RSSLG to Announce Blu-ray / HD DVD Hybrid Drive at CES
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published January 4, 2007, 12:21 PM
After having whetted the public's appetite for a high-definition console capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats at this time last year, and then publicly withdrawing that plan, LG Electronics this morning announced it is jumping back into the high-def pool head first. The company is promising to provide "details" next week, at CES 2007 in Las Vegas, of a hybrid HD DVD / Blu-ray Disc player.
That is all LG is promising for the moment, "details." There's no name for the device just yet, only a promise that it will be unveiled in the US early this year. There's also a single sentence: "LG expects this technological breakthrough to end the confusion and inconvenience of competing high-definition disc formats for both content producers and consumers."
The huge question before the industry is: will this be the catalyst to ending the format stalemate? Companies that have found themselves straddling the fence before, such as Samsung and Fujitsu-Siemens, may be compelled to follow suit if LG's announcement steals the show next week. Manufacturers such as Sony and Toshiba are expected to display the second generation of their Blu-ray and HD DVD players respectively, with HD DVD now promising 1080p support and Blu-ray Discs now available with more interactive BD-J features. But if the crowd flocks to the LG booth instead, everyone else's party could be effectively spoiled.
On the other hand, LG has made stunning promises before, and failed to deliver on them. Last March, the company's chief executive promised it would be the first manufacturer to deliver both Blu-ray and HD DVD consoles separately. After promising to provide the rest of the industry with components that simultaneously support both formats and then failing to do so, NEC stepped up to the plate last October.
Late last July, LG held an austere press event at, of all places, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York, to make what was supposed to have been a grand announcement. But there, the press was greeted with a public viewing of the company's existing Blu-ray-only player, kept out of the public's reach along with stunning likenesses of Princess Diana and Louis Armstrong.
There, LG officials professed their "strong support of Blu-ray," but then waffled on their marketing plans for the remainder of the year. To this day, the company never really stated their plan for 2006.
But in a clear sign that LG may have recognized this marketing plan as a fiasco, This Week in Consumer Electronics magazine learned this morning that LG is replacing its USA marketing chief with Allan Jason, a 20-year Sony veteran. Jason's welcome to the company could lead to an announcement next week that includes not some waxy imitation of a hybrid player commitment, but quite possibly the real thing.
I remember when LG stood for Lucky Goldstar, not Life's Good. It was founded in 1947 under former name.
A hybrid player would be nice.
I just checked www.thedvdwars.com and BD is almost even in current sales with HD-DVD. I want to see total numbers of movie sales to date for both formats.
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|This officially ENDS the format war. We're approx 12 months from no format wars and this will be remembered for more dvd+/-r than for VHS vs Beta. Oh, I said that all along :)
The initial price is of no concern, all manufacturers will follow very soon so they can SALE blu ray players - which aren't selling right now. Especially the Chinese makers.
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|I personally would love to see a hybrid standard. That would allow both disc types to be used. Besides the price will eventually get lower.
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|Great... LG has to pay license fees for Blue-ray and HD DVD, which in the end will mean higher prices to the consumer.
The battle between Sony and Toshiba is just stupidly insane.
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|$1200US!!!
You can buy standalone Blu-Ray player, and a HD-DVD player for that price... LOL.
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|You can get a PS3 and a 360 with HD-DVD add-on for that kind of money, that's what I did.
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|bla.........bla..............bla
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|Lets fast forward to 2010, there will be 75 million PS3's all play Blu-Ray, HD-DVD will be long forgotten, the Betamax of the 21st centuary..
Dual format players are a costly stop-gap solution, and unlikely to catch on..
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|Odd that the example of failure is "Betamax", yet another Sony brainchild. The same crap happened with DVD+R and DVD-R.
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|You don't work for Sony by any chance, do you?
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|Yeah because people only watch movies on game consoles. Too bad there are no stand alone HD-DVD players, or that the 360 doesn't have an HD-DVD drive people can buy. Plus the way the PS3 is flying off the shelves right now you're probably right. Look what a smash success it has been so far. Yep, the PS3 is doing great.
