Surprise! LG to debut dual format Blu-ray & HD DVD player at CES

LG's on again / off again combo HD DVD + Blu-ray player is -- at least for this week -- on again. To recap: After showing the BD199 Blu-ray player at last year's CES, the company abruptly shelved it and promised a combo player to end the high definition format war. Then this fall the company backed off those plans, reaffirmed its status in the Blu-ray camp and even showed off the BD100 Blu-ray player in London as recently as November. Now LG promises that not only is the dual format player coming, we'll be able to see it next week at CES. No word on if it contains any of the hybrid hardware we've heard so much about in recent months, but the company has promised details on pricing and availability in Las Vegas. With neither format projected to make a large dent in declining DVD sales this year, perhaps an end to the format war is just what they need to get things rolling... or cause more confusion and hesitation amongst potential customers.

[Via CE Pro]

[Storm9 @ Jan 4th 2007 1:59AM]

lets hope it costs less than a Blu-Ray + HD-DVD player put together!

[xVariable @ Jan 4th 2007 1:59AM]

Ruh-Roh Shaggy! Now wadu I do? Get the Hitachi HD-A1 and PS3, *or* this new LG player?

[hmurchison @ Jan 4th 2007 2:01AM]

This could be huge. LG could announce a Universal player and Warner is rumored to be announcing Total HD a hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD disc.

We could see a future where Universal players are the sought after players and most movies come in two flavors.

[jrepetti @ Jan 4th 2007 2:05AM]

If it can output 1080p24 and upconvert dvds to 1080p24 im in! How about some DVD-Audio and SACD support, another format war!

[adrian @ Jan 4th 2007 2:44AM]

Wow, even more chances for stuff to break and not being able to watch DVDs for a while.

[Dude @ Jan 6th 2007 9:06AM]

If the movie studios truly want to end the format war (and ending the war is in THEIR best interests) they simply need to abandon one format or the other and refuse to release any product in that format. If they aren't brave enough or smart enough to do that, then whatever losses they suffer are their own collective fault. And if we the consumers want to end this war (and ending the war is in OUR best interests) we need to boycott BOTH formats and buy up-converting DVD players until these geniuses end this madness. This whole thing (format war) is idiotic!

[fraxyl @ Jan 4th 2007 5:11AM]

True, the format war is idiotic, but because there are some studios that are owned by Sony, they wouldn't risk losing Sony's money to support an opposing format, and vice versa for HDDVD studios. I agree with boycotting, but it's flawed. As I'd boycott blu-ray, because it's Sony and it has a stupid name. Not that HDDVD is any less ridiculous... what happens when HD is the standard?! But Sony needs to come down off it's high pony, though that's just my opinion.

I was thinking about total digital distribution, but it still has some flaws that keep me sticking to DVD.

[tristanfey @ Jan 4th 2007 2:45PM]

"If the movie studios truly want to end the format war (and ending the war is in THEIR best interests) they simply need to abandon one format or the other and refuse to release any product in that format."\

Ummm... that's what the studios are doing. Those in the Blu-Ray camp are only releasing products on Blu-Ray and DVD formats and not releasing any product on HD-DVD. While the studios in the HD-DVD camp are only releasing products on HD-DVD and DVD formats and not releasing any product on Blu-Ray.

The only studio on the fence is Warner Brothers who is releasing in both formats. You make it sound like all the studios are releasing in both HD formats. If that was the case their technically be no format war, as far as the consumer was concerned, as they could choose either HD-based player and know their movie selections would be available for it.

[Jason Brown @ Jan 4th 2007 5:07AM]

The format war has been unofficially been over for some time now. The only reason people refuse to see/say it is that everybody is expecting microsoft to do something spetacular in the coming months. Sony is the first major company to say no to hddvd. With that knowledge you now now that the majority of the studios will be mostly in the blueray format. The other reason for the delays is the lack of lasers to distribute the hardware which we have seen in the ps3 production level. Any smart person who is not buying the PS3(cheapest way to get nextgen player) should wait 6 months to see what happens. Remember the dvd recorders? they were around a thousand dollars on release. within a year they were half the price and now are only a fraction of that.

