LG Shows off First Ever Blu-Ray/HDDVD player

Posted By: Tina Wood | Jan 16th, 2007 @ 6:52 PM

I stopped by the LG booth at CES this year because first, I'm an LG fan and second they were showing off a one-hundred inch plasma TV. There was a lot of buzz about the LG player that will house two competetive formats Blu-Ray and HDDVD. There is no clear winner in the HDDVD, Blu-Ray battle and LG is hoping to capitalize on the consumers indecisiveness. But, you better be ready to shell out the cash because this baby is on it's way to the US and it will have a $1200.00 price tag.

Tags: Blu-Ray, CES, HDDVD

Rating:

Comments (8)

Downloads

TeddyB

For an avid movie fan the combo player is the way to go if you can afford it. Right now I think it's just too risky to fully support either format. But, for the same price as the LG player you can get a PS3 and a 360 with the HD drive. As a gamer that seems like the best investment to me personally. I also liked hearing the differences between LCD and Plasma. Thanks.

Larry

In reply to TeddyB

#Jan 16th, 2007 @ 7:33 PM

There is always Total DVD, but still I think it would be better if there were just one format. Can you imagine Beta and VHS both continuing to be popular?

TeddyB

In reply to Larry

#Jan 16th, 2007 @ 8:10 PM

There can be only one Highlander... err DVD format. But yeah to me it's hard to get excited about either this early in the game. Until the format war is decided (ar at least decided enough) I'm perfectly happy with standard DVD, still looks great.

Arztek

In reply to TeddyB

#Jan 16th, 2007 @ 8:16 PM

That has been my stance from the beginning. I just don't see too much of an improvement in the image quality between the new HD formats and standard DVD. The visual improvement is certainly noticable in games now with much higher resolution textures and better lighting filters, but I don't see the difference in movies just yet.

Then again, I haven't watched too many movies on one-hundred inch LCD or one-hundred two inch plasma TVs.

Arztek

More goodness from the makers of your fridge. I'm thinking they need to make a stainless steel LCD TV for your kitchen. Anyway, I'm thrilled to see these new TVs with full 1080p support. I'm in the market for a new HD TV bigger than fifty inches for my gaming pad and I've noticed that many of the models I've been looking into don't support 1080p just yet, so CES has brought good news for me.

I'm also glad to see the introduction of a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player, but I'm a little disappointed at its size and the price point, not to mention it doesn't play good ol' CDs. I know that the multiple format technology is complicated and reasonably priced when compared to the competition (or lack there of), but I want to see an all in one player that will really bring these new formats together in most households and I don't think LG is quite there yet.

Then again, that's just me and I suppose this is the best thing yet.

linkyshinks

That dual player looks good but also very expensive, i think the La Clie version ( also shown at show) of the same thing is considerably cheaper. LS:)

Erik

In reply to TeddyB

#Jan 16th, 2007 @ 8:16 PM

If history is any indication (since history tends to repeat itself), the war has alread been won by HD-DVD for a few reasons:

1. HD-DVD is cheaper to manufactur.
2. Blu-Ray holds more.
3. This is pretty much the same as VHS vs. Beta. Who won? Wink Beta was used in studios for a long, long time since it stored more (and many other reasons I'm sure I know nothing about) and VHS won the consumer market. Apply that to reasons # 1 and # 2 and I believe you've found the winner. Wink

That's just my opinion and things change quickly in this game, but it seems like a logical pattern to me.

Duncan

In reply to Erik

#Jan 17th, 2007 @ 12:57 PM

Betamax produced higher quality video, that was the reason the TV studios I worked at used it... and in fact, they still do use it (or the digital continuation of that form, digibeta). I used to borrow a beta machine and take home 'preview' copies of upcoming show episodes to watch at home, and it looked great.

Just like the "DVD still looks great" comments from above though, few consumers could see the visual difference and in the end, it didn't matter that much to them.

Obviously this is still true (video quality matters little to most people) or none of us would watch video on the internet... or play digitally compressed tv signals from Comcast onto our HDTVs ... or in the audio world, none of us would listen to MP3s through cruddy little ear buds....