Philips Demonstrates its Blu-ray Disc PC drive capable of reading and writing on CD, DVD and Blu-ray Discs

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Philips Electronics, a world leader in optical storage and a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, will be revealing its prototype all-in-one PC writer that reads and writes CD, DVD and Blu-ray Discs. The demonstration will be held on the Philips booth #9004 at the CES 2005 exhibition. The introduction of this unique all-in-one PC writer is scheduled for the second half of 2005.

The PC drive utilizes Philips' latest compact OPU81 triple-laser optical pick-up unit in which separate infra-red, red and blue lasers share the same optical pathway to provide Blu-ray Disc read/write capabilities as well as read/write compatibility with DVD and CD. This compact optical pick-up unit is based on a flexible architecture, allowing future speed improvements to be easily and cost-effectively implemented.

"With the introduction of this new product concept we have created the ultimate consumer product" said Cor Saris , CEO of Philips Optical Storage. " Combining the success of CD and DVD Recording with the BluRay Recording formats into one PC writer will accelerate the acceptance of this new format in the PC and Consumer market."

Blu-ray Disc is the most advanced new optical storage standard that will satisfy all next-generation requirements in terms of storage capacity, data speeds, copy protection, interactivity, convenience and cost. As consumers worldwide gain access to high-definition TV (HDTV) through cable, satellite and terrestrial channels, they are not going to be satisfied with less than equal quality in their video recordings. Blu-ray Disc is the only format with the capacity of 25 Gbytes on a single-layer disc and 50 Gbytes on a dual layer disc, to offer full-length feature movie playback using high-definition MPEG2 encoding - the native compression technique for HDTV broadcasts - or even more with advanced codecs, like AVC. In addition, for pre-recorded packaged media, Blu-ray Disc has sufficient capacity to include bonus materials and interactive sessions for an unparalleled entertainment experience. For PC users archiving photographs or video and other data on the hard disk, Blu-ray Disc is the only recordable/re-writable format that provides such a quantum leap in optical storage capacity and gives a seamless experience between PC and CE environments.

Philips is yet again at the forefront of supporting the establishment of Blu-ray Disc as the ultimate long-lasting standard that will take the industry forward in a quantum leap instead of a succession of incremental and consumer confusing steps.

Promoted by the world's leading consumer electronics, PC, disc replication manufacturers and movie studios, the global standardization activity for Blu-ray Disc has already attracted a total membership of more than 90 companies to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). The BDA includes companies from every part of the value chain in high quality video and multi-media delivery.

More information:

Philips Optical Storage
Hans Driessen
Tel.: +31.40.2746692
Fax: +31.40.2744947
E-mail: hans.driessen@philips.com