LG not ditching HD DVD just yet, hopes to accommodate early adopters

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 19th 2008 at 5:32PM

Shortly after Samsung stated its intentions to focus on Blu-ray in the future, along comes LG looking out for those guinea pigs who've already started building up a respectable HD DVD library. Reportedly, the firm stated that it felt it "necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore creates simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer." Furthermore, Daniel Aziz, marketing manager for LG Electronics, was quoted as saying that Toshiba's announcement "does not rule out HD DVD immediately, as there are still a number of consumers who have chosen HD DVD and begun to build a HD DVD collection." 'Course, we wouldn't try to read between any lines here -- it seems that LG won't be yanking its combo players anytime soon, but there's no doubt it understands that the future is Blu.

[Via HighDefDigest, thanks JoseB]

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, HD DVD, LG

Tags: blu-ray, format war, FormatWar, hd dvd, HdDvd, LG, support

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Hans Martin @ Feb 19th 2008 5:45PM

I for one think the world of LG for offering a way onwards in the great HD-revolution to the early HD DVD adopters Toshiba left out to dry this morning. But from what I understand, most HD DVD adopters love their Toshiba players so much I doubt they will part with it any time soon. And I also doubt LG will be able to match the price point these adopters would consider to be reasonable.

From a business point of view, I think LG would be better served by abandoning HD DVD altogether like the rest of the industry.

Neutral

WebDev511 @ Feb 19th 2008 5:48PM

I'm glad I bought an LG combo drive over the weekend. :)

Neutral

1stGreg @ Feb 19th 2008 5:50PM

Ah LG .. trying to make a buck on the early adopters.
How cunning.

Highly Ranked

Matt @ Feb 19th 2008 8:40PM

Ahh [insert any business here] .. trying to make a buck on the [insert any consumers here].
How cunning.

Neutral

FreeRange @ Feb 19th 2008 5:52PM

If the price is right, LG will have my money. My player is the Xbox add-on so a permanent fixture in the AV rack isn't out of the question. I just ask that it be close to the price of a Blu-Ray player. If it's just, I don't know, 10-15% more than a Blu-Ray player that I would be buying otherwise, it's obviously the better decision for me with my modest but still very real HD-DVD collection.

Highly Ranked

cheese head @ Feb 19th 2008 6:11PM

Format war aside, I just don't see the point of LG doing this. What consumer is going to pay an extra $400 to get a BD player and a format that is no longer supported? HD DVD owners already have players, and I seriously doubt if they are interested in BD they want to drop 700 bucks for a combo.

I think it's more likely that LG is too far along with whatever combo they are releasing to just drop it. These will sit on Best Buy shelves and collect dust.

Low Ranked

Nfinity @ Feb 19th 2008 6:22PM

well I still haven't heard from either Universal or Paramount about dropping HD DVD? Obviously there's a million people who might pay for the movies and LG is banking on that crowd to continue buying their dual format players.

I actually think it's not a bad thing. This would allow HD DVD to live on at least for a while. What a hilarious thing would that be, Samsung and LG sticking with HD DVD after even Toshiba dropped it.

Highest Ranked

hemmy @ Feb 19th 2008 6:51PM

@nfinity:

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has officially announced that it will release its titles on Blu-ray.

Though details of the studio's transition away from HD DVD were still sketchy at press time, Universal Studios Home Entertainment President Craig Kornblau officially confirmed the move in a just issued statement:

"The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for hi-def’s unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price. The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate. While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray."

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=12118

Highly Ranked

WebDev511 @ Feb 19th 2008 7:25PM

$400 extra? Where did you get that number from? If you look at LG's Combo drives for computers, they are tracking at about $75 more than BR only drives. Factor in the fact that BR Profile 2.0 requires on board memory and an Ethernet port, the extra cost lies exactly where? The optics, HD DVD specific chips and ??? With prices for BR only players headed down (or the story goes) a $300 dual format player isn't unlikely. If they folded in the same Silicon Optix Reon-VX chip as is in the Toshiba HD-XA2, $500 would be a very attractive price.

As far as who would pay that extra $50 - $100, I can think of about 300,000 that would be interested in paying the extra for a dual format player. Considering that these people are also early adopters, even $100 extra isn't going to dissuade them.

