Universal Announces ‘Flipper’ Format for Home Video

Robert Greenberger

Robert Greenberger is best known to comics fans as the editor of Who's Who In The DC Universe, Suicide Squad, and Doom Patrol. He's written and edited several Star Trek novels and is the author of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. He's known for his work as an editor for Comics Scene, Starlog, and Weekly World News, as well as holding executive positions at both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

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11 Responses

  1. David says:

    My question is though, will these turn out to be as effective as double sided DVDs, where they screw up a lot?

  2. Anonymous says:

    Game-changer? I don't know about that.If it's offered at the same orice as one of the other formats, I'll get it.If not, and I have blu-ray, why would I want a lower-res format?And also if not, if I don't have blu-ray, I'm not likely to plan for the future, because who knows how quickly blu-ray will be replaced with the next-gen format for home movies?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Initial thoughts were that its an interesting idea, thinking about it for a while though… if you have a Blu Ray player why would you watch the DVD version, and will people who want the DVD want to pay extra the Blu Ray will cost on the thought that they may one day upgrade.

    • Christopher Back says:

      Exactly! I can't count the times that I have flip discs mess up and my players refused to play them. I'm planning on buying a PS3 in the next few months, but I won't willing buy flip discs that any company puts out because they simply suck.

    • mike weber says:

      That's the idea – they'll be selling their over-priced Blu-Ray disks to people who aren't willing to pay the price gouge for the relatively-small quality step-up … because if you want the DVD (which they won't sell separately)…

  4. WAYNE KLEIN says:

    Good God, didn't Universal learn anything from the debacle of flipper discs for DVD? The quality control was horrible, discs often wouldn't play, there were flaws in the two layers that caused reading errors. Clearly another example of how Hollywood NEVER learns from their past mistakes.

    • mike weber says:

      I have several DVDs that are "flipper" formatted – mostly wide-screen on one side, pan&scan on the other – and i've never had any particular problems with any of them.

  5. mike weber says:

    This is, of course, a move to raise prices for DVD-only purchasers, while at the same time reducing inventory costs.Wanna bet on whether the price is the same as for current BluRay releases?

  6. mike weber says:

    Hmmm.I don't see my comment – i basically said Just a way to squeeze a bit more money out od DVD-only customers, while reducing their own inventory costs.Wanna bet on whether they cost the same as a current BluRay?Blu-Ray adoption has been slower than hoped for because it only offers an incremental increase in quality (about 25%) for a large increase in price. (The equipment, at least.)

  7. Vinnie Bartilucci says:

    I've been waffling about moving to blu-ray for a number of reasons. The price of the players is moot by now – models under $100 are available with a little diggin, but I'm waiting to get a PS3. But after that, I don't think I'll really appreciate the jump in quality until I have an HD TV, and that's an expense I'm not prepared to incur. However, now that several stores made good-sized HDTVs available as black friday doorbusters (ie, two per store) for $300, we'll likely see that price become a standard in a year or so, and THAT I can afford.

  8. Brandon Barrows says:

    I think it's a cool idea, even though I probably won't take advantage. I buy so few movies the last few years, it doesn't make much difference to me.