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Philips unveils DVD burner that plays CDs

By Reuters
Amsterdam, 04 Jan 2005
Philips Electronics unveiled an optical disk drive on Monday for use in computers that can burn and play CDs and DVDs in three formats, including the new Blu-ray standard.

The drive, to be presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week and to be available in the second half of 2005, comes as electronics giants jockey for support of their new DVD systems.

Many film studios had expected that Blue-ray would not hit the market until 2006.

The Dutch company, together with a group of other powerful electronics makers including Sony, HP and Dell, is proposing the Blu-ray format which can store up to 50 Gigabytes of data on a disc.

This level of storage allows film publishers to put a full-length movie in the high-definition format on one disc.

Another group led by Toshiba and Sanyo Electric proposes the HD (high definition) DVD standard they have developed. That technology has less storage, but the inventors say it is cheaper and will be ready soon.

Some film studios have already come out in support of specific formats. Disney and Sony Pictures back Blu-ray while Warner-Bros, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures give support to HD DVD. The support given by the studios, however, is not exclusive and the format battle is still seen undecided.

The new Philips drive has three lasers, including Blu-ray`s blue laser which has a shorter wavelength than current red lasers, allowing for a thinner light beam that can read and write smaller bits of information on a disc.

Philips is the world`s biggest lighting maker, a top three hospital equipment maker, Europe`s biggest consumer electronics producer and the region`s number three in semiconductors.

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