[GhostDoggy @ Jan 4th 2007 5:42AM]

I'm still waiting for anyone to provie they can output exactly what is encoded on the disks without altering it. Unfortunately, because all of the first generation players (PS3 aside) used the Broadcom chip, the bandwidth-limited decoder couldn't output 1080 progressive at all.

Somehow I will doubt that LG will come out with a sub-$1000 dual-format player that will output 1080p24 without altering the format.

[Freddy.cloud @ Jan 4th 2007 9:54AM]

I would think that they would be hesitant to release this. After all, even with a combo player, that means that you'll get either a blu-ray disk or an HD-DVD, and chances are all of your future purchases will be one or the other. And what about firmware updates on the formats? As nice as a conbo player would be, the only real solution is a single HD format.

[Steve N. @ Jan 4th 2007 11:56PM]

Plain and simple...I would buy a combo player. GO LG!

[Hello @ Jan 4th 2007 9:18PM]

If they aren't brave enough or smart enough to do that, then whatever losses they suffer are their own collective fault. And if we the consumers want to end this war (and ending the war is in OUR best interests) we need to boycott BOTH formats and buy up-converting DVD players until these geniuses end this madness. This whole thing (format war) is idiotic!



They are looking out for YOUR best intrest that's why compnays are relesing Hybrid disks and players. The player more importantly because it alows you to buy either and as long as you have the better 1080p(look into this carfully) input on your T.V., your Okay. I think you might be the ignorant one for thinking that watching up-converted DVD's is anything like BLu-Ray's. Notcie they are getting this out there when the majority of people are looking into buying HD stuff. They got there feet wet with peole who could afford both and seen that the 75% of pepole that were gong to buy now want a simple solution. Here it is. So instead of being negative look for the good man. You'll live longer.

[Dude @ Jan 6th 2007 9:10AM]

I believe both Warner and Paramount are releasing films in both formats. So with the majority of studios in the Blu- Ray camp, and a handful in the HD-DVD camp, and two major studios trying to straddle the fence, the average Wal-Mart shopper is just going to continue to be confused. But my point is that collectively the studios are doing themselves harm by not coming to a consensus. Consumers buy movies by title, not by studio. If the studios are not willing to throw in the towel soon and sit down and choose one format they just might shoot themselves in the foot. As it stands I don’t think the mass of consumers is going to adopt either of the two formats. Most consumers don’t read tech blogs or even begin to understand the whole HDTV phenomenon anyway. Most people are going to wait and continue to purchase good old DVDs and then, hopefully catch the next wave, which I think will be the holographic storage discs currently being developed.

[mat @ Jan 7th 2007 12:35AM]

The higher capacity blu-ray discs have been unable to prevail, despite their technical superiority (50 GB vs. only 30 GB of HD DVD).

...I'm confused as to why the format war is still an issue? As people with a conscience, aren't we compelled to choose blu-ray when considering the enormous global effect of a greater capacity storage disk? Less total discs manufactured/sold/trashed each year = the environmentally friendly solution. Even staunch HD-DVD supporters are aware that our world isn't exactly in the best of shape and that little things like this really do add up on a global macro scale. Let's not be prideful or defensive of our favorite company (this really includes you my crazy gamers - XBOX vs. PS3 loyalists). Let's make wise decisions. Technology should be the environment's friend, not its adversary. Let's not accept a dual-format player as the end all solution to the format war. It's actually very harmful to this silly disc war. Dual-format player = both discs continued to be manufactured in parallel = HD DVD consumer burned discs manufactured/sold/trashed every year is much more than necessary = sad earth.

The little things add up. It might sound ridiculous at first, but please realize the consequences of what we collectively choose.