"..DVD players from the likes of Samsung and Toshiba will start to act more like a PC and should be hitting the market soon. Through the use of chip technology from a company called VM Labs, Samsung will offer a new $499 DVD player this quarter that will enable users to play games with graphics capabilities equal to that of current game console systems. Samsung said that later this year users will also be able to access the Internet. Toshiba has announced support for the technology but hasn't yet said when it will ship a product.

VM Labs has designed a chip that basically combines a high-powered graphics chip with an MPEG chip that's used for playing back movies into one piece of inexpensive silicon. Instead of making money on the chip, VM Labs hopes to make money off royalties from software and DVD discs that use its technology. The company hopes this strategy will help the technology come into widespread use at a faster pace.."