Universal Can't Decide Between DVD and Blu-Ray, Ships Both on "Flipper Disc"
Universal Can't Decide Between DVD and Blu-Ray, Ships Both on "Flipper Disc"
Posted 04/15/2010 at 5:32am
| by Paul Lilly
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It might be a little late in the game, but hoping to cash in on a few stragglers who have yet to upgrade their home theater to Blu-ray but plan on doing so, Universal continues to experiment with dual-format 'Flipper" discs.
"Consumers now have the ability to watch their favorite romantic classic, thriller, or action flick on Blu-ray, DVD, and PlayStation 3 players on one disc," Universal said. "With complete utility in one convenient package, each side of these Universal favorites includes the entire movie as well as all available bonus features, with the Blu-ray side featuring exciting exclusives such as BD-Live."
In other words, a single disc combines a 9GB DVD on one side and a 50GB Blu-ray on the other. Most Blu-ray players sport backwards compatibility with standard DVDs, but we can see this being popular with folks on the verge of upgrading. This will, of course, depend on how the pricing shakes out, and that's not something Universal has yet announced. We'd also like to see some current blockbuster titles make the list. This is actually the second wave of Flipper discs from Universal, which includes The Jackal, Traffic, and Out of Africa 25th Anniversary Edition.
So what do you think, will dual-format Flipper discs finally catch on?
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mahlerfan999
September 15, 2010 at 6:30am
Flipper discs were a great idea when hd-dvd had them, and they're still a great idea with blu-ray.
#1. Blu-ray discs are easy to scratch and you can easily receive one in the mail from netflix that is too scratched to play. Just imagine how cool it would be if you could just flip it over and the other side while scratched was playable. It wouldn't be hd but it would be better than nothing.
#2. Let friends and family without blu-ray borrow the disc.
#3. Play the disc everywhere else that is not your home theater.
The downside:
#1. Higher prices.
#2. Potential problems playing the dvd side in a dvd player due to the different thickness of the disc.
Velox
April 15, 2010 at 5:15pm
We have 5 DVD devices including a Ford Flex entertainment system and a HDTV/Bluray in the living room. I would buy these without a second thought.
Zazubovich
April 15, 2010 at 3:56pm
are we on the cusp of a new paradigm that dispenses with optical discs altogether? Broadband bundled with cable gets you movies on demand, including free movies, a hard drive based dvr, and hulu, in addition to pirate bay and other sources for digital entertainment, like archive.org.
It may be the hassle of having a giant case for a little optical disc plus the convenience of not having to store and care for them is the near future and blue ray is like the 12" extended dance remix as compared to 45s and 78s, last gasp of a dying medium. How many people pawned their cd collections when the Ipod etc. came out and saved a lot of storage space in the bargain in exchange for digital copies of the music they like?
Signal2Noise
April 15, 2010 at 11:53am
I support this form of distribution. Currently I only buy Bluray movies if the package contains a standard DVD as well. Like what Disney does. Otherwise I can't justify the price of buying a Bluray-only copy. I do own a Bluray player in the form of a PS3 (the only way to go, imo) system but my HDTV is only 720p so I'm not ready to take fill advantage of b-r playback.
violian
April 15, 2010 at 10:39am
"Late-stragglers" is a little harsh don't you think? Just only 2 years ago, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray were still fighting it out in the ring. I do agree with other people that those without an HDTV are stragglers because they've been out for years.
Tekzel
April 15, 2010 at 9:25am
I don't think "a few stragglers" is even close to an accurate statement. My guess is there are more people waiting than you can imagine. The economy, and the high prices of blu-ray disks, has made many people very thrifty. I am out of work, and in college, and while I would LOVE to get a nice HDTV and blu-ray player, that is not going to happen until I get ALL of my debts, admittedly not a lot, paid off and get a job.
Somehow, I don't think I am in the minority.
---
You know users... Buncha bitchy little girls.
Torqumada286
April 15, 2010 at 7:49am
I don't own a blu-ray player or HDTV yet. We're looking and purchasing them later this year. This kind of system is something I would buy. Disney has been doing two disc packages for about a year now, and that's what I have been buying to help future proof my collection as much as possible.
MarkIsARealBoy
April 15, 2010 at 6:11am
I have one blu-ray player but I still buy a lot of DVDs because the other three TVs in the house are DVD. I also like to loan movies out to friends and family and nobody I know has a blu-ray player yet. This is a great idea for that period between DVD and blu-ray we are in now just like the DVD/VHS period in the late 90's.
ghost6007
April 15, 2010 at 7:46am
I agree with Mark here, just because Bluray is out there not everyone goes out and buys a 1/2 dozen of the overpriced gizmos and chucks the 'ol DVD players out the window; I would definitely buy these discs especially if it meant saving money over buying two separate disks.
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