Now this is the sort of news that really makes me happy! The end user has been unsure for a while now about how much support will be available for the new next generation formats such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD. But after reading this press release at the Europapress website things are looking to be heading in the right direction. Things are looking so good that the new chipset to support all formats in a DVD playback device has been achnowledged by reaching the final for an award for Innovation.
"Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today that its AT78C4050 AFDVD(TM) (All-Format DVD) system-on-chip is a finalist in the ASSP and SoC category of EDN Magazine's Annual Innovation of the Year Award. Atmel's highly-integrated chip bridges the gap between the contending Blu-Ray and HD-DVD blue-laser-based optical disc formats by supporting both.
Atmel's AT78C4050 "All Format DVD" (AFDVD) system-on-chip is the first DVD front-end device that integrates PRML data channel, DVD ECC, CD CIRC C3, buffer management, DVD CD 1.7PP, EFM+, EFM Endec and ATAPI interface logic all on a single chip. The AT78C4050 is Atmel's high-integration, high-performance single-chip solution for DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW and next-generation DVD products for both formats of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, in addition to being backward compatible with all existing red laser formats. It integrates all required components for a DVD and CD rewritable drive as well as DVD recorder. "
This of course is great news for the end user and we await more information on products that may use this type of technology and their cost to the end user. Please head over Here for the full story.
Tuesday 7th at 17:17 
Tuesday 7th at 17:17 
