One thing standing in the way of a mass adoption of Blu-ray Disc over DVD is the whole issue of redundancy. Sure, Blu-ray is great for home use, but what about taking discs on the road for playback in the car on or a portable player or in the summer home? Disney has started including a bonus DVD with many of its recent Blu-ray releases, but you still end up with two discs which can lead to confusion and storage issues. Universal Studios Home Entertainment thinks they have the answer: a hybrid disc format which includes both a standard definition DVD and a high definition Blu-ray version of a film right on the same silver platter.
Universal's new "Flipper" disc technology is expected to debut with the re-release of the Bourne film trilogy (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) in individual releases on January 19, 2010.
"Universal's flipper discs are the perfect way for consumers to future-proof their collections while still enjoying their favorite movies on all their existing DVD players," said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "The flipper disc offers an easy way for viewers to convert to Blu-ray now or at any time in the future, confident in the fact they will be able to experience their home entertainment purchases in the highest quality picture and sound when they do."
Flipper discs are said to be able to include the full film as well as the full bonus materials on each side: one side for DVD and the other for Blu-ray. Blu-ray features of the Bourne films will include Universal's exclusive "U-Control" feature which allows viewers to drill down into detailed scene-specific or character-specific behind-the-scenes content while watching the film.
Unfortunately, using both sides of the disc for content doesn't leave much room for a label, but we can assume Universal thinks this is a small price to pay if the flipper disc helps accelerate Blu-ray adoption. We'll see if the consumer agrees this January.
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