Warner Bros develops dual format DVD

Warner Bros claims it has developed a DVD that works in either Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition players.

It plans to announce a single videodisc, that can play films and TV programmes in both Blu-ray and its rival format, HD DVD. Called a Total HD disc, Warner Bros is expected to announce the development at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week.

Sales of both formats have been slow, partly because consumers are wary about which standard to plump for. The current battle has echoes of the famous VHS and Betamax videotape format war, and it is hoped the disc may give sales of both formats a much-needed boost.

Sony's Blu-ray technology, backed by manufacturers such as Dell and Samsung, uses discs where data is put on the surface of a substrate and covered by thin protective layers. Its supporters say it is superior to and offers greater capacity than HD DVD.

Toshiba's HD DVD technology is backed by the likes of NEC and Sanyo. It uses discs where the data is sandwiched between two substrates. They have virtually the same structure as current discs, so manufacturing processes do not need to be changed radically, keeping costs down.

Talks between Sony and Toshiba in 2005 to find common ground for the next generation of DVD players initially looked promising but went nowhere. Some manufacturers are talking about developing DVD players that will play both formats, but these will be prohibitively expensive for most consumers at launch.

Warner Bros latest move comes as no surprise. The company filed patents for the new discs last September and has hedged its bets over which standard to support, saying it would release movies on both formats.

The battle now is to get the movie studios and broadcasters to release their libraries in both Blu-ray and HD DVD format on a single disc.

Barry M Meyer, chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros, said in an interview with the  New York Times that the company came up with the Total HD disc after concluding that neither Blu-ray nor HD DVD was going the way of Betamax anytime soon.

"The next best thing is to recognise that there will be two formats and to make that not a negative for the consumer," Meyer said.

"We felt that the most significant constituency for us to satisfy was the consumer first, and the retailer second. The retailer wants to sell hardware and doesn't want to be forced into stocking two formats for everything. This is ideal for them."