Disney plans to keep the DVDs packed in w/ Blu-ray through next year
By Richard Lawler 
posted Aug 14th 2009 11:32AM
posted Aug 14th 2009 11:32AM
Blu-ray buyers of Disney movies can expect to keep finding DVD copies packed in, at least through 2010. According to a statement from the company received by Video Business, president Bob Chapek claims customers have shown "tremendous interest" in packages that can also play in their existing DVD players. Especially for the market of Disney titles, we can see how that would be, since you probably haven't upgraded the television in the kids room, or in the backseat of the car just yet. Hopefully this deeper commitment to including an additional disc doesn't lead to the rumored raised prices, but hopefully the threat of Redbox keeps that at bay.
Oh, I'll say the obvious: Everyone said this was stupid when HD DVD did it.
HD-DVD did NOT do this. HD-DVD made combo discs: a flipper with DVD on one side, HD-DVD on the other.
Combo discs were largely reviled because they caused a lot of problems in existing players, and cost a lot more money. They were *implemented* so badly, many Combo discs were discontinued and re-released as HD-DVD only (Children of Men and Army of Darkness for example).
The idea itself was good, not the implementation. The "stupid" label came along because you payed more for something that was almost guaranteed to cause problems.
-Pie
Never had many combo discs but my HD DVD American Gangster combo was nice, it played perfectly too.
I think there's a misunderstanding, the disc being referred to and which, when the plug was pulled, was only a couple of months away from appearing and we just missed out on was the HD DVD 'Twin Disc'.
This could have been what all DVDs became
(excepting the high capacity 51gb Triple layer HD DVD only discs).
2 HD DVD layers on one side along with a DVD layer on the same side
(and incorporating the change to 17gb HD layers too).
(in fact one Twin disc title @ 15gb per layer did manage to see the light of day in Japan, an anime title, IIRC)
Given the lack-lustre quality of many Blu-ray transfers since the end of the old format war it seems to me to be a real pity the competiton vanished.
Its the all your eggs in one basket thing MFM. I'd rather it on an extra disc.
Also, seeing more discs in the package makes for the appearance of greater value to those who don't know any better.
And as always............GIVE IT UP!
HD-DVD is dead.
xem, what?
You have a disc. Put it in a DVD player and it plays. Put it in an HD DVD player and it plays in HD. It couldn't be simpler.
HD DVD died before it saw the light of day. But in light of what Disney is doing I find it funny that they supported Blu from the beginning.
I think it was all for the restrictions and control.
xemumanic, what?
I gave some relevant information and made 1 pertinent comment about some of the pi$$-poor Blu-ray transfers.
All of which was correct and none of which had anything to fo with not being 'over' HD DVD.
Jeez, the Blu-ray taliban just can't stand to see any criticism whatsoever, accurate or not.
Do you 2 even understand the concept of "all your eggs in one basket"?
Especially for Disney movies, where they kids are likely to destroy the discs anyway?
Why the hell would I want them both on the same disc that more expensive to make, and more likely to be damaged/fail due to its complexity?
xemumanic
If we had proper managed copy
(another triumph of the greed of the studios and CE corps = another Blu-ray balls up)
you would be able to at the very least burn a DVD quality copy and damage would simply not be an issue.
MFM...
While my Children of Men worked perfectly until my 360 croaked, this was one disc that was referred to as disastrous on many players. AVS HD-DVD side -- note, HD-DVD side, not BD side -- reviled the Combo disc because of playback and cost issues. They always celebrated when a non-Combo re-release was coming.
And Blu-ray being lackluster lately? Give me a break. That is so UNTRUE, it's a joke.
Bolt, Despereaux, Bug's Life, Rock N Rolla, X-Men I&II.. not to mention Iron Man, Star Trek TOS, etc. BD has been absolutely doing great in terms of quality. Yeah the ST Movies sucked, but they are an anomaly, not a rule. BD has been doing great. The majority of releases look wonderful.
