Warner Home Video looks set to become the first company to release an SD/HD DVD hybrid disc in the USA but at a price that could kill most prospective sales.
The first disc, due May 9, will carry an HD DVD version of the Kevin Costner/Jennifer Aniston movie Rumor Has It on one side and a standard DVD version on the other. It will be released at the same time on standard DVD disc and carry a suggested price of $39.99 - that's $11 more than Warner's SRP for the first three (single-standard) HD DVD titles it launched last week and roughly twice the price of many standard-definition DVD movies (Warner hasn't given the price of the SD version).
The new type of disc - Warner calls it HD DVD & DVD Combo - is intended to make life easier for consumers and for resellers but whether people will choose such discs on the off-chance that they might later buy into the HD DVD format isn't certain and verges on the unlikely in our view all the while that they carry such a large price premium over single-format HD DVDs and are twice the price of SD DVDs.
From the resellers' perspective, having two formats on a single disc means that less shelf-space is required and they'll certainly see that as a good thing. What they won't like, we know, is if the discs turn out to be so overpriced that they don't sell and just sit there on the shelf taking up valuable space.
Warner, though, is upbeat about hybrid discs. Well, it would be, wouldn't it? Senior VP of market management Steve Nickerson says, “Purchasing a disc now in this format is the ideal choice that gives consumers the greatest flexibility in viewing options. If they own an HD DVD player, of course, they'll get all the benefits of HD DVD and be able to play the disc in existing DVD players. If they're considering a future purchase of an HD DVD player, they can still enjoy the movie until they upgrade".
The three HD DVD titles Warner introduced last week - Million Dollar Baby, The Last Samurai and The Phantom of the Opera - will be joined on May 2 by GoodFellas and Swordfish. Then, on May 9, when the first hybrid disc hits, the company will add a further HD DVD offering, Training Day, bringing the total to seven.
Got any thoughts about hybrid discs? Would you, for instance, consider buying one unless the price was much the same as for a single-standard HD DVD (or a standard-def DVD?) unless it was a hugely compelling movie? Let us know by commenting in the ever-growing HEXUS.community.
Update April 27, 01:30
This story has been largely rewritten after it was initially posted to take account of new pricing information we originally didn't have - Bob Crabtree
Content supplied by UKHDTV.net
