Leviathan wrote:Off-topic : Thanks for having shared the above Resource, Razorpig, but I assume it must not have been that convincing since I cannot cease thinking that Samsung® could engineer such an Hybrid Optical Device in case the Confrontation currently opposing both the "HD-DVD" and "Blu-Ray" Massive Storage Discs wasn't dropped out, and that's why I prefer avoiding to pay attention to such Affirmative Articles. Furthermore, I can't believe that Blu-Ray Discs Player / Burner having been publicly proposed so far cost only about 400~500 USD, since I have heard about first Generation-ones being sold for more than 1000 USD, while reminding that such Devices will be generated though three different Generations, each of them bringing additional features towards the aimed Products, increasing so their respective Prices...
Oh, Samsung COULD engineer a dual format drive, however I believe they would wait to do that until such time as there are more of them on the market. Currently, I have seen an abundance of Blu-ray players (for home entertainment use), with only a few different models of HD-DVD. As far as computers go, I have only seen one computer manufacturer building with Blu-ray drives. (That being Alienware).
Until such time as the popularity of "next-gen" dvd drives becomes more prevalent, I think you will see more and more people taking sides in this format war. Much like the war between DVD +R, and DVD -R, (and to a lesser extent DVD RAM), NOONE created a multi-format drive until there were enough of these drives in peoples homes to warrant it.
The differences between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are many. The fabrication process for each type of disc is RADICALLY different, as well as the optical pickup assemblies of the drives themselves. There are few manufacturers who would be willing (at this time) to sink money into a drive that would be capable of reading both formats. I only know of one manufacturer who has stated definitively that they WILL create a hybrid drive (LG - Lucky Goldstar), but even then, I'm almost positive it will be a second generation drive, and probably 6 months to a year away at the minimum.
This isn't to say that other manufacturers (including Samsung) wouldn't create hybrid drives, BUT they have put so much money into the individual formats right now, that it doesn't make sense from a fiscal standpoint to start investing money in a competing product until they have seen some sort of monetary return from their current investment.
Don't plan on seeing any hybrid drives any time soon. You will see them, but not for quite some time. Unlike the previous format war (DVD +/-),
this format war is being driven by movie studios who have a hand in the formats because of content, and encryption, as well as the manufacturers themselves. Last time around, it was just due to the equipment manufacturers themselves.
We will definitely see a difference in these products for quite some time, until a clear "victor" can be named in the war of formats, and the price of manufacturing both the media and the drives to display the media come down in price enough that one or more of these players is found in every home. Until then, we will have to pick and choose whatever format is right for us. Hybrid players (if they DO come out anytime soon) will be prohibitively expensive - yet another reason why manufacturers most likely will not mass produce them.
Personally, while I dislike Sony, I do think that the Blu-Ray appears to be the better of the 2 formats, with much larger storage capabilities, and much higher read speeds. In the next generation of video games, I would love to see these new capabilities exploited to their fullest to create some truly amazing looking video games. Here's hoping that the next Generation games look photo-realistic, with full Hollywood production values that rival the movies for Special effects, Story, and Gameplay. If that happens, then we ALL win the format wars....
