Toshiba and LG share optical disc patents

We're not sure if we'll see HD-DVD players integrated in to HDTV sets like LG has done with hard drives, but you never know. What's even more interesting about Toshiba and LG sharing optical disk patents is that Toshiba has an HD-DVD player coming soon, while LG will be one of the first to market with a Blu-Ray player. Is this the beginning of the end for the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD format war or do these two figure they can work together in both markets and come out on top? Both companies claim the deal is to help bring products to market quicker, but the interesting aspect is that neither of them states which specific products. Any thoughts, speculation or rampant rumors out there?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 9th 2006 9:06AM]

I don't think it really means anything. All the big tech companies have interconnections. The Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD thing makes it sound like the players involved are at each others throats, but some of the biggest companies involved (on opposite sides) have large deals with each other in other areas.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 9th 2006 9:51AM]

Also, many big companies have hundreds of different divisions. And even though these divisions are branded under the same company, a lot of times even they won't work together.

So to see one division of one company working with one from another isn't uncommon, even though technically they are different sides.