Comin' straight outta Thuringia is the first news we've heard in a year about HD DVD's red-laser cousin, 3X DVD. CDA Datenträger Albrechts GmbH has announced its started production of 3X DVDs, which are basically HD content, compressed with VC-1 or MPEG-4 and AACS DRM, on a standard red laser DVD that is readable only by HD DVD players. The advantage is that it costs the same to produce as a regular DVD, and CDA is apparently producing dual-sided DVD-10 discs, with standard DVD content on one side, and HD on the other. Of course, with several German studios dropping HD DVD support (along with a few others you may have heard of) its hard to see who will take advantage of CDA's new capabilities.

[Via EMediaLive]

Atmel, the same firm known for cranking out uber-small GPS chips, has now created the "industry's smallest laser diode driver solution" for HD DVD, Blu-ray, DVD, and CD formats. The ATR0881 laser diode driver IC is available now and is designed for use in combination drives that play nice with all of the aforementioned discs. Notably, the ATR0881 itself is housed in a minuscule four- x four-millimeter QFN24 package, and should prove extremely useful in half-height combo drives as well as slim drives found in laptops. Smaller optical drives that handle every format harmoniously? Count us in.

While the Blu-ray camp is busy claiming victory, recently HD DVD supporters seem to be circling the wagons around an old friend, the -- 'til now -- unused 3X DVD technology. HD DVD has always claimed it holds a price advantage over Blu-ray, by way of offering low cost upgrades for existing DVD manufacturing processes. The 3X DVD spec takes that a step further, while it's a part of the HD DVD format and apparently only compatible with HD DVD players, the discs themselves are physically exactly the same as standard red-laser DVDs. Throw in a software upgrade to support high definition content, HD DVD's UDF 2.5 file structure and AACS and you have a way to deliver HDTV content on a 9.4 GB DVD. By using newer encoding technologies like MPEG-4 and VC-1 and/or lowering the resolution to say, 720p, full length movies easily fit on a standard DVD. Eclipse Data Technologies, a supplier of HD DVD mastering equipment just announced it is offering free upgrades to its customers in order to support 3X DVD manufacturing. This was followed today by DCA Inc. announcing it has mastered the first 3X DVD disc, and that several manufacturers are looking at it as a possible low cost path into HD video. 3X DVD's potential to allow for noticeably lower-priced HD content to come to market is definitely there, but it still remains to be seen if this, like combo DVD/HD DVDs and Total Hi-Def discs will find a home and support in the marketplace.

Read - First 3X DVD-ROM Disc Cut with DCA Equipment
Read - Eclipse Provides Free HD DVD Upgrade to Replication Facilities

It's clear to us now, even the manufacturers don't know what is 1080p and what isn't. Well, maybe they just don't care. TWICE's report from SINOCES (Chinese CES) indicates many manufacturers are putting the 1080p tag on everything they can, if a TV can accept a 1080p signal but not display it, and even on displays that don't do 1080p at all. As they note, it's not such a big deal yet in China because until HD DVD and Blu-ray launch there won't be much at that resolution to watch. They also mentioned Chinese manufacturers looking at the US market as a hard one to enter because of low-priced 1080p displays like the Westinghouse LVM-47w1. Hisense, who manufactures the Best Buy house brand and HP televisions, was showing a 71-inch 1080p plasma based on the LG one we've seen before, maybe you'll be getting an in-store demo sooner than you think.

Conspicuous in their absence apparently are EVD and VMD based players, targeted as low cost alternatives to HD DVD and Blu-ray using old school red laser technology.

[via Home Theater Blog]