Give it up. You simply hate Blu-ray, and refuse to let REALITY intrude at all.
At all.
Sheesh.
-Pie
I love that they do this. I can't have the BD edition for the living room and the DVD edition for my daughter's room and the car.
that was my basic plan
Actually HD-DVD was better because they were on the same disc ... This is another disc i will just throw at homeless people .. I have no use for dvd anymore
Not true. See above.
-Pie
HD-DVD was not better in this regard. Keeping the standard DVD content on a separate disc allows for all of the BD disc space to left available for the HD content.
I was actually talking for the environment .. I don't see the need for both togather .. either you want the Blu ray or you want the dvd ..
I see both sides.
I don't even have a blu ray player yet, but if and when I get one - I will only have one. Do I buy blu ray or dvd? I want blu ray..but then I'm stuck just watching it in the one room. This solves that solution.
On the other hand, it is just another disc harming the environment and taking up space, which I don't like. I feel like they should try making a combo disc like HD DVD did, only one that works.
Well now Toshiba are joining the BDA things might (*might*) change but everything DVD is owned and run by the DVD Forum.
The BDA members have (so far) chosen to abstain on non-Blu-ray matters after they were called out for abusing their obvious conflicted position and using their votes to further Blu-ray.
Whether the DVD Forum feel inclined to help Blu-ray by allowing combo or a Blu-ray version of the Twin Disc remains to be seen.
But it is fair to say there is no sign of it so far (even though lab demo discs have proved the possibility)
Don't start up this crap again. HD DVD lost, Blu-Ray won. Get over it.
Microsoft can get over it. Toshiba can get over. Poor MFM has painted his mind into a corner and doesn't have the maturity or sense to get over it. He will probably still be prattling on about HD DVD for years to come.
You guys are insane.
I merely point out the facts of the matter (everything I said was factually correct) but you can't bear to hear the truth.
Go on then, if I'm just being so unable to 'get over' HD DVD go ahead and you point out the legalities as they currently stand with the DVD Forum.
I think you'll find the situation is exactly as I said and that despite Toshiba applying to join the BDA that does not (yet) mean a thing as regards DVDs position changing with regard to Blu-ray.
If you're so adamant that I'm wrong then please feel free to produce the DVD Forum minutes saying so.
You'll find the DVD Forum site here - http://www.dvdforum.org/sc-meetingdetails.htm
Feel free.
I won't be holding my breath.
I think its better than HD DVD. I had problems with the HD DVD combo disc reading in my HD-A1 player. Plus, if you give the DVD to your kid and the scrat it or break it, its not like they did it to your Blu-ray.
Again, for enthusiasts this may not be the best deal. For families with a nice Home Theater AND portable DVD players, this is a nice solution.
Disney, Just give me Finding Nemo and the lion king on BD and worry about this stuff later
As long as there are options for "with dvd" and "without DVD", I'll be pleased. I'm not interested in DVD versions of these (or any other) blu-ray movie I buy. Digital copies are a slightly different matter.
This is the thing isn't it? Most of the studios realise that shoving a digital copy or DVD disc into the case is an excuse for slapping $5 onto the retail price. In reality it probably only costs them 50c to do it, so the rest is profit.
I see advantages to have them packaged together, but on separate discs. I use the main BD disc for our home theater...while my children use the standard DVD around the home and in the car.
Which means in november I can buy up and monsters inc on bluray regardless of if I have a bluray player yet. This is a great thing as far as futureproofing goes
...now as long as they start making their digital copies zune compatible, I'll be happy. I'm STILL trying to figure out stripping the DRM off the ones I have that I got before I defected from itunes
I say keep including the DVD copy with the BD... BUT offer the BD only version as well, for cheaper. I like having the DVD version for playing a movie in the car and in other rooms for the kids... or even lending the movie out with less worry.
I wish they had a combo Blu-ray/VHS....
There seems to be some confusion here over what HD DVD offered so here's a recap:
HD DVD had two types of combo disk. The first, a disk with two or three layers on one side, one red and the other two blue, was probably the most famous but also never really caught on. These are generally called hybrid discs.
