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[ManaByte]

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.

 

[Shard]

Stupid format wars.

 

[Zaptruder]

intresting, except DL BDs get screwed.

Still, although a decent compromise, I'd rather see HD media unified under BDs... because if they don't win, it'll mean most of us have to buy into 2 HD formats, and we'll have to suffer through Itoldyouso's from HD luddites, the lowest form of life on the planet, next to fundamentalist neocons.

 

[Schattenjäger]

so whos winning this format war currently?

 

[SpoonyBard]

so whos winning this format war currently?

DVD.

 

[Juice]

intresting, except DL BDs get screwed.

Still, although a decent compromise, I'd rather see HD media unified under BDs... because if they don't win, it'll mean most of us have to buy into 2 HD formats, and we'll have to suffer through Itoldyouso's from HD luddites, the lowest form of life on the planet, next to fundamentalist neocons.

I wouldn't say HD Luddites are without merit. Especially after seeing how much time and effort BD and HD-DVD enthusiasts have spent campaigning over HD formats over what's in the grander scheme of things (for instance, the movies themselves) a fairly moot or uninteresting point to the average

The more sophisticated HD luddite has a point: he may love to point and laugh at the typical HD proponent as a squandering, bleeding edge enthusiast of hype, nestled insignificantly in his undersized lonely apartment as he cradles his brand new movie playing device, crying with glee as he uses its high resolution output to rationalize the unfortunate truth that his lifestyle has left him with no one to watch movies with.

 

[TJ Bennett]

so whos winning this format war currently?

Whoever wins ... we lose