Blu Ray / HD DVD combo player and disc

[mike c]

LG Combo player

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070104/660000000020070104110044E0.html

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/003408.html

Warner combo discs

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/technology/04video.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

woohoo!

 

[dd24skater]

I thought something like that would be comming, good news!

 

[Crackerballer]

Thank God. Now let's hope the price is not through the roof.

 

[stratman]

Hi Mike ,

Thanks for the post, I knew this would be coming down the pike, you could see it. Too many big players on both sides that have spent billions in r&d, marketing, production, etc. Its not Sony alone like BETA/VHS war, this was on a bigger scale. I just edited my post on Clint's sticky "why the hi-def formats are already dead" (paraphrased), I believe this is the proverbial nail on the casket of the "format war." We, as consumers, will benefit. Right now, a couple of studios are releasing titles on both formats, if this continues, the format problem will be moot. LG just added lots of fuel to the fire. But what a dilema, I was going to wait to see what would happen before I pulled the trigger on a format, now, I'll wait on LG!

 

[j_garcia]

Samsung was the first to announce a dual format player, and then they decided to drop it and went BD...guess someone had a "little talk" with them. Interesting that LG is the one who came out with the dual format player though.

The news about the muliformat disc is sort of old (a few months), and I doubt it will catch on simply because the competing studios will not want to have both HD versions available on one disc. *edit I didn't see that Time Warner (who apparently bought this technology from the developers...) was backing this, so maybe it will catch on.

 

[hifiman]

Way too early to tell

I for one do not believe the hi-def formats will take off, but I'll wait and see. Hi-rez audio had the dual format players, but nothing was going to stop their demise.

 

[stratman]

From my vantage point, I see hi-def being the dominant video format in 2 years or less. There were too many loose variables that are now being resolved. The same was said of plasma when it came out, "it'll be adopted by the A/V fringe only", "it'll be years before production can be ramped up" so and so and here we are today, CRTs are so cheap they might as well give them away. Before I bought my Panasonic 42" plasma 2 years ago I had a 36"Sony WEGA crt, it cost me close to 1500.00, fast forward 48 months, my 42" now is worth 975.00 (Brandsmart) the Sony crt is nowhere to be found.

 

[kenhoeve]

i am thinking hard on the toshiba hd xa2. this might push me over the edge. since the unit has an ethernet connection, it is firmware upgradeable. If, and this is a huge IF, all players move to dual format, I see no reason the firmware would not be upgraded to play both formats. btw, the hdxa2 uses the same video processing chip set as the Denon 3930ci. Suddenly $1,000 for this player seems like a deal compared to the now totally impotent Denon.

 

[racquetman]

I for one do not believe the hi-def formats will take off, but I'll wait and see. Hi-rez audio had the dual format players, but nothing was going to stop their demise.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I remember threads on this forum talking about how SACD and DVD-audio were going to thrive as soon as the universal players started coming out. Then we found out that no one cares about high resolution music.

I'm getting the same kind of feeling about high def movies right now. I don't hear the "common folk" talking about this technology yet. Until these formats start getting more of a buzz around them, neither is going to take off. It doesn't matter if there is a combo player or not. Sure, our small little group of informed A/V enthusiasts will be excited, but we are but a small minority.

I won't buy into either Blu-ray or HD-DVD until every Tom, ****, and Harry knows what these formats are and can tell me the difference between them. I learned my lesson with the high-rez audio formats!!

 

[billy p]

Sweet

I was over at avs this afternoon and sure enough they had similar articles listed! I guess it's good news and the fact LG is going to bat. I like my chances that while it may be a bit expensive the cost would be reasonable considering it's LG and the quality will be there.

Hey Alandamp I tried using that d..k word today as well, but it was changed to ****

 

[kenhoeve]

Exactly what I was thinking.

I remember threads on this forum talking about how SACD and DVD-audio were going to thrive as soon as the universal players started coming out. Then we found out that no one cares about high resolution music.

