Taiwan Makers Blame High Royalty Costs of Blu-ray, HD DVD for Lack of Hybrid Drives
 

As LG Electronics, Plextor and Samsung Electronics release their hybrid optical disc drives (ODDs) that can read both Blu-ray disc (BD) and HD DVD, Taiwan-based makers of optical devices reportedly claim that universal high-definition ODDs are too expensive to make due to royalties and consequently do not expect such products to become mainstream.

Founding members of the Blu-ray disc Association (BDA) – Sony Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics – demand $30 fee of every drive capable of reading Blu-ray, whereas Toshiba, which developed both DVD and HD DVD (co-developed with Hitachi), asks for $12 license fee for every optical drive that can read HD DVD. With so high licensing fees, Taiwan-based manufacturers doubt that multi-format drives would go mainstream at all, reports DigiTimes web-site.

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