The coming year won't bring us the happiness of a new beginning, but will take us to further steps in home entertainment, or at least Panasonic executives think so. According to them, about 10% of personal computers (PCs) will incorporate either Blu-ray or HD DVD drive next year, as the technology becomes more and more accessible following the recent price drops of blue laser-based optical disk drives.

"The adoption of blue-laser optical disc drives (ODDs), Blu-ray Disc (BD) and/or HD DVD, built into desktop and notebook PCs will increase from less than 1% of all PCs in 2007 to 10% in 2008," said Panasonic general manager Masayuki Kozuka.

The Panasonic executive has also overestimated the selling rates for Blu-ray or HD DVD, and figured for a 5 percent of the optical disk drives this year, while the reports say that he was 4 percent more optimistic. The difference between expectation and reality could also be the result of a slower adoption of the new optical technology.

Blu-ray and HD DVD players have become extremely popular in Japan, the market promoter of the high-definition technology. Kozuka has estimated that BD or HD DVD players percentage has risen from 14.8% in 2006 to 20% in 2007 and will continue growing to more than 50 percent in the following year, which is quite a breakthrough if we look back at the fainting figures for other countries (less than 5 percent of the overall optical disc drives).

The only problem in HD media expansion is still the salty price, as Blu-ray standalone prices make the technology unavailable to the average home entertainment consumer. The good news is that Pioneer and the Philips-LG joint venture are working on more affordable desktop PC versions. Toshiba has entered the HD market and is now offering affordable drives for both notebooks and desktops.