Doug Carson & Associates (DCA) has mastered the first 3X HD DVD, a standard red-laser DVD-ROM disc that can store more content than a regular DVD, and can only be played in a HD DVD player.
Whilst the cost of mastering is supposed to be lower, the sacrifice is that content must be encoded in VC-1 or AVC at a maximum 720p resolution.
The disc will support HD DVD's UDF 2.5 file structure, and AACS copy protection.
According to DCA, several manufacturers are looking at 3X as a low-cost entry into the high definition disc market.
Eclipse Data Technology also announced that they'd offer free upgrades to replication facilities, allowing them to master 3X HD DVD discs with their encoding hardware.
I'm not convinced this is a format that's going to take off. Why sacrifice quality for a slightly lower unit cost?
Excellent.
This means small and mid sized niche outlets can bring hgh def content to market when it might not otherwise appear.
If this is also part of the HD-DVD PC burner's abilities then being able to burn 30mbit/sec on regular DVD9 would be incredible.
The HTPC guys will love this.
Perhaps this is what they meant by 'secret weapon'?