006 10:40 #19

• flyingv

  ZIppyDSM:
  Thanks, I'll try this. I have 3 kids and you can only imagine what kind of torture they can inflict on DVD's and games. They are the primary reason I decided to give them, D-Skins, a try. You're right about the "cartridge design". I like the way they designed the PSP games enclosed in a "case". My 11 year son just got a PSP and I was checking out the way the games were made. I like that concept.
  

  
  "...Just another brick in the wall" -Pink Floyd.
  Please, don't become another "Brick!!!"
  

  17.7.2006 08:23 #20