Will Blu-ray lose the DVD wars? New Hybrid DVD to be unveiled

A new hybrid DVD from Warner Home Video will contain both HD DVD and DVD format video on the same disc.

Warner Home Video just announced via Reuters yesterday that it will release a new "Hybrid DVD" that will be capable of playing both HV DVD and regular DVD format video on the same disc.

Scheduled to be released on May 9th, 2006, the new Hybrid DVD will have an HD DVD version video on one side of the disk and and standard DVD format definition on the other.

It will retail for a whopping $39.99, an outrageously higher price than the current average price of $20 bucks or so for a regular DVD.

To add insult to injury, the first movie scheduled for release in the new Hybrid DVD format is "Rumor Has It," the terrible 2005 flic starring Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Many call it the "The Graduate Part 2." The title says it all.

LG is set to unveil a a new player at the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas that is capable of playing both HD DVD and Blu-ray format video but, what impact this means for consumer desire for one format or the other is still not known.

CNet is also reporting that Warner Bros will announce a Total HD disc that will include both HD DVD and Blu-ray format video, each placed on separate sides of the disc.

This is also a big development but, I think the price would be astronimical as you would have to pay both camps their technology licensing fees and other additional costs. I can only imagine what the heck they would charge for the Total HD but, I guarantee you that it will be a much higher price than consumers want to pay for it.

Warner Bros. "…came up with came up with the Total HD disc after concluding that neither Blu-ray nor HD DVD was going the way of Betamax anytime soon," according to an interview with Barry M. Meyer, its chairman and chief executive.

People are definitely not going to fork over $40+ dollars for your average run-of-the-mill movie. It’d have to be a darn good blockbuster or classic flic like Goodfellas to get people to shell out that kind of cash for a single movie.

What everybody needs to do is sit down and talk with one another and remind themselves that it all comes down to cost. People are already weary of having to toss out their DVD players and purchasing a next generation format video player in the first place, let alone the prospect of having to purchase the "right" one, the one that will be around in 10 years time. This is before the $40 dollar price per disc sticker shock.

I think in the end, I think price and availability of movie titles will decide the winner of the two formats.