New laser reads both HD formats

[ericl]

via Engadget (http://www.engadget.com), it appears that Ricoh has developed a single laser that can recognize any format disc and adjust to read that particular type of disc..

keep reading.. (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/09/new-lasers-from-ricoh-read-both-hd-dvd-and-blu-ray/)

[nightflier]

Well it was about time.

[Woochifer]

That sure didn't take long. Samsung announced that they were developing a dual-format laser only last year. Couple that with the chipsets from Broadcom (and presumably others as well) already capable of processing both Blu-ray and HD-DVD signals, and it looks like this format war could very well dissipate before it even begins. At the rate that Sony, Pioneer, and Panasonic have gone about introducing their Blu-ray players, the universal players might start appearing before most of the first production Blu-ray players have been sold.

[nightflier]

I was sort of saying that is was about time sarcastically.

In any case even a dual-format player better become available soon if they don't want to be taken over by on-demand services that are now appearing from all the major cable providers.