Panasonic develops DVD and CD compatible Blu-ray recorder chip

Matsushita, best know for its Panasonic consumer brand, claims it has developed the first chipset that enables future optical drives to playback and record Blu-ray media (BD) as well as common DVD and CD formats.

The company said that DVD-RAM, DVD-/+R, DVD-RW/+RW and DVD-ROM are supported. The only absent format is HD DVD, which, however, comes as little surprise as Matushita is a firm supporter of the Blu-ray technology and opponent of HD DVD.

Panasonic said that it will start sample shipments of the chipset in December 2005 and begin mass production in January 2006.