Neutral

worldbfree4me @ Feb 19th 2008 9:40PM

have brand new samsung Blu ray player got as gift. This is new but I do not have the box because my company takes the box so that we cannot return to any store. This is the true High Definition dvd player that plays both blu-ray and standard dvd's in high quality.

Here are the specs:
Samsung BDP-1200 Blu-ray Disc Player
High definition just got higher with the SAMSUNG BDP-1200 Blu-ray Disc Player
High-Definition disc Player features HQV video processing
Blu-ray discs produce unprecedented visual detail and sound
Full 1080p HDMI output
Next generation sound in DTS and Dolby Digital Plus,
HDMI 1.3 port
Plays your regular DVDs too!
Multiple format playback

keys: lcd television 1080p 1080i hd dvd high definition dvd player garage sale blu ray blu-ray bluray hddvd

Neutral

worldbfree4me @ Feb 19th 2008 9:42PM

have brand new samsung Blu ray player got as gift. This is new but I do not have the box because my company takes the box so that we cannot return to any store. This is the true High Definition dvd player that plays both blu-ray and standard dvd's in high quality.

Here are the specs:
Samsung BDP-1200 Blu-ray Disc Player
High definition just got higher with the SAMSUNG BDP-1200 Blu-ray Disc Player
High-Definition disc Player features HQV video processing
Blu-ray discs produce unprecedented visual detail and sound
Full 1080p HDMI output
Next generation sound in DTS and Dolby Digital Plus,
HDMI 1.3 port
Plays your regular DVDs too!
Multiple format playback

$250...USD

keys: lcd television 1080p 1080i hd dvd high definition dvd player garage sale blu ray blu-ray bluray hddvd

Neutral

Eddie @ Feb 19th 2008 6:28PM

Salt in the wound, eHD. The future is Blu, but the present is now and at the present all us HD DVD supporters have very real cash to spend, which BTW, spends just as well in blu or red. One thing's clear as HD to me, though: instead of suffering all the kicks while us early adopters are down about our format of choice, I'm on the hunt for a new blog to spend my time on.

Neutral

Killer @ Feb 19th 2008 6:37PM

@Hans Martin

"Toshiba left out to dry this morning."

What? It was a format war. What do you expect? They did what they believed was a smart business decision. I for one, as an HD DVD (and Blu-ray) owner don't see any harm in what Toshiba did. Everyone knew that this was going to be a 1/3 chance of happening. It was either HD DVD wins, Blu-ray Wins or Both Tie. It just so happened to be Blu-ray winning in the end.

@cheese head

"Format war aside,..."

Let me get this straight this has nothing do with the format war? Yet you make it sound like LG is the anti-christ and you wish gloom on them, because they are still sticking with a HD DVD combo. It's their business plan. Let them do what they feel is right. There is nothing wrong with what LG is doing. At least one company is kind enough to know that there is now a market to help.

Neutral

cheese head @ Feb 19th 2008 6:56PM

LG is the anti christ? Where are you pulling this bs out from? I have a 52" LG LCD I watch my HD DVD's and Blu-rays on ffs. I am saying people who own A35's, etc are not going to run out and pay a premium for a combo player that does the same thing when BD is already expensive. NEW customers are not going to buy the combo either because general users are cheap asses and want the lowest price.

Stop being butt hurt over HD DVD.

Neutral

cclaunch @ Feb 19th 2008 6:44PM

It should be pretty obvious why LG did what they did. They spent lots of money developing a combo player and didn't see the need to spend the extra coin it would have taken to re-design their product.

Highly Ranked

SamiSin @ Feb 19th 2008 6:55PM

As said, the thing is, LG already has the combo players. It probably wont cost them that much more to produce the combo player then the regular players.

Why do Blu-ray people (that include EngadgetHD) the need to insult the HD DVD base all the time. This was actually something very positive for the early adopters, and yet, the blu-ray fanboys - you have won your war, red did lose - talk trash.

I am anyway looking forward to buy the LG combo player when it drops a bit in price, as long as it supports HDi. In addition, I will keep on buying HD DVDs, both from sales, and the new titles that I really want (American Gangster, Beuwolf, and more)...

