Warner Bros to release ‘Total HD’ disc that works in both Blu-ray and HD DVD players

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Thursday, 04 January 2007

The New York Times reports that Warner Bros is set to release a high-def disc that works in both types of next-gen players, potentially solving the problem of which player to buy. But in the short term it ads yet another disc for retailers to stock. Is it the solution?

The big problem in the world of Blu-ray and HD DVD discs is not only their inherent incompatibility, thus leading to two different formats, but the fact that more studios have signed up to the Blu-ray format, theoretically guaranteeing that Blu-ray will have more content than HD DVD, at least in the short to medium term.

But now Warner Bros, a division of Time Warner, will launch a disc called ‘Total HD’ at the CES, according to CNET and the New York Times.

There’s no word on pricing, nor is there any word if the disc is simply two discs cleverly sandwiched together, with one format on the A side, and another format on the B side. This is what happens with those combo CD/DVD discs we’ve often read about and only rarely seen.

It’s also possible that the disc simply has many different layers, with the Blu-ray information in the upper layers near the surface of the disc, as Blu-ray was designed, and the HD DVD players deeper in the disc, as is currently the case with DVD and HD DVD discs.

There’s also no word on whether or not the dual disc supports dual layer formats on both discs, or if they are only the equivalent of two single layer discs stuck together – i.e. does the dual disc support 50Gb Blu-ray and 30Gb HD DVD, or just 25Gb Blu-ray and 15Gb HD DVD. No doubt we’ll learn more about this at the CES launch.

But besides price, and the short term problem of retailers have four different formats in store for a single movie, those being DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD and the Total HD disc, the other big problem is the studios that are firm Blu-ray backers.

If they procrastinate on the topic of putting out Total HD discs, thus releasing movies in both formats, the format war will continue for longer, and will put HD DVD at a disadvantage.

Companies like Disney and Fox are firm Blu-ray backers that consider the non-release of HD DVD content to be good for helping the industry decide on Blu-ray as the winning format.

So, we’ve got LG and potentially other companies about to release dual-deck players at CES, and a new Total HD disc that could also solve the problem, if only everyone co-operates.

Of course, if we had this co-operation to begin with, mother wouldn’t have needed all of this necessity to come up with inventions that solve the problems the manufacturers couldn’t solve in the first place.

The farce that is two competing movie formats at war may well be over by the end of 2007. We can only hope!
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