Future PCs will be able to burn and play CDs, DVDs or new high-definition Blu-ray blue discs thanks to a new triple-standard drive. Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, the new drive from Philips of the Netherlands has separate infrared (CD), red (DVD) and blue lasers. The drive’s built-in software simply detects the type of disc in the tray and switches on the appropriate laser.
At a show where Blu-ray seemed to be increasingly gaining the upper hand over the rival HD-DVD format from Toshiba, Japanese company JVC also showed a new Blu-ray-based multi-purpose disc, which could mean movie studios will only need to put one disc in the shops when high-definition movie discs go on sale later this year.
JVC’s Blu-ray disc has three recording layers. The top layer stores 25 gigabytes of high-definition TV (HDTV) data, which is read by a blue laser. But underneath there are two more layers, just like the two layers on today’s DVDs, which together hold 8.5 gigabytes of data and are read by a red laser. So the same disc will be able to play either on a DVD player, or with high definition on a Blu-ray player. JVC’s technical trick is to separate the Blu-ray and DVD layers with a semi-reflective film, like a two-way spying mirror, which reflects blue light but allows red light through to the DVD layers underneath.
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Toshiba’s rival blue laser HDTV system, called HD-DVD, also promises dual-purpose discs, but its high-definition storage capacity is lower at 15 gigabytes, and its DVD capacity is just 4.7 gigabytes.
