Since the release of the HD-DVD, there have been many arguments, both for and against it, and competition from rivaling Blu-ray technology hasn't exactly made things any easier. Sure, it's nice to watch a movie in HD format, the quality of the image and the sound are beyond the capabilities of normal DVDs due to the much larger capacity these HD-DVDs have.

Of course I've mentioned competition in the form of Blu-ray disks, but the manufacturing costs for these HD-DVD disks and drives is also big, not as much as the ones experienced by Blu-ray, but still big enough to make a hole in your pocket. And ODD manufacturers have taken advantage of the situation and we've since seen combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray drives and disks that allow for HD-DVD content to be recorded on one side of the disk and normal DVD format on the other side.

For these different combinations, optical drives have been created, fitted, modified, and so on. Now, yet another format comes to our attention through an initiative of Bandai Visual company. They have announced the simultaneous United Stated and Japan release of the bestselling OVA "Freedom" in HD-DVD/DVD Twin disk format.

Their history includes collaboration with Memory-Tech Corporation and Microsoft for the development and fine tuning in video compression technology. The twin format disk features VC1 encoded content with the availability of the HDi interactive format. The story doesn't have a happy-ending though as the recording technology allows for the creation of a three-layered disk which will sustain both HD-DVD and DVD formats on the same side of the disk, not having to turn it from side to side like undercooked steak. But normal DVD players might have a problem with the three layers, so for the time being, the release is limited to Japan.