Allow me to disagree! HD video is without a doubt here to stay. What format, who knows, but it is here to stay. The public has continually shown they are willing to sacrifice sound quality for convenience, always! But they have always shown that they are willing to pay the utmost premium for picture quality, especially concerning TV's! Also keep in mind with the processing capabilities of the new HD players it is no longer a hardware matter, it is a software matter. The media is the same, the TV's are the same, just better, and the units firmware is the only thing that need be adjusted. I no longer think there has to be a HD-BD winner. As long as they agree to mix each other on media everything from here out will be backwards compatible. Who's an optimist?!

 

[racquetman]

Allow me to disagree! HD video is without a doubt here to stay. What format, who knows, but it is here to stay. The public has continually shown they are willing to sacrifice sound quality for convenience, always! But they have always shown that they are willing to pay the utmost premium for picture quality, especially concerning TV's!

I'm going to have to disagree with that. People most certainly don't pay a premium for picture quality. If quality was the main factor then everyone would still have CRT TVs. They still produce the most accurate picture.

People will pay a premium for what is cool and what everyone else has. They have to keep up with the Jones' as the saying goes. Everyone has a flat panel TV/monitor because of the cool factor - not the picture quality. Everyone has an ipod because it is cool and everyone else has one.

If high def DVD players becomes the cool thing to have, then yes it will succeed. Don't fool yourself into thinking it is because of the quality.

 

[kenhoeve]

I'm going to have to disagree with that. People most certainly don't pay a premium for picture quality. If quality was the main factor then everyone would still have CRT TVs. They still produce the most accurate picture.

People will pay a premium for what is cool and what everyone else has. They have to keep up with the Jones' as the saying goes. Everyone has a flat panel TV/monitor because of the cool factor - not the picture quality. Everyone has an ipod because it is cool and everyone else has one.

I disagree.

People have flat panels for convenience. They are willing to sacrifice PQ for space. Space is a very big deal, especially in high $/sqft areas(such as myself). People have iPods for convenience, people have mp3's for convenience. These represent paradigm shifts in their respective electronic areas. But now I have a 1080p panel, so who cares about CRT?

Satellite and cable are broadcasting in HD. Guys lust after HD sporting programs. It is not the same as SACD where it was a texture thing that required huge investments to even realize. You get the dvd player and TV, and boom, you SEE a huge, absolutely huge improvement over 480i/p. I don't care about the format, but there is no way hd video is going away. You do not back away from universal technologic advancement like these, they just get cheaper and trickle down. There are TV's, programs, media, recievers, all being built around this technology. You are crazy to think it any or all formats will not succeed. Companies and studio earnings are reliant on it succeeding. No more motivation required.

 

[racquetman]

I disagree.

People have flat panels for convenience. They are willing to sacrifice PQ for space. Space is a very big deal, especially in high $/sqft areas(such as myself). People have iPods for convenience, people have mp3's for convenience. These represent paradigm shifts in their respective electronic areas. But now I have a 1080p panel, so who cares about CRT?

Satellite and cable are broadcasting in HD. Guys lust after HD sporting programs. It is not the same as SACD where it was a texture thing that required huge investments to even realize. You get the dvd player and TV, and boom, you SEE a huge, absolutely huge improvement over 480i/p. I don't care about the format, but there is no way hd video is going away. You do not back away from universal technologic advancement like these, they just get cheaper and trickle down. There are TV's, programs, media, recievers, all being built around this technology. You are crazy to think it any or all formats will not succeed. Companies and studio earnings are reliant on it succeeding. No more motivation required.

Ken, you just went and contradicted yourself. In your first post you speak about how people will pay any price for picture quality. Now you are telling me that people are willing to sacrifice picture quality for space. Well, which one is it??

High definition content is not going away. I'm not arguing that. However, there is a big difference between broadcast high definition content and high def on a disc that you have to pay for.

There is no competing format for high def broadcasts. You don't need a special player to view the content (just an ATSC tuner). You don't need to understand HDMI, DVI, component video, HDCP, etc . . . to watch broadcast HD.

