Addonics has announced the Zebra Blu-ray / HD DVD Player. This type of optical media players is still young on the market and there are few such devices at hand.

Apart from the HD DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, the player can read standard DVDs and CDs in various file formats or burn DVD±R/RW and CDRW media. Its abilities make the combo one of the most flexible optical disk readers on the market. The external unit allows users to turn their workstations into high-definition digital centers to offer 1920x1080 resolution and the dynamic 7.1-channel audio output that comes with the Blu-ray or HD DVD format.

The future of high definition content is not sure yet, since major players in the IT and media stage can not reach a verdict on which standard should prevail, so Addonics have left the decision up to the consumer and included both HD-DVD and a Blu-Ray playing capabilities. No matter what will happen next in the format war, the consumers can rest assured that they haven't spent their money on obsolete technology.

The Zebra Blu-ray / HD DVD player & DVD±R/RW burner is shielded by a compact aluminum enclosure and allows computer interconnectivity either through the high speed eSATA connection or a combination eSATA and USB 2.0 interface.

Zebra can record 4 hours of video information on a DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL optical medium that can carry 8.5GB of data. The unit comes with the Cyberlink High-Def Suite software that can be used on a wide range of Windows operating systems (Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista). For users running Linux, there are a plethora of free playback software applications that can be downloaded from Linux-oriented websites.

The disc unit can deliver transfer rates up to 215.79 Mbits/s for the Blu-ray BD-ROM mode. The disc can be purchased for $409 (the eSATA interface model) or $429 (the eSATA and USB 2.0 interface model).