Internet reports say Samsung will be the first to market with a “universal” player that will be able to play both pending HDTV disc formats – HD-DVD and Blu-ray. The first “universal” players came on the market during the lose-lose format battle between DVD-Audio and SACD. Prices and release dates for the new players aren’t readily available but might become public after the upcoming CEDIA trade show.

PCWorld.com is reporting that Toshiba, the company most pushing for success of the HD-DVD video disc format, has said they plan to delay the U.S. consumer launch of the product. This news comes as the competing HDTV disc format, Blu-ray, gains Hollywood and Silicon Valley momentum.

Toshiba, one of the leading forces behind the HD-DVD movement, announced on a recent road show just how they plan to get High Definition video from an HD-DVD disc to your starving HDTV set. High res signal will officially flow through the easy to use HDMI cable while the analog outs will be downconverted to traditional, non-HD 480i.

NEC Corporation has just announced development of technology capable of recording and playing back both current DVDs and next generation DVDs (HD DVD - High Definition & High Density DVD) with a single optical head. With the spread of high-resolution digital images, big-screen displays, and the start of terrestrial digital TV broadcasting it is anticipated that the need for integration of high-resolution content into DVDs in the home and PCs will grow. As current DVD software has spread rapidly the need for compatibility with current DVDs is an important consideration factor. To date challenges have included the need for two optical heads to develop a device that can play/record both current and next generation DVDs. Success in creating a device with a single optical head enables production of smaller and thinner HD DVDs at a lower cost. Through this research NEC has realized a HD DVD device with a single optical head that is ...