Software maker Pony/Canon will release the first Blu-ray/DVD movie hybrid in Japan in February 2009, in a deliberate attempt to accelerate consumer transition from the DVD format to Blu-ray.
By embedding the higher-def format into a single disk, the thinking goes, people will be more easily tempted to try Blu-ray and naturally upgrade their system.
Recent reports have strongly suggested that Blu-ray adoption is indeed growing, but that the majority of consumers still prefer DVD and see little reason to switch. And Blu-ray doesn’t make it easy on itself by offering the more expensive product in the middle of a difficult economy.
But the hybrid plan has its problems. While we think this is a good idea by the Blu-ray association, it won’t work fully if it undercuts the positives with off-putting negatives.
In order to smash the two formats together, the disc uses an efficient encoding algorithm (based on the MPEG-4 AVC H.264), because the available Blu-ray capacity (25 GB) on it was not enough. Full HD of 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution is compressed, as well as 24p/60i down to 12-24Mbps. That’s the opposite thought about what Blu-ray is supposed to do, which is expand the viewing capacity to such a degree that it doesn’t need compression.
Then there’s the price. Blu-ray already gets killed by offering a 10-30% premium price over DVDs, but the first hybrid sets will come in at four to five times the price of regular Blu-ray discs. That’s not a good way to hook in the public.
Once you get off the price though, the design is fairly interesting.
The concept (originally created by JVC) is as an optical sandwich:
There’s a single blue laser layer (at 25 GB capacity), lying on top of
two more layers of DVD (at 8.5 GB). In between, there is a thin film
that reflects the blue light needed for the Blu-ray playback, while
also allowing the DVDs red light to filter through.
Pony/Canon claims the hybrid disk is compatible with 99% of all
current DVD and Blu-ray players, including some of the early Blu
players like the PS3. So far, it hasn’t released a comprehensive list
of all of the players the disk will work on, or the few it will not.
According to Kyodo and Infiniti Storage, the companies that are building the actual hardware for the disk, mass-producing it won’t pose as much of a
problem, even when taking into account the difficult layering process.
Infinity says that the double layer needed for the Blu-ray can be
produced in a single layering segment (it often needs two) along with
the optical layers needed for the DVD.
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