I'm sure someone has thought of this, but let's be clear precisely what would be on this DVD/CD.

If we're talking about pure data, yes -- put it on an extra branch of some archive, give us access, then shift to the normal archive next year. For those who can't download, send a CD. Maybe it'll just be the huge trailer sizes, but are we really likely to exceed 720 MB and need a couple GB? Or are we just saying DVD because it sounds cooler?

Also consider that, last I looked, a DVD-R cost about the same as 3 or 4 CD-R. It might still be more cost efficient to burn multiple CDs rather than a DVD for data.

However, TV use was mentioned above. Be aware that if you want video-compatible DVDs, you'll have to wrestle with NTSC (the US/Japan? standard, jokingly interpreted as "Never The Same Color"), PAL (most of Europe) and SECAM (ces français dingues....). Not a clue, for the rest of the world. Also, be careful with region coding -- I'm not sure whether the DVDs bought locally would be local-region or Region 0. This might be circumvented by having the distributor be the one to transcode the videos onto the DVD in their local video standard, but there are technical hang-ups that might need to be addressed carefully.