Hi-def format war: Warner Bros. plays both sides
Warner Bros. and LG have announced two totally different solutions to the high-definition format war, one of which involves glue...
The New York Times is reporting that Warner Bros. has developed what it is calling the 'Total HD Disc', which will play in both HD DVD and Blu-ray players.
While the format war will continue behind the scenes for some time to come, at least this system could protect the rest of us from it and enable us to pick up the odd movie without having to own two different, incredibly expensive players.
It remains to be seen which studios will jump on board, however, and of course without their co-operation this idea could sink without a trace.
Details on how the system works are still pretty sketchy at the moment. From what we can tell, these double-sided discs are made by, let's see, glueing a Blu-ray disc to an HD DVD disc. Is anyone else having early DVD flashbacks? Expect more information during CES. In the meantime, our good friends at News.com have the full story.
In related news, LG has just announced that it will make a hybrid HD DVD/Blu-ray player, reportedly available from early 2007 in the US. Again, more details will be available after CES. -IM