The other was a double sided disk with one or two layers of blue on one side, and one or two layers of blue on the other. DVD players would play one side, HD DVD players the other, you just had to make sure you put it in the player right side up. These are often called "flip discs". They made up the vast majority of HD DVD/DVD combo disks.
Nominally, I guess, you could say there was a third, in that you could substitute red layers for blue, but you'd still be limited to two red layers per side, and, well, HD in 8G, while possible, isn't desirable. And it certainly isn't desirable in 4G. But, whatever, nobody released HD DVDs using red layers, so that's an academic distinction.
Some people claim that the flip disks were unreliable because they were flip disks. This is false. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with flip disks. There MAY have been an issue with some runs of HD DVD/DVD flip disks, but the likelihood is that the cause was a flaw with the specific machines, not a systematic flaw with the concept. Flip discs are used all the time with DVD to distribute combo-4:3/16:9 discs. With HD DVD, the technology was new, and so you'd expect a glitch or two with early runs. I have a number of later HD DVD/DVD flips, they work fine. I've not had any problems.
In terms of whether two discs or one is better, that's going to depend on who you are. For the studios, a flip or hybrid is infinitely superior to a Disney style two disc back because if you give someone two separate media-distinct copies of a movie, well, they can sell or give away the other copy. It's that simple. Now, from your point of view as a customer, if it's a disadvantage for the studio, then it's also a disadvantage because you end up paying more for the same disc.
Blu-ray's royalty structure also works against any kind of combo pack too (be it flip, hybrid, or separate) because Blu-ray's patents are not a strict superset of DVD's, which means that someone shipping a combo pack has to pay two sets of royalties. This didn't apply to HD DVD, which was why combo disks didn't tend to be much more expensive than regular HD DVDs (there was a cost difference, but that had to do with the fact that a three or four layer disc is more expensive than a two layer disc.)
So that's the situation, and hopefully that'll undo some of the confusion here.
> The other was a double sided disk with one or two layers of blue on one side, and one or two layers of blue
That should be "The other was a double sided disk with one or two layers of blue on one side, and one or two layers of red". Yeah, sorry.
The Twin disc (hybrid) never made it out into the wild (with the exceeption of that 1 Japanese anime title) squiggleslash.
The combo did (the flipper) as you say.
I doubt there's much point in talking about the facts regarding the legal situation with the DVD Forum and the BDA's lack of rights to use DVD.
The Blu-ray taliban seem here think that just shows you're not 'getting over' HD DVD and that Toshiba applying for BDA membership means that no longer applies.
Ignorance & wishful 'thinking' rules, huh?
Pretty pathetic really.
Good, there's only one TV in the house with a blu-ray player, an included dvd gives a lot of extra flexibility.
And now, I really only made this comment to say I hope they bring Ponyo to blu-ray.
Tremendous interest? Compared to what? They're getting to where you can't get a standalone BD release. I really don't care if they throw a DVD in and it does have it's advantages but let's not stroke our Johnsons too much here, I wish they'd just admit that it's an easy way to charge another 5 or 10 bucks for a release (or 15 in the case of Wall-E) to combat the already falling BD software margins. I don't know why I even try to rationalize it though because I end up buying the damn discs after everything's said and done, I'm such a consumer whore lol.
Disney is using DVD+Digital Copy as a reason to gouge on prices.
As a father of two boys, 5 and 2, I can't say that I need both the DVD and Digital Copy. One or the other please. Personally the DVD is much more usefull. It can play on any DVD player in rooms that aren't BD equipped and it also can play on our laptop for long car rides. Digital Copy is useless and included a one time use DVD.
With Managed Copy coming, I really don't need both options. Up on BD is retailing for $45! That is ridiculous. What is even more ridiculous is that 2001 Monster's Inc which most PIXAR fans probably already have on DVD is also retailing for $45 on BD. Come on Disney... this is gouging the BD customer.