One of the hot topics in 2007 was the war between HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, each format with its supporters, from media companies to hardware producers. I don't know if it was really about technology, or simply about "mine is better", but Plextor just released something that should have been around already - the first hybrid optical drives!

The new drives are the PX-B300SA combo, and the PX-B920SA burner. The first one has BD and HD DVD support, and the Blu-ray writer is also capable of handling HD DVD discs, but only has read support for this type of media. Obviously, both drives come with full CD and DVD support, and they are expected to replace the PX-B900A, Plextor's Blu-ray burner announced earlier this year.

Read and write speeds are nothing out of ordinary, and both drives also come with full LightScribe capabilities. The new hybrid drives use the SATA interface, and pricing wasn't revealed yet.

I don't know about others, but for me, this is the future. After all, nobody has to actually win the "formats war" because, for end-users, drives capable of reading and burning all formats available(or at least CD/DVD read/write, and Blu-ray & HD DVD read, like the PX-B300SA combo above), especially if they are wisely priced, are the best choice.