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Warner puts Blu-ray, HD DVD combo disc 'on hold'

Will Glu-ray Disc ever make it to market? It's certainly looking less likely that the Blu-ray and HD DVD single-disc combo product from Warner Home Video (WHV), dubbed TotalHD, is going to happen.

Speaking in an interview trade-oriented website This Week in Consumer Electronics, WHV President Ron Sanders said the format was "kind of on hold right now".

The problem? "We’re concerned that as the only one publishing on it, it would be hard to make it go."

Total HD was originally supposed to come to market in the US late this year, but WHV admitted in June that the format would not appear until 2008.

Total HD was launched this past January as WHV's answer to the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Essentially, the product bonds two discs, one of each format, onto the back of the other, allowing the one disc to be played in any HD player.

The snag is, it's only appealing if you're a studio already supporting both formats, and right now there's only one that is: WHV. Most of the others are backing one format or the other in the hope that their preferred platform will gain the critical mass it needs to dominate the market. ®

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