Would you buy a DVD today that was also an HD DVD on the flip side? Would you spend any extra for the HD DVD feature?

Warner Home Video is betting that even though you don't own an HD DVD player you might just spring for an HD DVD layer on your next DVD movie purchase. The DVD Hybrid is a new disk type that will be released by Warner that combines both HD DVD and traditional DVD Video on the same disk. The first film to be released in this format will be Rob Reiner's "Rumor Has It" on May 9th.

Other Warner titles that have already made it to HD DVD (might get the Hybrid treatment) include "Million Dollar Baby", "The Last Samurai" and "The Phantom of the Opera".

Warner believes that by releasing the dual format disk they'll get buyers who do not yet own an HD DVD player but plan to buy one in the future. It sounds reasonable to me. I just don't know if I'd pay much extra for it, or any extra for the HD DVD layer. Right now the future of these high def disks are so uncertain HD DVD could be useless in another year.

But Warner is set to place the cost of a new hybrid copy of "Rumor Has It" at $40 US. According to Paul Jackson an industry analyst with Forrester Research the new hybrid disk should only cost about five dollars more than a regular DVD to entice buyers.

If I were in the habit of buying a lot of DVDs (which I am) I would probably buy one if was a must have movie that I didn't already own on DVD. But I wouldn't be enticed to buy a disk I wouldn't normally buy just because it's a hybrid even if it was only $5 bucks more. Nor would I buy a movie I already own in hybrid format before owning an HD DVD player. I would however buy a movie in HD DVD (or Blu-ray) format that I already own on DVD if it was one of a select few classics.

Damn, that means I'll be buying Fifth Element, Lord of the Rings extended version trilogy and the Terminator trilogy all over again.