End of the standards war?
Warner Home Video claims to have come up with a potential solution to the high definition DVD standards war.
It emerged yesterday that the company's top engineers have filed a patent for a single disc that can store regular DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
The triple standard disc design is described in the patent application as: " A multi-format optical disc comprising a substrate; a first data layer disposed on said substrate, said first data layer conforming to a first protocol.
"A second data layer supported on said substrate, said second data layer conforming to a second protocol; and a transparent protective layer disposed on top of said first and second layers."
The patent application adds: "A general problem with multiple formats of discs is that disc manufacturers must make various types of discs of each type in order to satisfy consumer demand for the content on those discs.
"From the standpoint of a manufacturer, it is disadvantageous to have to manufacture and distribute three different types of disc formats to satisfy consumer demand for one product, such as a motion picture.
"Moreover, multiple formats of DVD discs create retail and consumer confusion as to which format(s) to acquire or buy."
Warner explained that it will create a disc with a Blu-ray top layer which also acts as a two-way mirror reflecting enough blue light to be read by a Blu-ray player.
The technology will also let through sufficient light for an HD-DVD player to disregard the Blu-ray recording and locate the HD-DVD layer underneath. The reverse of the disc would carry an ordinary DVD recording.