Of course I must not overlook the fact that you have magic powers and can predict the future. I wish I could do that.
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|Lets fast forward to 2010, there will be 75 million PS3's all play Blu-Ray
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Funniest thing I heard all day. I just love it when random idiots pull random numbers out of their butts. How do you propose to sell 75 million consoles at $600 a piece? NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Lets fast forward to 2008 instead, when it's apparent that the PS3 was a miserable failure and Sony's gaming division is sold off to avoid bankruptcy.
I was driving around town yesterday (the 3rd of January), looking for a slim PS2 for my girlfriend. Her old one is no longer able to read any media at all, thanks Sony! Oddly enough, most places seem to be sold out. I stopped at Zellers first and they had none. The only Sony console they had was a single, open box PS3. Then I stopped by Wal-Mart and they also had no PS2s at all, but they did have 4 open box PS3s that have been returned. Next I went to Future Shop. They had a few slim PS2s, but they were black, I wanted the silver one. They also had 4 brand new PS3s, not returned ones. My final stop was Best Buy, which only had the black PS2s also, several of them in fact. They had 4 brand new PS3s as well.
In conclusion, I went to four stores and could not find a silver slim PS2, but found quite a few PS3s. This was only about a week after Christmas and nobody wants the pricey PS3 already. A week before the holidays, the hardcore Sony fan boys were practically killing each other to get a PS3. Now it's obvious that Joe Average couldn't care less about it. Bye bye Sony's gaming division. It's going to take a miracle to save it.
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|"Lets fast forward to 2010, there will be 75 million PS3's all play Blu-Ray, HD-DVD will be long forgotten, the Betamax of the 21st centuary.."
O did your crystal ball tell you that?
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|Let's see, 75 million at at 307 dollar loss per console = Sony $23,035,000,000 in the hole. I couldn't imagine a better fate.
Come to my Best Buy if you want a silver PS2, they've got about a hundred of them, and lots of PS3's. No wii's or HD-DVD add ons though.
There's always a huge stock of both 360's.
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|Or, in the alternate future, there could be 75 million PS3's that are useless for watching High Def movies.
And 100+ million 360's with HD-DVD add on.
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|Yeah you got it backwards, lol. *Sony* made the mistake with Betamax and now they do it again.
But it is all moot anyway now that hybrid discs have been announced. Both formats on one disc, a'men.
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|I think he was referring to this news report
http://www.gamespot.com/...163625.html?sid=6163625
You logic is also flawed, as the price won't be $600 for long it will drop over time, as the 65nm Cell's come onboard mid 2007, and other cost reductions.
Also, the 20GB is only $500, which you fail to mention...
The PS3 instock thing is also curious, as outside a few random posts, everyone else claims they are still tricky to get ahold of. It sounds more like xbox fanboy talk...
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|Or you could argue, Sony made the mistake with Betamax, by not having the studios backing them, this time around, they are getting it right.
Even Universal are no longer HD-DVD exclusives, that ended Jan 1st...
Hybrid disks are for the dumb, they are low capacity stop gap solutions, no thanks, i'll stick the the 50GB H264/VC1/MPEG2 encoded Blu-Ray disks thanks.
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|"Even Universal are no longer HD-DVD exclusives, that ended Jan 1st..."
Where is your source for this claim?
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|You think so?
Microsoft think that HD-DVD is about to die a painfull death (for the early adopters).
http://www.joystiq.com/2...x-switch-to-blu-ray-sti/
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|http://www.joystiq.com/2...x-switch-to-blu-ray-sti/
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|They certainly said nothing of the sort. They are merely wisely planning for uncertainty.
Far more interesting and hitting close to home for many PS3 owners is this comment from your beloved link:
"Early HD-DVD add-on adopters might eventually get burned (if the format fails), but this certainly won't affect all, if even a majority, of Xbox 360 owners. On the flip side, if Blu-ray flops, 100% of PlayStation 3 owners will feel the burn. Sony is still the bigger risk taker."
