Every now and then tech companies will launch a product that’ll make you thin k, “Wait, why werenR 17;t we doing this all along?” Universal Studio’s new “Flipper” disc is one of those: a two-in-one disc that’s Blu-ray on one side and DVD on the other.

Universal is rolling out the dual-format disc beginning with the Bourne trilogy (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum). Each Flipper disc will cost about $30 — about the sam e as most Blu-ray titles cost brand new.

Why is this a good idea? Well, say you want to bring a movie over to a friend’s house, but it happens to be a Blu-ray disc — and alas, your friend doesn’t own a Blu -ray player. Or, say you have more than one televisio n set, but one of them only has a DVD player plugged into it. Third, say you own a DVD player and are waiting to purchase a Blu-ray player in the not-too-distant future. Buying a Flipper would future proof your movie.

CNET notes that the now-disconti nued HD DVD format tried the two-in-one format back in 2007, so this is hardly a new idea. Still, even if overdue, the Flipper is a welcome option with the risin g popularity of Blu-ray players and high-definition TVs.

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