Panasonic announced it has developed a new chipset that enables disc drives to record and play Blu-Ray (BD), DVD-Multi (DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, +R, +RW) and all CD formats.

The Blu-Ray Disc format, which uses a blue-violet laser, is being promoted as a standard for next-generation optical discs. So far, chipsets for BD-R/BD-RE and DVD/CD were commercialized separately. However, the demand for a BD drive that is compatible with all BD/DVD/CD media formats increased.

The chipset achieves the industry's highest record/play BD performance, the company claims. Drives with DVD record/play and CD record/play functions can be easily manufactured, therefore Panasonic will start sample shipments in December 2005 and mass production in January 2006.

This chipset is in accordance with BD and DVD/CD standards and consists of two chips: a front-end processor for analog processing such as servo control and laser power control, and an optical disc controller for signal processing as digital lead channel.

An advantage is that it can be easily applied to PCs, which require compatibility with multiple media formats, by following the newest BD standards, and by making hybrid discs using conventional media.