Amen.
Precisely why I have not chosen to purchase either a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, for who knows which one will ultimately prevail. This "war" may go on for years, or they may end up sharing equal amounts of retail shelf space happily until the next big format due to the inevitable arrival of dual-format players.
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|I'm a PS2 user and I think that Sony's marketing team is as ruthless as Wal-Mart when it comes to PS3 - they are forcing people to spend extra for the Blue-ray. Sorry, I don't think PS3 is worth $600 just for the Blue-ray. I like to have a choice if I want to use that or not. And by the way don't bring Betamax into the picture because that's a different story altogether.
The definite looser of this HD war are the movie studios that allow this to happen on the first place. Beyond this, the consumer is totally confused at the marketing extravaganza filled with egos of sewer proportions. Welcome to high-tech... you want paper or plastic...
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|In the unlikely event that Blu-Ray fails, then PS3 games will still come on 50GB Blu-Ray disks.
As it is, Xbox360 games are already shipping on tripple DVD's (Blue Dragon being the 1st).
Quad and 5 DVD games are rumoured to be coming next year for the 360.
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|I understand your point, but it is out of context with the article. LG is not announcing a hybrid dual-format game player. This is about HD movie content compatibility. Sony will naturally continue to produce game content on their Blu-ray format should the movie industry ultimately decide to s*** their focus to HD DVD... that goes without saying.
It was an unlikely event that Betamax failed when it did, but it happened. Ultimately, it is rather silly to speculate which format will prevail, and foolish to spend an absurd amount of money early on when both formats are in their infancy just to become an early adopter, whether for bragging rights or any other reason... unless you happen to have an absurd amount of money, or just enjoy living life on the edge. Most people, I would imagine, are a little more wise when it comes to their investments.
Dual- and multi-format players are always a winning solution for the consumer, especially these days when big corporations cannot seem to look past their potential profit margins and projected earnings from licensing fees for their respective format. Their stubbornness and unwillingness to look at the big picture and agree on a common next-generation HD format is not helping the consumer... and as history has shown, the consumer does not always ultimately decide which format will prevail. If it takes the likes of LG to come up with a solution that bridges the gap and allows consumers to enjoy the best of both, I'm all for it.
More choices for the consumer is usually a good thing, but not when it means the consumer is forced to make a decision that involves a very risky investment.
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|Dual-format players are a sound investment and extremely likely to catch on, especially since both formats have their advantages, and neither is a shoe-in for the title of "ultimate HD format".
Costly? Compared to the price of having individual players for both formats? Don't think so...
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|Please tell us the advantages of HD-DVD.. I can't think of a single advantage.
I think this sums of HD-DVD
Lower Capacity
Lower Max Bandwidth
Less Titles Available To Buy
Less Studios backing
Single hardware manufacturer producing them
Not standard in Xbox360
Please, tell us...
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|Hate to break it to you, but even I will admit Blu-Ray is going to win this one.
...as much as I hate to say it.
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|I will name an advantage, and it happens to be the single-most important advantage that matters to me:
More of my favorite movie titles exist on HD DVD.
Content and title availability is ultimately what it's all about.
So what if HD DVD has lower max bandwidth and capacity? It clearly handles what is required for the highest HD resolutions.
Titles available are constantly changing. For the longest time, HD DVD had many more titles available, and as I've already mentioned, it still has more of the titles that I like. It was not until December of last year that Blu-ray finally closed the gap, and both have approximately 130+ titles available.
It may have less studios backing it, but not all of the studios backing Blu-ray are Blu-ray exclusives, opting instead to straddle the fence between both camps (wise decision for the time being).
Also, Toshiba is not the only manufacturer, as RCA also have a player, and they will not be the only ones. Speaking of manufacturing, it is MUCH more costly to manufacture Blu-ray discs, which will end up costing more to the consumer (which it already has as the average price of titles between both formats shows). Add to that the cost of the extra protective coating that was discovered to be necessary for Blu-ray discs due to their data layers being so close to the surface. Yeah, that'll be cheap... advantage HD DVD.
