NEC has announced that it is already shipping the hybrid chips and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD players should appear in early 2007. "The chips go on sale for 10,000 yen ($84), roughly the same price as NEC Electronics' chips which read only Blu-ray or only HD DVD formats," reports Reuters. NEC developed two chips: �PC3360 is the smaller one and would be integrated in portable players, while �PD63410 will be integrated in normal players.

It looks like the two rival formats will soon be reconciled. But NEC completed only the silicon chips; there are no optical pick-up lanes that can read both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, yet. The announced dual-players will still use two separate lenses for each medium and this means that the costs of production raise. A NEC spokesperson admitted that more than half of the cost of a dual player is given by the integration of the hybrid chip and an optical pick-up lens.

NEC probably didn't know about the development of the hybrid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray discs, which were proposed by two Warner employees and are made up of two superimposed layers for each format. But it seems that this won't be a problem for NEC. It could even transform into a partnership, as NEC should deliver hybrid pick-up lenses at the same time the hybrid discs are thought to appear. Anyhow, the two rival formats won't be causing a chaos anymore and consumers will be saved once again.