Regular DVD isn't going away for many, many, many years. Most people will stick with that is my guess. Remember, you and I aren't "average Joes". We are A/V enthusiasts. Go ask 5 random people what they know about Blu-ray and HD-DVD. When 3 or 4 of them can give you an intelligent answer, then you will know that these formats will succeed. We are a long way from that day arriving.

 

[mike c]

I for one am willing to pay UP TO 1k for a combo player
but am NOT willing to pay a cent more than a single format disc's price for a combo disc.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I for one do not believe the hi-def formats will take off, but I'll wait and see. Hi-rez audio had the dual format players, but nothing was going to stop their demise.

There is a bit of difference between the audio side going hi def and the video going high def.

You need to sit down to watch a movie, not so with audio. Families just don't sit down to listen to 5.1 DVD-a/SACD as they do movies. And, many are more than satisfied with CD and compressed audio when it is on the road.
TV is going HD, mandated. Do you really want to watch lo-def video on it?

 

[Hi Ho]

I'd rather see ONE format (HD-DVD) become dominant than to have combo players. I hate multiple formats.

 

[mtrycrafts]

LG Combo player

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070104/660000000020070104110044E0.html

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/003408.html

Warner combo discs

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/technology/04video.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

woohoo!

This is great news. This will get this off from its doldrums. I am ready and waiting

 

[RockRover]

Great topic!

This is my first post, but have lurking for some time.

I am what you would call a casual enthusiast. That is, I care about quality, space utilization, value AND coolness factor. This would be a combination of the two ends of the continuum which is being discussed here. Yea I care about quality, but that's not the only variable in the equation.

When my wife and I bought our new house last year it was very apparent that size constraints would necessitate a wall mounted plasma and/or LCD. I wanted a dedicated room for HT and that ment using the 2nd master bedroom for this...The wife wanted an office, and the in-law's/parents wanted a spare bedroom...Hmmmmmm. With two kiddo's and a four bedroom home, that meant we would need some creative space planning within one room.

Why bring all this up? Well the reason is that size does matter. I love my new 55" Hitachi Plasma (so does the wife btw!). No way could we afford the space of a CRT/DLP/RP in a 14x14 room. Not to mention I love the coolness factor of the plasma cleanly mounted on the wall. Plasma was the clear winner.

HD? We both love broadcast HD especially PBS and sports. Now when we drop a DVD into our upscaling Samsun 931(?) I always sigh at the "low" res. I would LOVE to have the same quality (720p or 1080i) when watching movies. But alas...No can do.

Now intro BR/HD! Cool! However the value side of me comes out and say's that in one year the price will be at a reasonable level, format will be solidified (to a degree), and I for one will be in line to purchase one. IF the format is still loosly defined then the dual will come into play...

This all comes from a very casual "video-phile" that still has to remember what HDMI stands for...SCAD??? Huh? Is Khz 1000 hz??? Uhhhhh Is 40hz lower or "higher" than 80hz??? I think so....uhhhh...wait a minute....uhhhh. At the end of the day I really don't care all that much.

Blu-ray and HD are in the news, on display at all the major chains (just look at the crowd hanging around the Best Buy BR displays), inserts in the Sunday paper...That's how I found out about it. I say "yea"! Bring it on!

--Doug

 

[JackT]

Exactly what I was thinking.

I remember threads on this forum talking about how SACD and DVD-audio were going to thrive as soon as the universal players started coming out. Then we found out that no one cares about high resolution music.

I'm getting the same kind of feeling about high def movies right now. I don't hear the "common folk" talking about this technology yet. Until these formats start getting more of a buzz around them, neither is going to take off. It doesn't matter if there is a combo player or not. Sure, our small little group of informed A/V enthusiasts will be excited, but we are but a small minority.

I won't buy into either Blu-ray or HD-DVD until every Tom, ****, and Harry knows what these formats are and can tell me the difference between them. I learned my lesson with the high-rez audio formats!!

The "common folk" are buying millions of high def tvs. They want hi def content for these tvs.