Also, mentioning that it's not standard in the Xbox 360 is just ridiculous, and hardly worthy of arguing. That is a good thing. Why make a particular format standard in a major game console when neither HD format has been adopted in favor of DVD yet?
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|Nah, that's not really breaking news to me. As much as I hate to admit it as well, Blu-ray is certainly poised to become the next major format. I can speculate and guess with the best of them, and as much as I'd hate to see an arrogant and untrustworthy company such as Sony take the crown, I have to concede that Blu-ray is gaining serious momentum.
However, as long as my favorite movies continue to exist exclusively on both formats, I will still hold out on the HD experience until multi-format players emerge.
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|I'm starting to think that this is our old pal Mark G... especially since I haven't seen him in a while, and there just so happens to be someone named "Mark" who posted this exact same information (falsely claiming Microsoft has foreseen HD DVD's demise) pointing to the exact same link on thedvdwars.com.
...and no, there is no hyphen in HD DVD.
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|The only advantage to YOU is that it is cheaper for studios to produce HD DVD - period. This means certain titles will ONLY be on HD DVD.
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|Is that why Blu-Ray discs are cheaper to buy?
Some people really are blind...
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|Try again there, professor... "blind" people are usually more aware of their surroundings. :)
Amazon.com top-sellers...
HD DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/gp...ead/002-3905648-6078447
Blu-ray:
http://www.amazon.com/gp...ead/002-3905648-6078447
EDIT: It is of interest to note that most HD DVD titles that are priced evenly with Blu-ray are DVD combo releases.
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|LG make good stuff, they're the main (only?) supporters of DVD-RAM with their awesome super-multi drives.
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|Who cares about DVD-RAM? DVD-RAM was never even an industry standard format. It was just a short lived failed proprietary format Panasonic developed. Kind of like Sony's Blu-Ray is shaping up to be.
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|Panasonic is probably the biggest backer for DVD-RAM.
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|DVD-RAM IS a standard format backed by the DVD forum. As for being short lived it is still used for set top recorders and camcorders, as well as institutions that need to archive data (it's the most reliable removable format available next to MO). You can still buy them anywhere, even Wal-Mart.
Next, how is Blu-Ray shaping up to not be an industry format when pretty much the entire industry is behind it?
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|Whatever you're smokin', you need to pass it on.
LG has good ideas, but the quality of their products sucks balls. A good example would be their cellphones.
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|Even though a significant amount of movie studios have chosen to back Blu-Ray, HD-DVD players are outselling Blu-Ray players by a significant margin. Considering that you're only getting half the HD experience with Blu-Ray (compared to HD-DVD which gives you the full HD experience) who would want the Blu-Ray format in its current state?
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|Considering that you're only getting half the HD experience with Blu-Ray
Where the heck did that come from? Please explain how Blu-Ray has half the quality of HD-DVD.
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|Didn't Sony make a 'No one can make a player that plays BlueRay and any other high definition media side by side' clause into their license?
Or did I make that up?
LG had better be prepared for the suing.
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|"Didn't Sony make a 'No one can make a player that plays BlueRay and any other high definition media side by side' clause into their license?"
Wouldn't that mean that all non-Sony Blu-ray drive manufacturers would be sued for making blu-ray drives capable of playing high definition DVDs as well???
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|Despite what everyone seems to think Sony does not own Blu-Ray.
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|Yeah, they're just the loudest hardware vendor of the BDA.
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|Ok, ok, not Sony then; the group of companies behind the BlueRay idea.
Am I making it up? So far I've gotten flamed (not you) instead of a simple yes or no.
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|Well that could be true, if the Blu-Ray Disc Association refuses to license it. I was just saying that Sony can't make that decision all on their own.
I can't really see either side wanting to allow this though. I wouldn't want a product that was compatible with my competitor's format.
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|Sony doesn't own Blu-Ray but has a huge stake in it.
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|No, it would just mean they licensed it. I think I recall as well reading there was a stipulation to the license that stated it would not be used in a dual format player or something like that.
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