Could this be the sollution to the forthcoming DVD-war? Warner Bros has applied for a patent on a technology that will allow DVDs, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD to be burnt and played on the same disc. It should make choices for consumers a lot easier in the upcomming VHS-Betamax style battle between the two rival disc formats.

The most prevalent technical difference between Blu-ray and HD DVD is that the discs are read at a depth of 0.1 millimeters and 0.6 millimeters, respectively. The proposed disc would be manufactured such that an HD DVD player would be able to effectively skip over the Blu-ray disc level and read the data embedded 0.6 millimeters into the disc, but a BD player could still recognize the data on the 0.1 millimeter level.

An ordinary DVD movie could be pressed on the reverse side of the disc. This would indeed be an expensive venture to create, and also to support. Consumers would probably also have to swallow some of the extra cost when purchasing the movie, even though they would likely only want one of the encoded versions. It could also put the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray battle in an interesting position. If movie studios got on board with the new format, it would mean hardware would be the sole determiner of the blue laser disc wars, and not the selection of movies available. 

More at Toms Hardward

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