Layered Disc Patent May Calm Format War

[Sean Sands]

Layered Disc Patent May Calm Format War

The coming HD format war may have been settled before it's truly begun with the patenting of a multi-format DVD by Warner Home Video.

As the vanguard of the new High Definition DVDs, HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-Ray, seek early and crucial adoption by cutting edge users, Warner Home Video has patented [http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2164614/warner-puts-hd-dvd-blu-ray-same] a new technology that would eliminate the potential hassle for customers by allowing standard DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray formats to be printed on a single disc. The disc works by having "a Blu-ray top layer which also acts as a two-way mirror reflecting enough blue light to be read by a Blu-ray player," but which will also "let through sufficient light for an HD-DVD player to disregard the Blu-ray recording and locate the HD-DVD layer underneath." The reverse side of the disc could then contain a standard DVD recording, though, it is not difficult to imagine this final step being omitted.

While this may mean you can watch a movie as easily in your PS3 as your Xbox 360, with or without HD-DVD, it's difficult to imagine that this will affect the way cross platform games are pressed or sold. Though, theoretically, a single disc could provide layers compatible with multiple systems.

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[Virgil]

The only problem I see with this is that the proposed disc seems to only provide for a single layer of each format, meaning that the capacities for each format are halved from their theoretical maximums. I'm not sure how much space is being taken up by the content currently, but while this would probably allow movies to be present in both types on a disc, it probably precludes any extra content or lengthy films.

 

[John Funk]

We have multiple-disc DVDs already. I don't think many people would balk at getting a 2-disc (what are we going to call this? BluHD?) triple-layer movie if it meant they really didn't have to choose a format, or could watch the same movie on their 360 HD addon or their brother's fancy Blu-Ray player.

 

[Lex Darko]

All this is nice in theory but just how much could this blu-hd dvd cost I don't think people will be happy to spend 30 bucks on a normal non collectors edition movie.

 

[heavyfeul]

The only problem I see with this is that the proposed disc seems to only provide for a single layer of each format, meaning that the capacities for each format are halved from their theoretical maximums. I'm not sure how much space is being taken up by the content currently, but while this would probably allow movies to be present in both types on a disc, it probably precludes any extra content or lengthy films.

Maybe we'll see a quad layer BluHD Discs as well? Dual layers on both sides?

Personally I would like to see the end of DVD/CD distribution. Internet distribution and removable hard drives, with all your music, movies, and games on them, seem to be the most elegant solution. Combine that with a central Media PC and remote terminals for multiple simultaneous uses in multiple rooms. Man that would be beautiful.

 

[Goofonian]

I'm not a fan of this at all.
While it is ok in concept, I would prefer that one of the formats just went the way of the beta tapes. Having the same content repeated on multiple layers is an absolute waste of space and I don't like double sided discs much either, they are too easy to damage.

Forcing me to get up and change discs so that wal-mart can save shelf space on not having multiple formats in stock is absolute BS too.

I think there are some interesting possibilities here for having dual platform game discs, but it will never happen. No publisher will be able to convince sony and microsoft to split the royalties straight down the middle. not a chance.

As for digital distribution, I'm only ok with it if they allow burning the movies to unprotected discs. The DRM on digital distribution at the moment means I wouldn't be able to take a movie around to my friends house to watch, which is crap. I'm also quite a fan of having a nice big library of DVD's sitting in a bookshelf next to my home theatre, makes accessing my movies and perusing through to remember what I have really quick and easy.

Personally I can see HD-DVD winning this format war and everyone being happy. HD-DVD seems to be slightly better quality at this point in time (from all the reviews I've read) and sony will still make money from blu-ray production for PS3 games. Everybody wins.