Double disc might end hi-def war?

A US patent has been filed for the discs that could hold both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray versions of movies. Would this end the hi-def war? The design of the disc patented in the US would have three layers. One for a standard DVD version of a film and then one for each of the competing formats. The engineers behind the idea reportedly work for the Warner Brothers movie studio.

Inventors have come up with a design for a disc that can store copies of films in rival high-definition formats. Currently movie makers and technology companies are dividing into camps that back either one or the other of the two formats.

The creation of the discs could end the looming battle over the different high-definition formats. The design of the disc patented in the US would have three layers. One for a standard DVD version of a film and then one for each of the competing formats.

The innovation is thought to be possible because the rival formats store data on the discs at different depths. Using reflective films should make it possible to store data for one movie format in one layer but to see through that, if needed, to the deeper layer which has the same movie in the rival format.

Source: BBC News