12/19/2008, 10:55am, EST
Friday, December 19thInfinity shows one-layer Blu-ray/DVD combo disc
Japanese disc producer Infinity on Friday rolled out the world's first production video title to include both Blu-ray and DVD on a single layer. A box for the TV series Code Blue will include playable versions of both formats by using a permeable layer that takes advantage of the different wavelengths to store data at different levels; Blu-ray's namesake laser will recognize one layer, while a DVD player's red laser will see another. The technique lets owners of older movie players and PC drives buy a single title and automatically upgrade to playing HD when they pick up a Blu-ray player.
Discs with two Blu-ray layers and a single DVD layer are also possible, Infinity notes, as the disc standard supports shallower layers and can stack more than one per disc. The Code Blue example currently uses single-layer Blu-ray. The new approach doesn't currently allow users to record their own discs from computers but also won't unintentionally display DVD content on computers or consoles that support viewing the raw data.
The first discs, known as BD/DVD Hybrid discs, are expected to ship on Feburary 18th, when the 11-episode Blu-ray box set ships for roughly $408 in Japan. How quickly the format spreads is believed to hinge on the early adoption of the standard, though the technology could lead to games and other software that come in special Blu-ray and DVD versions on the same disc. [via Impress]
Filed under: digital imaging, upgrades/storage
Other story tags: blu-ray, Infinity
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YAY
and yes I would start buying those right away. I stopped buying movies all together a few months ago because I want to start building a Blu-Ray collection but I dont have the hardware yet so im just not buying at all.
gruntle
HDDVD had this feature, but nobody wanted to use it :p
/disgruntled
reflecting on HD
I have 6 of the Freedom series that are hybrids, pretty neat idea. Always figured that blu-ray could do this and figured it could do a hybrid dual-dual layer with a dual DVD and a dual blu-ray since the physical makeup of blu-ray is different than DVD. It was always a matter of licensing since the HDDVD camp was also the DVD steering committee and would not allow for blu-ray to be DVD compliant. I hated to see HDDVD go as I have over 100 titles, but now that it's over, I would love to see hybrid blu-ray. Especially because of the anti-scratch coating. However, what seems to be happening to keep the DVD camp happy is the inclusion of a digital copy on a separate DVD disc.