Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, DVD Triple-Standard Hybrid In the Works
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by Mike Zazaian September 18, 2006 - 4:02pm, 1 Comment
Warner Brothers is undergoing development of a single-disc Blu-ray, HD-DVD and DVD hybrid as an elegant alternative to packing video stores with three copies of each film.
While Toshiba already as a triple-layer HD-DVD and DVD hybrid in the works, the new disc from Warner Brothers Studios is the first offering to bring Blu-ray functionality to the table.
Designed by top Warner engineers Alan Bell and Lewis Ostrover, the new hybrid disc works by stacking a Blu-ray layer on top of an HD-DVD layer. As both Blu-ray and HD-DVD use a blue laser with a 405-nanometer wavelength to read data, information for each format can be stored in the same medium. However, because Blu-ray data resides 0.1 nanometers beneath the disk surface and HD-DVD data is written at 0.6 nanometers deep, the two types of data can co-exist on the same side of a disc without interference.
The Blu-ray layer, which works like a two-way mirror, is opaque enough to be read by a standard Blu-ray player, but lets enough light through to the underlying HD-DVD layer so that HD-DVD players can read the disc as well. The opposite side of the disc could be used for a standard DVD layer, or, if necessary, another Blu-ray HD-DVD hybrid layer.
There’s no word yet as to when the new discs will be available, but a patent on the technology was filed on August 10th of 2006.
[via NewScientistTech]
THAT IS PERFECT! if it works smoothly this will solve alot of issues. They can continue to sell blu ray and hd dvd players and have disc that will play on either one including old dvd players. I hope this works out. I’m really tired of not buying a movie because its not on blu ray. I even considered buying an hd dvd player even though i have a blu ray player. this would solve my problem.
Jay Lancaster