Neutral

Sam Winter @ Feb 20th 2008 6:33AM

Well you always have to look at a group after removing the 5% which are the assholes in any group. I am a Blu-ray supporter, but I think this is a great business move (at least temporarily), and an even better move for HD-DVD owners. This will allow an easier transition path for those with a larger collection of HD-DVDs. I have nothing but goodwill to the sane and rational HD-DVD owners... Come on over and help the fight against DVD so everyone has access to good HD!

On another note, I wanted to throw out another solution that I haven't been seeing mentioned anywhere to get some feedback from you guys.
Why don't you guys buy cheap HD-DVD or Combo disc readers for the PC and rip all your movies to H264/Mpeg4 or VC1. Then, assuming the authoring software is available, you can author the video file to standard Blu-ray format and burn the result to a standard double layer DVD. Just like HD-DVD, Blu-ray players have the ability to read standard double layer DVDs as native movie discs as long as they are authored in the proper file structure/contents/etc for Blu-ray.
The only problem with this is that you are going to need to leave out extra scenes/multiple audio format/multiple languages/etc to get the file size down to 9.4GB. Even worse case scenario, all you have to do is re-encode the movie at a lower bitrate.

This all in theory should work, and other than a PC disc drive, it only requires some time and (hopefully) readily available software. Anybody care to comment?

Neutral

Killer @ Feb 19th 2008 8:17PM

@cheese head

"I am saying people who own A35's, etc are not going to run out and pay a premium for a combo player that does the same thing when BD is already expensive."

Yes, but you have to realize that Toshiba isn't supporting the format anymore. So if something was to happen to someone's HD DVD player or someone needed another player and there are no more on the market and that person hasn't switched to Blu-ray yet, You're just going to throw away all those movies? It's an option, LG isn't going to mass produce these players. Still there are 700,000 players with 300,000 being HD DVD add-on for the 360 that have HD DVD movie collections that might want a player that doesn't need to be attached to the 360 and also play the Blu-ray format.

LG doesn't intend and doesnt think NEW customers are going to buy it, that's obvivious. Also I'm not "butt hurt over HD DVD", (whatever that means), I'm glad this format war is over, but to say that this is a dumb move, is just ignorant because there is a small market, that would be willing to buy these combo players. Like Truth Teller, when he finally gives up...or never, you never know.

Neutral

Joe @ Feb 19th 2008 8:30PM

This all makes sense to me. Toshiba now can not support HDM. They need to hold out for the next great thing and figure out how to get a piece of that pie.

Until they get a next product, they will push DVD forward at the expense of HDM. I can't see Toshiba slitting it's own throat by pushing HDM over it's own DVD standard, well not yet at least.

It had to be either LG or Samsung that offered this bridge to HD-DVD owners. This is a needed product for those who want to transition.

Neutral

kcjones @ Feb 20th 2008 12:06AM

LG is very smart. A fair amount of HD-DVD adopters have large libraries of HD-DVDs. Many of these HD-DVD early adopters will move over to Blu-ray. Why wouldn't they buy a combo player over purchasing a Blu-ray player, and then having 2 separate players in the AV rack? It worked for Pioneer with Laser Disc players. LD/DVD combo players were on the market for quite a few years after DVD succeeded LD. It was profitable for Pioneer, and it will be profitable for LG.

Neutral

HDpurist @ Feb 20th 2008 12:47AM

EVerything that LG makes is pure JUNK. LG HD-DVD players?? LOL, obviously more junk.

Neutral

ccweems @ Feb 20th 2008 6:33AM

LG would be crazy if it doesn't at least pause production of combo players until it hears the other shoes drop. I fear there will be a stampede to the exits by studios, duplicators and retailers of all ilks. In this "nuclear" scenario no company will make money in the future on HD-DVD but eBay.

Profits can occur only at full price less the traditional discount. After LG sells 2 combo drives at full price to Nfinity and Truth Teller who else is going to buy? And are we even sure those troubled souls will buy, after all it is not even up to the 2.0 spec? I'm sure LG does not see a profitable future in selling combo units for the price of cheap Bluray players ($300). As it is resourceful individuals will be making their own combo units marrying the $50 (maybe $25) Toshiba HD-DVD player with a Sony or Pany unit. Don't be surprised for LG to watch out for its own best interests.

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