In a bid to end the long high-definition DVD format war, three engineers from Warner Bros. have invented a disk that can play all three : the "Multilayer Dual Optical Disk" has one layer of data in the standard CD or DVD format, a second layer able to play Blu-Ray and another one for HD-DVD.

The patent was filed by Wayne Smith, Alan Bell and Lewis Ostrover. It works by storing the information at different depths depending on the technology. Blu-ray discs store information only 0.1 millimetre from the surface while HD-DVD discs store it at 0.6 millimetres.

Concretely, it means that consumers can pick which one they want without worrying about what will survive the second generation DVD war. It also means that the studios do not have to pick one technology and can provide the content in both formats.


Source: Yahoo UK, yesterday.

For those who do not know:

The name Blu-ray disk is derived from the blue-violet laser it uses to read and write to the chalcogenide disc. A Blu-ray Disc can store substantially more data than a DVD, because of the shorter wavelength (405 nm) of the blue-violet laser (DVDs use a 650-nm-wavelength red laser and CDs an infrared 780 nm laser), which allows more information to be stored digitally in the same amount of space. In comparison to HD DVD, which also uses a blue laser, Blu-ray has more information capacity per layer (starting from 25GB with test media currently at 100 gigabytes instead of 15). In August 2006, TDK developed a Blu-ray disk with a 200 gigabytes capacity.

The HD DVD name is derived from its origination as a high-definition extension of the DVD optical disc format. A HD DVD disc can store substantially more data than a standard DVD, because of the shorter wavelength (405 nm) of the blue-violet laser (DVDs use a 650-nm-wavelength red laser and CDs an infrared 780 nm laser), which allows more information to be stored digitally in the same amount of physical space. In comparison to Blu-ray, which also uses a blue laser, HD DVD has less information capacity per layer (15 gigabytes instead of 25), though HD DVD is easier and cheaper to manufacture than a Blu-ray pre-recorded disc due to its sharing the same basic disc structure as a standard DVD: back-to-back bonding of two 120 mm diameter substrates, each 0.6 mm thick. The 30 GB dual-sided HD DVDs have been used on nearly every movie released in this format. On the other hand, Blu-ray has only released movies on 25 GB single layer discs.