Warner has just as expected announced its solution to the ongoing format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Total Hi Def (THD) is the name of the media that Warner has now launched and the point of this format is that movies which is released on this media can be played in both Blu-ray and HD DVD players. From what it seems the THD discs are made in a way so that they contain dual layers of both HD DVD and Blu-ray data, which is made possible since the two lasers work at different frequencies. Anyway, this means that you won’t lose any quality due to any further compression and according to Warner there is no increased cost in material when manufacturing these multiformat discs.
“The first Total Hi Def releases will hit in the second half of this year, but no specific titles have yet been announced. At the conference, Warner used a copy of Superman to show off how it worked in an HD DVD player, Blu-ray player, and the recently announced LG Super Multi player that plays either.”
Warner’s thinking seems sound to us consumers and the question is if multiformat players or multiformat media will be in the the center of attention. It seems both Blu-ray and HD DVD will be around for some time.
