This year's Consumer Electronics Show somewhat served as the battle arena for the on-going war between disc formats Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. It would be remembered that it was in that show where chip manufacturer Broadcom revealed decoder chip capable of decoding both Blu-ray and HD DVD video. As next year's show in Last Vegas draws near, rumors about a hybrid player resurface.

Interestingly, the said war has been an exciting thing to behold. According to industry players, the winner will be decided in two years when two formats finally gain ground. Taiwan doesn't approve of creating hybrid players but there have been hushed talks about companies Toshiba and Samsung combining technology to create one. All this while, small company VidaBox quietly introduced the LUX and MAX Systems.

Now, where is this war heading? Will there be an eventual victor or are we going to see a fusion of technology. If we are going to take the road that leads to merging of technology, there can actually be two scenarios:

• One media player with a single drive, capable of playing both formats
• One media player with both a Blu-ray and HD DVD drive installed

Regardless, these forms will definitely cost consumers more money as compared to just a dedicated player. When you really think about it, this has always been the case anyway. It's the next logical step in technology. And until the day any or both Blu Ray and HD DVD become the standard format, these things will always mean a fortune.