Universal Studios Home Entertainment will soon be making the consumer transition to Blu-ray players much smoother. In a press release distributed Monday, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced their decision to market and sell double-sided Blu-ray/DVD discs.
One side of these discs would play the HD Blu-ray version of a movie and the other would hold the standard DVD version, giving the consumer the choice and the possibility of both formats.
The first titles to be released in this format are the three films of The Bourne Trilogy: "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum." The titles are set to sell on January 19, 2010. This choice is also significant since Universal originally released The Bourne films in the HD DVD format.
The flipper format will not alienate either audience, but allow consumers to slowly transition to the new technology and format. Bonus material will be available on both sides of the disc.
Other studios have sought to deliver similar solutions by offering dual-disc combo packs.
While Universal is exploring the use of the flipper format on new-release titles, other studios have begun the process of similar dual-disc formats.
