Bluray/HD-DVD/DVD tripple combo discs on the way

[thescrounger]

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn10102&feedId=online-news_rss20

Triple-standard disc
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.

On 26 September, Warner will be the first studio to release a movie, Lake House, on all three disc standards simultaneously.

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.

[kiran_mk2]

This really does seem pointless - why spend all that money developing this new structure that will only serve to make the discs thicker (so a double layer BR above a dual layer HD layer) which will bring the disc even closer to the lens and make scratching more likely.

Surely it would be in the studios interest to have witheld content until this mess was sorted, but I guess they can't see beyond short term profits...

[Spectre07]

So we've had dual-format discs, the possibility of dual format players, now we have triple format discs and I presume triple format players. Nothing like confusing the public during a format war. Is this what they mean by fog of war?

[R-T-C]

Since Sony have blocked a dual format player, then surely they will also block a dual format disc?

Plus, there are only a few studios who are releasing on HD and BR at the same time, most are only going to release in one format, so this disc will be useless.

[Grandmaster]

I'm also fairly sure that the disk will be physically too thick to work in Blu-Ray players on top of all the politics.

[Spectre07]

Thicker discs, how inelegant

[cedge]

If the formats are going to end up on the same disk, why have 2 formats? It's beyond believeable - just scrap one!

[mdiver]

Why is everyone talking about thicker discs? Go measure a sigle layer and dual layer SD disc..... they are the same.

Basically the proposal is to use a 0.1mm layer on top of a 0.5mm layer to give the focusing distances (0.1 for Blu-ray & 0.6 for HD-DVD). Then a 0.6mm (I think) thick red laser format on the flip side.

But I'm sure this would stop a dual layer construction of either format as part of the tripple format disc.

[R-T-C]

They just got a mention on BBC News online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5364238.stm).

I don't see that this will in any way help to solve the format war confusion. If the companies planning to release on both formats use these discs then you will still need two different players for the single format releases.

Just invent a dual format player and be done with all the confusion.

[Grandmaster]

Why is everyone talking about thicker discs? Go measure a sigle layer and dual layer SD disc..... they are the same.

OK, fair enough. But they are talking about flipper disks - dual layer one side with the other side having the DVD content. So find a DVD-10 and measure that then!

[jeffstarr]

Are these discs thicker??

Are DVD-10s thicker?

A better analogy may be DVD-14/18, as the artical talks about the disc being dual-layered on one side (BD/HD) and single-layered on the other (SD).

Again, if these players are designed to handle DVD Spec discs, then 'thickness' shouldn't be an issue, although it is the funniest 'worry' I've heard all day!!

[AndyWilson]

There were definitely "thickness" problems with some hybrid CD/DVD discs - IIRC Blair Witch II has a warning not to attempt to play it on slot loading players.

[GProject]

There were definitely "thickness" problems with some hybrid CD/DVD discs - IIRC Blair Witch II has a warning not to attempt to play it on slot loading players.
Was that a thickness issue though, or was it because slot-loading players might damage the usually unimportant top-side of the disc?

[thescrounger]

If it turns out to be a problem they can just issue the DVD version on separate disc.

[R-T-C]

If it turns out to be a problem they can just issue the DVD version on separate disc.

Would make more sense anyway - printing a plain DVD costs just pennies at the moment and people could keep the HD disc with their player, and take the SD discs on trips, to lend to friends etc. Of course the DVD firms won't like it because they will get one sale instead of two in this case, and a lot of people might sell of the SD discs cheaply.