DVD Forum backs the CD/DVD-Audio hybrid (DualDisc)

June 15, 2004

With both DVD-Audio and SACD hybrid discs aiming to compete with each other over the
past while, the DVD Forum has officially approved the new CD/DVD hybrid
format. The CD/DVD hybrid is a double-sided disc with
standard red-book audio-CD format on one side and high fidelity DVD-Audio format
on the other side.

One advantage with DualDisc over Super Audio CD is the ability to have a
2nd session on the DVD-Audio side for legacy high fidelity playback in any
DVD-Video player. DVD-Audio can
also be played back in a
PC with suitable software, unlike SACD which is totally incompatible with
the DVD standard and thus cannot be read in any PC optical
drive.

The aim of the CD/DVD hybrid is to eliminate the need for two separate
discs for both legacy and high fidelity playback. All five major labels in the
US have
test-marked the DualDisc including Sony despite trying to push its own Super
Audio CD format. GristyMcFisty submitted the
following news via our news
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The DVD Forum has given is official thumbs-up to DualDisc, a DVD/CD hybrid format.

The approval paves the way
for a more rapid adoption of the DVD Audio format. DualDisc essentially
sticks a CD onto the back of a DVD or DVD Audio disc. The idea is that
punters will be able to, say, play higher quality DVD Audio content at
home and use the same disc to play the same music in their car's CD
player.

The DVD specification limits
disc thickness to 1.5mm, which is possible to meet using a slightly
thinner CD layer than is found on regular CDs and a single-layer
DVD.

DualDisc should allow music
labels to promote DVD Audio without forcing customers to lose some the
playback flexibility they've come to expect from CD. It will also allow
them to offer CD/DVD combos on a single disc rather than the two (one CD,
one DVD) that such packages usually contain.

Ultimately, the industry may
ship to so-called 'single inventory' products, using DualDisc to
physically merge their CD and DVD Audio offerings into a single disc in a
single case. While disc production costs would rise, the labels could make
significant savings on inventory and distribution costs.

To date, all five major
labels - Sony Music, EMI, Bertelsmann Music Group, Warner Music Group and
Universal - have all test-marketed DualDiscs in the US. Sony's
participation is interesting given it is touting its own next-generation
music carrier, Super Audio CD (SACD).

The DVD Forum itself ratified
the format last week at a Steering Committee meeting in Seattle, a
spokesman said. "DualDisc is officially approved by [the] DVD Forum," he
told HighFidelityReview.com.

While
watching the progress of how well each format was doing, I was expecting
DVD-Audio to lead once software was released to allow playback in a
PC. The only advantage I seen
with SACD originally was the hybrid capability to start with, but now the
DualDisc offers this capability.

Source: The Register - Storage