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Warner Developing Triple-Layer Blu-ray/HD DVD/DVD Disc?
Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 03:54 PM ETTags: Industry Forecasts (all tags)
Doing the dual-format combo disc one better, Warner is reportedly working
on a new "triple-layer" optical format that could store Blu-ray, HD
DVD and DVD on a single disc.
This past August, three engineers (including two reportedly from inside Warner Bros.), filed a revised 2005 patent application for the prototype "triple-layer" format. The plan is to create a disc with a Blu-ray top layer that works like a two-way mirror, reflecting just enough blue light for a Blu-ray player to read it, but also letting enough light through for HD-DVD players to find a second HD-DVD layer beneath.
Sounds like a promising idea. Certainly, it would be welcomed by studios that are supporting both formats, and currently have to master, replicate and market three different versions of a movie -- next Tuesday's simultaneous release of 'The Lake House' on Blu-ray, HD DVD and DVD is a good example. It is also not hard to imagine retailers cheering any hybrid, multi-format release that saves them shelf space, which continues to present a problem for both HD DVD and Blu-ray as they duke it out with DVD for consumer dollars.
Of course, getting a studio like Sony to budge from their devout pro-Blu-ray stance is another story. Not to mention Warner actually being able to transform such an ambitious triple-layer prototype into a physical, mass-marketable reality.
Now all we need are some Blu-ray/HD DVD/DVD players to play all these new multi-format discs, and they might really have something. Stay tuned...
- Related links:
- Warner Working on Blu-ray, HD DVD Combo [Home Media Retailing]
- Earlier on High-Def Digest:
- Warner to Debut First Day-and Date Blu-ray, HD DVD Release (Aug 03, 2006)
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