HD-DVD & Blu-ray in one device?

[bluetooth]

Japan Today has reported electronics giant NEC has built a new semiconductor that is capable of recording and replaying data from both the Blu-ray format and the HD DVD format, potentially building a bridge between the two warring mediums.

The new device is a large-scale integrated circuit that controls the DVD drive and the position of the optical pickup that reads and writes data with a blue-violet laser. The chip can be used with all of the five conventional DVDs as well, NEC added, said the report.

The question is, by the time this item is available will one of the two formats be a clear leader? Right now I’d say there is a good chance there will be no clear winner/choice for perhaps the lifetime of the format.. but we’ll have to wait and see.