Ricoh Finds Way To Read Both Blu-ray And HD DVD Formats

[Ian]

I must admit that I'm a bit surprised that Ricoh is working on this..

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews ... on=article

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Ricoh Co has developed a device that can read both the Blu-ray and HD DVD next-generation DVD formats, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

The newspaper, without identifying any sources, said Ricoh was aiming to commercialize this technology as soon as the end of next year.

Blu-ray uses a wider blue laser beam than HD DVD and records data at a distance of 0.1 mm from the surface, while HD DVD records at a distance of 0.6 mm.

Ricoh's new device overcomes these differences by optical means, the Nikkei said.

[dolphinius_rex]

Very cool!

[jjones]

Convergence of technology is good. We didn't have to choose between DVD-R and DVD+R. Fortunately we had drives that supported both formats. Hopefully it will be with the case of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

I remember way back when there was the convergence of HST and v.32bis modem technology in the USR Dual Standard. Eventually US Robotics abandoned HST and got bought out by 3COM.

Hopefully Blu-Ray won't go the way of betamax, minidisc and UMD.

[dolphinius_rex]

Hopefully Blu-Ray won't go the way of betamax, minidisc and UMD.

Sony itself would go under before BluRay would fail.

[[buck]]

The newspaper, without identifying any sources, said Ricoh was aiming to commercialize this technology as soon as the end of next year.

As soon as the end of next year!? Q4 2007!? That's a long way off!

[Ian]

Sony itself would go under before BluRay would fail.

Sony isn't doing so well these days. They've invested a lot of money in the PS3 and Blu-ray. If both fail... adios Sony.

[dolphinius_rex]

Sony itself would go under before BluRay would fail.

Sony isn't doing so well these days. They've invested a lot of money in the PS3 and Blu-ray. If both fail... adios Sony.

Yeah, I wasn't kidding when I said that... Sony WILL go under if BluRay tanks.

[Ian]

More info..

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/show ... =190300953

The component is a 3.5-mm diameter, 1-mm thick round diffraction plate with minute concentric groves on both sides which function as a diffraction grating.

The diffraction plate is placed between lasers and an objective lens. The diffraction grating is designed to adjust a light beam to an optimum incident ray relative to the objective lens so that light focuses on the proper position for each disk format.

The data layer of the Blu-ray Disc resides 0.1 mm from the disk's surface, while the HD-DVD data layer is 0.6-mm deep from the disk's surface, the same as DVD disks. CDs have a data layer depth of 1.1 mm from the disk surface.

Multiformat players and recorders can identify which format disk is loaded. Based on the disc information, Ricoh's optical diffraction component adjusts the laser beam with its diffraction grating for each format and passes it to the objective lens. The lens then forms a beam spot at the appropriate depth for each disk format.

This article says that Ricoh plans to offer it by the end of this year.

[Ian]

Some pics:

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-12 ... +2006.html

Can anyone read Japanese?

[aviationwiz]

Hopefully Blu-Ray won't go the way of betamax, minidisc and UMD.

Sony itself would go under before BluRay would fail.

Sony doesn't exactly have a good track record for media formats. Betamax went the way of the dodo, and so did the Minidisc (which sucked.)

The Universal Media Disc is anything but universal, and only works because that's what PSP games use. For movies, it's worthless, because you have to buy a $20 movie to watch *ONLY* on a tiny screen, where you can buy a DVD for the same price or less, and just do what you want with it.

Let's just say I don't have incredibly high hopes for Blu-Ray, but it looks like they may not have a whole lot to worry about with this advancement, since people would just buy universal players, as opposed to picking one over the other.

[dolphinius_rex]

Hopefully Blu-Ray won't go the way of betamax, minidisc and UMD.

Sony itself would go under before BluRay would fail.

Sony doesn't exactly have a good track record for media formats. Betamax went the way of the dodo, and so did the Minidisc (which sucked.)

The Universal Media Disc is anything but universal, and only works because that's what PSP games use. For movies, it's worthless, because you have to buy a $20 movie to watch *ONLY* on a tiny screen, where you can buy a DVD for the same price or less, and just do what you want with it.

Let's just say I don't have incredibly high hopes for Blu-Ray, but it looks like they may not have a whole lot to worry about with this advancement, since people would just buy universal players, as opposed to picking one over the other.

Sure, THOSE formats died.... but what about:

CD-R, DVD+R/RW, DVCam, HDCam, HDCamSR, and I *THINK* MiniDV is also their format.

All of these are WIDELY used in the world today (and MiniDisc, DID make it big in Japan, and was used widely in professional markets in both Canada and the US).

Sony just brings out TOO MANY formats

[vinnie97]

I have to give Sony credit for MD...they have expanded it and unlocked it the point that transfers to and from PC are less difficult and ATRAC is no longer required. As a recording medium, MD is hard to beat...and the editing features are unlike any other portable media solution (renaming, cutting, joining and rearranging trax all on the device).

It's a shame that Sony priced themselves out of competition with this format and kept it crippled for too long.