To make flipping of discs redundant and to allow for colorful printing on the disc surface, Toshiba has unveiled an improved design of their single-sided disc that can now hold 2-layers of HD-DVD storage (HD-30) and a single DVD layer (DVD-5) on the same side. Previously it was possible to only handle HD-15 and DVD-5 layers this way.

Combo discs are a dubious thing to begin with but why there would be a real demand to have everything on the same side could be anyone’s guess. Even though improved, this constellation will still not be able to fulfill the market’s real need, which would be a HD-30/DVD-9 combo disc at the very least. In fact, market pressure will most likely require a something like a HD-45/DVD-9 combo for best results in the future, provided there will be a lasting request for HD-DVD and DVD combos, which quite frankly, we here at DVD Review don’t see happening.