Universal Studios Home Entertainment officially announced a date for the first “flipper” discs, containing high-def Blu-ray content on one side and standard DVD content on the other side. What’s cool is the disc can be used in any Blu-ray or DVD player simply by flipping the disc.
The first titles on the new format from Universal include The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, all to be released on Jan. 19, 2010. This will mark the first Blu-ray releases of the films, which were previously made available on HD DVD.
Still focusing on prospective high-def disc conversions, Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment says, “The flipper disc offers an easy way for viewers to convert to Blu-ray now or at any time in the future.”
Seems like this cautious approach to 1080p integration was taken before. Remember the HD DVD/DVD combo discs? Back then it may have made more sense when you were looking at $400-$500 hi-def players, not now when you have BD players for a third of that price. Oh when will we be able move on from the dark ages of 480p?
Still though, having Blu-ray and DVD on the same disc will sure come in handy for those of us who watch DVDs on our computers, and especially for those of us who use Macs and still can’t get an internal BD player.
(Just a note: While the Universal announcement gives a Jan. 19 date for the individual “Bourne” titles as flipper discs, Amazon has the The Bourne Trilogy
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! Let’s hope the other studios and BD disc distributors follow suit. It would go a long way toward easing the transition most folks will have in making the leap to Blu-ray (added value). Most studios (Disney, etc.) prefer to make a single disc BD and double-disc BD (the second disc containing a standard-def DVD version and/or digital download)… that’s a waste of product packaging and the consumer dollar. Bravo to Universal.