Seeking to match the appeal of Sony and Philips' Super Audio CD format, DVD-Audio supporters are discussing development of their own dual-layer, stereo CD/multichannel DVD hybrid disc. The talks are in their earliest stages in the DVD Forum, which would presumably assign one of its working groups to investigate how (or whether) such a hybrid disc could achieve compatibility with the world's install-base of CD and DVD players, or issue a call for technology proposals.

"We strongly support a change in the DVD-A specifications to enable DVD players to distinguish between a CD and the DVD layer," stated Paul Vidich, executive vice president, strategic planning and business development for chief DVD-Audio proponent Warner Music Group. "We believe that this flexibility is very important to the new format because it will permit content companies to put out dual layer discs."

DVD Forum secretariat Hideyuki Irie acknowledged that the organization "intends to study the creation of a specification for dual-layer multi-format support," but noted that the Forum "unfortunately has no rights" to the CD format family. The Forum's DVD-Audio Promotion Council will hold a meeting in Tokyo Nov. 28 to discuss the format's market, current install base and authoring tools.