If You Can't Beat Them - Samsung Threatens To Join Them
The next generation of DVD, with greater capacity and higher definition, has been delayed by the bickering of the two camps: Blu-ray and HD DVD. Samsung, on the Blu-ray team, has announced that it will release a machine next year that will play both formats if the two rivals cannot figure out a way to unify.
Blu-ray claims it will hold up to 25GB in its single-layer version or 50GB in its dual-layer version, and can be used for movies, data storage, and even games for the upcoming Sony Playstation 3. HD DVD will come in 15GB (single-layer), 30GB (dual-layer) and 45GB (triple-layer, still under development) flavors; and claims, for its movie releases, to include a movie file that will be playable on today's players.
Joining Samsung in the Blu-ray camp are Sony, Panasonic and Philips. The HD DVD team includes Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo. Samsung has been known to support multiple standards in the past with cell phones and mobile video devices. The shorter wavelength blue lasers used in these two formats allow manufacturers to pack more data into the same space than the red lasers used in today's DVDs.