Can a Blu-ray/DVD hybrid disc save Blu-ray?

While Blu-ray player and disc sales apparently are climbing, movie executives repeatedly said that the Blu-ray has been a rather disappointing business so far. HD DVD may be dead, but movie streaming is developing into a serious rival for the Blu-ray disc and we hear that this Christmas is considered to be a make or break event for the technology. A new Blu-ray/DVD hybrid disc brings new hope that more Blu-ray media will be sold. Is it enough?

A Blu-ray/DVD hybrid has been protoyped by JVC before, but it seems thatInfiniti Storage Media will be the first company to enable a mass production of titles on such discs. The discs consist of a dual-layer DVD structure and a single layer Blu-ray on top. The total capacity is 33.5 GB (25 GB + 8.5 GB). The disc follows the "Blu-ray Disc, Hybrid Format" specifications provided by the Blu-ray Disc Association.  

The concept of the disc is relatively simple – it uses layers of film that reflect the blue lasers and enable content to be read from the Blu-ray layer, while red lasers will go through the film to access the DVD area. 

However, the format itself has never been the problem of Blu-ray. A much more interesting question is why consumers should choose such a hybrid disk over a regular Blu-ray disk (when they already have a Blu-ray player) or over a regular DVD (if they only have a DVD player, but want to future-proof their purchase)? For most consumers, the answer will come down to the price of hybrid content and common sense would suggest that such a hybrid disk cannot be produced for less money than either a DVD or a Blu-ray disk. 

It seems that initial hybrid releases, which will only be available in Japan, will be very pricey. According to CDRInfo, the first hybrid package consisting of four discs will retail for about $406, while the 7-DVD version currently sells for about $266, which means that the hybrid package carries a 52% premium. This may be in the range of the premium consumers pay more Blu-ray discs over DVDs, but there is no doubt that the cost is rather high.   

And at least at this time, there seem to be more pessimistic than optimistic Blu-ray people out there: A new format war is already emerging – between Blu-ray and HD movie streaming.    

We haven’t seen the hybrid media yet, but we cannot see many reasons how the format could succeed. To us, it looks like a classic case of dead on arrival.

Hybrid entertainment formats have not exactly worked for the industry in the past. For example, Warner had an idea in early 2007 to promote a HD DVD/Blu-ray hybrid disc, but shelved the idea later in the year when it became clear that Blu-ray was gaining a lead. 


What is your take? Would an available hybrid Blu-ray/DVD disc change your mind about Blu-ray? What value would you see in such a disc? Let us know by writing a comment below.

The Dark Knight Closes in on 2 Million Units Sold Worldwide

A week after hitting store shelves, the Blu-ray release of Warner Brothers 'The Dark Knight' has sold over 1.7 Million units worldwide, shattering all previous Blu-ray sales records. The film, which stars Christian Bale as the caped-crusader, is set to break $1 Billion at the box office, and some execs feared that home video sales would be hurt by such success. Those fears were alleviated after selling through 600,000 Blu-ray units on the first day, and sales of the landmark title have been continuing at a record pace. 

The worldwide numbers include retail and rental sales in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Benelux, and Australia. The majority of sales came from US buyers, which bought over 1 Million units of the title. Blu-ray sales represented nearly 13% of all home media sales for the title, which sold 13.5 Million units on home video formats. 

In comparison, 'The Matrix' DVD release in 1999 - which is generally recognized as the title to spark sales of the format - sold 780,000 units in one week. The Blu-ray release of 'The Dark Knight' has more than doubled that accomplishment. 

Blu-ray has been recognized as one of the most wanted items this holiday season, and consumers are responding aggressively towards lower player prices and the high definition releases of many film favorites. Interest in the format has exploded as consumers budgets become tighter and they realize they can get the same or better movie watching experience in their home with Blu-ray for a lot less money.