Chris Kohler
Culture

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD in One Chip?

Could this be the inevitable end of the high-definition movie format war? Reuters reports that NEC announced this morning a hybrid chip that can power both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD: 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, […]

Nechybridchip_1

Could this be the inevitable end of the high-definition movie format war? Reuters reports that NEC announced this morning a hybrid chip that can power both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD:

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, the world's No. 8 chip maker said.

NEC Electronics targets monthly shipments of 300,000 during the business year starting April 2007.

Wouldn't it be great if electronics makers could just buy hybrid chips and sell movie players that accept both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD? I never really considered this as a possible endgame, but it's looking quite likely that the format war might actually turn out to be no war at all. Of course, this might seriously cripple both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as movie players if they each stick with just the one format.

Pic seems to have originated at Akihabara News.