LG Using Broadcom Chips in Dual HD Disc Players

By Ed Oswald | Published November 7, 2007, 12:35 PM

LG said Wednesday that it had selected Broadcom's integrated dual HD disc format system-on-a-chip had been selected to power the company's next dual-format player.

Broadcom says that its solution continues to be the only one in the industry that can fully support the interactive features of either format -- HD DVD's HDi and Blu-ray's BD-Java -- and other mandatory requirements.

It supports the H.264/AVC, VC-1, MPEG-2, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD audio and video standards, and features backwards compatibility and DVD-R, DVD-VR, and CD support as well.

Such a market for dual-format capability is sure to grow in the coming months, as recent moves by Wal-Mart and the sale of some 90,000+ HD DVD players in the past week alone are likely to keep the format war going for a considerable amount of time.

At the same time, the high price of the players has held many back from purchasing them. For example, dual format players currently run around $1,000. But with dual-format chips becoming more widely available, prices should soon begin to drop.

"Our universal system-on-a-chip and software solution brings us one step closer to ending the confusion surrounding the current format war by supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats at the highest performance levels," Broadcom's consumer electronics chief said in a statement.

Currently, LG's dual-format player is the only one on the market to receive the certification of both formats.

Comments

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If or when combo players ever hit $200, everone can be happy and buy any movie they want.

The BD fanatics don't want everyone to be happy, they just want HD-DVD to lose for some reason. If BD wins this stupid contest to see who can lose money faster, they will consider that the biggest achievement in there dull boring pointless lives.

Like our Joey who probably wakes up every morning feeling just a little more scared about his crappy life than he did the day before and has to come here and vent his frustrations about his personal shortcomings and delicate sensibilities.

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I am new to the Hi-Def scene, and I'm agnostic about Blu-ray versus HD-DVD.
I am wondering if anybody else is having problems with subtitles with "Casino Royale" in dual-format players.
I have an HP Pavilion d4995t with the combo Blu-ray Writer/HD-DVD Reader.
All my other HD-DVD and Blu-ray disks play fine, but "Casino Royale" only lets me choose Thai subtitles.
TIA
Bob

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What is the region setting on your BD player set at?

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I assume region is set to the US, since everything else in my limited library play fine

Blu-ray:
The Lives of Others
Casino Royale

HD-DVD:
2001
Bourne Supremacy (Came with computer)
Casablanca
Phantom of the Opera
Spartacus

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