Those crazy Warner Bros. engineers... :)

[WriteSimply]

From NewScientistTech.com

The electronics industry is in a fine mess, with two blue-laser disc standards (Blu-ray and HD-DVD) competing to succeed ordinary red-laser DVDs.
...
Meanwhile, however, two top Warner engineers, Alan Bell and Lewis Ostrover, have been working on a cheaper and more elegant solution.

Blu-ray uses a 405-nanometre wavelength laser to read data from tracks 0.1-millimetres-deep on the top surface of a disc. HD-DVD, on the other hand, uses the same wavelength to read recordings at a depth of 0.6 mm.

Warner’s plan is to create a disc with a Blu-ray top layer that works like a two-way mirror. This should reflect just enough blue light for a Blu-ray player to read it okay. But it should also let enough light through for HD-DVD players to ignore the Blu-ray recording and find a second HD-DVD layer beneath.

An ordinary DVD recording could be put on the other side, so that conventional DVD players can read the disc as well.

Although the triple-standard disc will cost more to make, it should still be cheaper than pressing three, and shops should be pleased not to have their shelves overloaded with so many different discs.

I guess if those engineers have it their way, it'll be out within two years. It'll be called HD-BVDs.

Hello Everybody!


fuad

[Alex Pallas]

i imagine they would be single layer?

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

From NewScientistTech.com



I guess if those engineers have it their way, it'll be out within two years. It'll be called HD-BVDs.

Hello Everybody!


fuad

Welcome!

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

From NewScientistTech.com



I guess if those engineers have it their way, it'll be out within two years. It'll be called HD-BVDs.

Hello Everybody!


fuad

The problem is that we, as consumers, will have to pay more money for these than we would if it were either a single BD disc or HD-DVD disc.

And welcome to the forum!

[no_wei]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

The problem is that we, as consumers, will have to pay more money for these than we would if it were either a single BD disc or HD-DVD disc.

perhaps, but it does offer guaranteed compatibility, which has its place.

seeing as i'm pretty sure these discs would effectively be single-layer (one for bd and one for hddvd, plus a flipside for dvd) they would be faced with obvious restrictions.

that being said, a disc of this type would be absolutely perfect for basic releases. i.e. the kind a video rental store manager would want to stock. and his or her customers would be oh so appreciative of the fact that whatever they rented was guaranteed to work in their player.

also, since the discs wouldn't have any bells and whistles on them they could be released quickly. a quick release could justify a slightly higher price point. then a few months later special edition discs (which would obviously be even more expensive) would see format-specific releases in order to take advantage of either formats full power.

and really, the cost of the actual media is almost negligible. ask yourself how much of the pricing of dvds is based on the cost to manufacture the disc when a new release goes for 20-30 bucks and a brand-new bargain-bin disc can go for $1.99. granted, most new release titles are on dual-layer discs now, while many bargain-bin titles might only be single layer, but still...

the only really prohibitive cost i could see is warner brothers trying to recoup the cost of licensing fees for two technologies, but since warner is already releasing on both formats they've already paid both licensing fees. so, who's to say they can't press two products onto one disc. it seems to me like there are several people on this board who would be more than happy to be getting a chance to view both formats from only one disc.

furthermore, warner was the company that brought us those godawful paper cases in an effort to provide the absolute cheapest dvds possible. mission accomplished warner brothers, mission accomplished.

/no

[zombie]

Welcome to the forum!

That's a very interesting article. IMO, the idea proposed is quite sad really because the industry never should have given us this nasty format war to begin with.

[PeterTHX]

Maybe they're just offering Universal a way out...

[JTK]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Maybe they're just offering Universal a way out...

Heh, that'd be nice. It would even better if Universal took it.

It just amazes me to think: ALL that ends this format war is the day Universal even blinks, just a little bit. All they have to do is even announce that they're going to throw BD a few bones on the side, and there's 100 percent studio support.

There's a certain notorious zealot from the UK on a certain prominent forum that has all these petitions and garbage going constantly...devoid of real facts, of course.

I don't know about you all, but I think we all could come up with a pretty facts tight package and piece of logic to send to Universal on this matter long before people could send "Support HD-DVD only!" material.

[vick vega]

You draft it and I'll sign it. I'm sure everyone here will too.