Lens That Writes on Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray

morpheus83 writes "Ricoh claims they have developed an optical component that reads and writes all disk formats -- Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD, as well as DVD and CD -- with one pickup and one objective lens. The component is a 3.5-mm diameter, 1-mm thick round diffraction plate with minute concentric groves on both sides which function as a diffraction grating. Based on disc information the drive can identify which format disk is loaded, Ricoh's optical diffraction component adjusts the laser beam with its diffraction grating for each format and passes it to the objective lens."

Comments

Read only....for now

[LoverOfJoy]

From the article:

Although the diffraction device works for both reading and writing modes, Ricoh will initially offer the device for disk players only. Because some laser beam energy is lost at the grating, using the diffraction device for recording will require a blue laser with higher power than those used in conventional recorders.

It's a good start. Legal issues may end up being the biggest hurdle.

Re:well, now that that's settled

[BlowChunx]

...and when that dedicated licensed device dies or breaks? Then what?

Most consumers will get bit by DRM, but only after the fact when it is too late.

This is already used in several DVD players

[Cochonou]

This kind of multi-numerical aperture diffractive lens has already been used in several DVD players for CD compatibility. As an example, check out this link.
Notice that you do not only need different numerical aperture lenses to read every format, you also need to generate lasers of the proper wavelengths. There are several solutions for this, but the easiest is to use three different laser diodes.

Re:How unexpected....NOT!

[ivan256]

Ricoh is not the firm I expected to announce such a gadget first

Actually, dispite what the misleading headline would like you to believe, this isn't the first to read both HD and BluRay, and TFA doesn't make that clam... It's the first to read both, and read CDs and DVDs too with a single head. That's the tricky part, as CDs and DVDs use a different wavelength than HD-DVD and BluRay. Prior to this, if you wanted backwards compatability, you needed a second lens.

trees!

[sky289hawk1]

with minute concentric groves on both sides

to fit so many trees onto a singular lens!

Re:well, now that that's settled

[John Miles]

And you should be able to do that because...?

Because copyright law in the US is constitutional only insofar as a work is protected for a "limited time." DRM violates the limited-time clause, so the DMCA and any other DRM-promoting legislation is prima facie unconstitutional.

Re:well, now that that's settled

[Firehed]

• cable wars (HDMI, component)
• DRM wars (broadcast flag and more)
• HD wars (DLP, LCD, Plasma, i vs p, etc.)
• provider wars (comcast, DISH, DirectTV)
• DVR wars (comcast (ick), DISH (ick), DirectTV (ick), TIVO (yea!))
• did I mention DRM wars? (it's worth mentioning more than once)
• compression wars (have you looked closely at the quality of a comcast HD broadcast?, and/or their OnDemand?)
• price wars. (players, recorders (if you get permission to record), media (if you get permission to play))

You're either comparing apples and oranges or standard competition on really all of these.

• cable wars (digital, analog)
• DRM wars (they're all just added to each other, not which one's the best)
• HD wars (each has its own pros and cons)
• provider wars (market competition)
• DVR wars (market competition)
• did I mention DRM wars? (did I mention they're stacked, not competing?)
• compression wars (again, tradeoffs, though all avoid fixing the actual problem)
• price wars (you're complaining that competition lowers prices?!)

To be fair, the so-called DRM war is a valid point, just not with the examples you used. It's more of an iTunes M4P versus PlaysForSure protected WMA thing. DVDs have macrovision, CSS, region coding and more, not one or the other, and the HD formats are or will be the same way. Likewise for cable wars, but it would be HDMI vs DVI vs that new HDMI-esque thing for computers that doesn't have the crazy licensing fee. Aside from that, it's either two separate entities or market competiton (which is a good thing, unless you LIKE monopolies).

Now back to cleaning out my room.