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Could the Format Wars be Over Already?
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The industry is in a state of conflict as people gear up for two entirely different battles: the three-way war for supremacy in the living room between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo is one. Though related, the battle between HD-DVD (endorsed by Microsoft) and Sony's Blu-Ray format may end up actually being a more important conflict to decide the future of high-definition entertainment.
But... if Warner Bros. has anything to say about it, the Format Wars are over before they've even really begun. The New Scientist reports that two engineers from Warner have filed a patent for an "omni-DVD" that, due to some crafty multi-layering, can support HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and normal DVD formats all on the same disc.
Blu-ray uses a 405-nanometre wavelength laser to read data from tracks 0.1-millimetres-deep on the top surface of a disc. HD-DVD, on the other hand, uses the same wavelength to read recordings at a depth of 0.6 mm.
Warner's plan is to create a disc with a Blu-ray top layer that works like a two-way mirror. This should reflect just enough blue light for a Blu-ray player to read it okay. But it should also let enough light through for HD-DVD players to ignore the Blu-ray recording and find a second HD-DVD layer beneath.
An ordinary DVD recording could be put on the other side, so that conventional DVD players can read the disc as well.
Well.
That certainly makes things easier.
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