September 20, 2006

Could There be a Solution to the DVD Wars?

It's no secret that the new High Definition DVD formats haven't done much but to confuse consumers. So what's the solution? Well it's possible that we may see one disc that plays on both Blueray and HD-DVD players in the near future. According to MSNBC:

LONDON - A patent application has been filed for a disc that would play two competing high-definition DVD formats which, if successful, could help resolve a battle that has divided Hollywood and confounded consumers.
The patent application was filed by three Warner Bros. employees, two of whom are engineers for the company.

The "multilayer dual optical disk" would have one layer of data in the standard CD or DVD format, a second layer able to play one high-capacity format and a third layer for the competing high-capacity format.

The article goes more in depth but I'd imagine this type of technology won't be too popular with the DVD hardware manufacturers.

If the "multilayer dual optical disk" does make it to store shelves, we expect it's quite a ways down the road but we'll keep you posted when more details come out.

At MSNBC.com