Warner Brothers possible solution to high-def war?
09-21-06 | 07:12 PM
#1
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DVD Talk Special Edition
Warner Brothers possible solution to high-def war?
Warner execs win hybrid disc patent
Technology would accommodate HD DVD, Blu-ray, standard DVD
By Paul Sweeting 9/21/2006
SEPT. 21 | With the high-definition format war poised to take center stage this fourth quarter, a patent for a dual-format disc developed by three Warner Bros. engineers came to light last week, fueling speculation that a breakthrough that might spare consumers the risk of ending up on the wrong side of the battle was in the offing.
The patent was granted Aug. 10 and issued to Wayne M. Smith, Alan Bell and Lewis S. Ostrover, all current Warner Bros. employees.
The patent describes a disc that includes multiple data layers, at various depths within the disc structure, that could accommodate HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions of the same movie, along with a standard DVD or CD layer.
Although initial reports of the patent, which first surfaced in New Scientist magazine, focused on Warner’s role as a supporter of both high-def formats and suggested the studio was looking for a technological way out of a potentially ruinous format war, the patent itself tells a somewhat different story.
The original, provisional application for the patent, in fact, was filed on Dec. 23, 2004, at a time when Warner was still firmly in the HD DVD-only camp. And its progress through the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office over the next two years serves more as a road map to the evolution of the studio’s thinking about the challenges it would face in the transition from standard-def to high-def than as a blueprint for a dual-format strategy.
For instance, the provisional application focuses more on potential for a hybrid disc, incorporating a standard DVD layer and either a Blu-ray or HD DVD layer than on the possibility of incorporating both high-def formats.
At the time the original engineering work was being done for the patent, neither the DVD Forum nor the Blu-ray Disc Assn., had approved a hybrid configuration.
High among the list of potential applications of such a hybrid configuration mentioned in the application is a disc with a standard DVD layer containing a simple message to consumers that the high-def layer or layers contained on the disc could be read only by the appropriate high-def player.
The analysis suggests the studio was worried about the possibility that consumers would attempt to play high-def discs in their standard-def players.
The application also focuses prominently on the potential for a hybrid disc containing audio-only material on a layer that could be read by standard CD players, essentially a high-def version of the DualDisc format then being developed by the music industry.
Over time, the documents filed by the claimants focused more on the potential for a Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid but did little to address the basic impracticalities of such a plan.
Among other problems, anyone seeking to issue such a disc would first have to obtain a license for each of the underlying formats, something neither high-def camp would be likely to grant for such an application.
According to a source familiar with the patent, Warner made no attempt to seek support for a dual-format disc from either the DVD Forum or the Blu-ray Disc Assn.
The three Warner Bros. engineers declined to comment on the patent or its background. But the studio issued a statement saying, “there are no immediate plans to put this three-format model into production.”
This would be a interesting technology if it pulls through...
Technology would accommodate HD DVD, Blu-ray, standard DVD
By Paul Sweeting 9/21/2006
SEPT. 21 | With the high-definition format war poised to take center stage this fourth quarter, a patent for a dual-format disc developed by three Warner Bros. engineers came to light last week, fueling speculation that a breakthrough that might spare consumers the risk of ending up on the wrong side of the battle was in the offing.
The patent was granted Aug. 10 and issued to Wayne M. Smith, Alan Bell and Lewis S. Ostrover, all current Warner Bros. employees.
The patent describes a disc that includes multiple data layers, at various depths within the disc structure, that could accommodate HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions of the same movie, along with a standard DVD or CD layer.
Although initial reports of the patent, which first surfaced in New Scientist magazine, focused on Warner’s role as a supporter of both high-def formats and suggested the studio was looking for a technological way out of a potentially ruinous format war, the patent itself tells a somewhat different story.
The original, provisional application for the patent, in fact, was filed on Dec. 23, 2004, at a time when Warner was still firmly in the HD DVD-only camp. And its progress through the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office over the next two years serves more as a road map to the evolution of the studio’s thinking about the challenges it would face in the transition from standard-def to high-def than as a blueprint for a dual-format strategy.
For instance, the provisional application focuses more on potential for a hybrid disc, incorporating a standard DVD layer and either a Blu-ray or HD DVD layer than on the possibility of incorporating both high-def formats.
At the time the original engineering work was being done for the patent, neither the DVD Forum nor the Blu-ray Disc Assn., had approved a hybrid configuration.
High among the list of potential applications of such a hybrid configuration mentioned in the application is a disc with a standard DVD layer containing a simple message to consumers that the high-def layer or layers contained on the disc could be read only by the appropriate high-def player.
The analysis suggests the studio was worried about the possibility that consumers would attempt to play high-def discs in their standard-def players.
The application also focuses prominently on the potential for a hybrid disc containing audio-only material on a layer that could be read by standard CD players, essentially a high-def version of the DualDisc format then being developed by the music industry.
Over time, the documents filed by the claimants focused more on the potential for a Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid but did little to address the basic impracticalities of such a plan.
Among other problems, anyone seeking to issue such a disc would first have to obtain a license for each of the underlying formats, something neither high-def camp would be likely to grant for such an application.
According to a source familiar with the patent, Warner made no attempt to seek support for a dual-format disc from either the DVD Forum or the Blu-ray Disc Assn.
The three Warner Bros. engineers declined to comment on the patent or its background. But the studio issued a statement saying, “there are no immediate plans to put this three-format model into production.”
This would be a interesting technology if it pulls through...
09-21-06 | 07:38 PM
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From: Greenville, South Cackalack
It's a little buried in the "...versus..." thread, but this is being discussed in there.
(Quick link).
(Quick link).
