Ricoh develops a laser compatible with both Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats

Ricoh develops a laser compatible with both Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats

Samsung has denied plans to develop a hybrid next generation player, which would support both HD DVD and Blu-Ray format. However, there is still hope.

Ricoh has claimed that they have developed a single laser that is able to read discs in either format. The company said that this new component would be able to read and write to Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD and CD with one pickup and one objective lens.

They plan to show this new product at the upcoming International Optoelectronics Exhibition ‘06 in Japan. Ricoh added that they are certain that this technology will “make it possible to build players and recorders for all formats which benefits consumers”.

The competition between the two formats developed by rivals Sony and Toshiba has put the consumers in a difficult position. Both the groups have some strong partners and with no particular format emerging as the winner yet, a lot of potential buyers of these drives are waiting for the winner to emerge.