DailyTech - LG to Continue HD DVD Support

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Blog: Hardware LG to Continue HD DVD Support
Marcus Yam (Blog) - February 20, 2008 7:30 AM

16 comment(s) - last by WTurner.. on Feb 21 at 11:00 PM

The LG BH200 dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc player

While Toshiba's called it quits, LG presses on with HD DVD

While Toshiba, the main provider of HD DVD hardware, threw in the towel for the format on Tuesday morning, LG said that it plans to continue making players capable of playing HD DVD software.

“With the recent announcement from Toshiba, Blu-Ray will now be the format that will pave the way for high definition movies, however this 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,” Daniel Aziz, marketing manager for LG Electronics, told Pocket-Lint. “LG believes that at this present moment in time, it is necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore create simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer.”

LG’s contribution to the high-definition movie space was the first hybrid player that could read both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The first model, dubbed the BH100, debuted at CES in early 2007, but suffered some compatibility issues with the advanced features of HD DVD.

The second-generation BH-200 player, released in October 2007, fixed the flaws of the first release and added support for full profile Blu-ray Disc software.

Rather than completely scrap its already- or near-complete combo player hardware, LG likely sees it as more logical to continue the manufacture and sales of its dual-format players until the end of its product lifecycle.

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Makes sense, if marketed properly.

By joemoedee on 2/20/2008 7:47:14 AM , Rating: 3

I wouldn't be too surprised to see more Dual Format players on the market, just due to the base of HD-DVD currently out there. (In homes and still available for sale)

It may still make sense to get a dual format, especially if the price of HD-DVDs lowers as retailers begin to blow out inventory. If one can get the same movie for 10-15 bucks less on HD-DVD vs the new BluRay version of it, chances are they will.

It all depends on the price of the dual format player, really. If the dual format can be near the price of a straight up BluRay, (Say ~10%) then people will buy it. If it's significantly more, then its doubtful.

RE: Makes sense, if marketed properly.

By BMFPitt on 2/20/2008 9:49:30 AM , Rating: 3

So LG will probably have the entire market of people who own HDDVDs cornered, as long as they can bring down the price of the combo player.

I'll pick one up when they go under $200 - maybe around Christmas. Until then, I look forward to the library-building clearance sales.

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RE: Makes sense, if marketed properly.

By NinjaJedi on 2/20/2008 1:19:40 PM , Rating: 2

I too would be willing to purchase a combo player if it was the same price as a Blu-ray player. Maybe $50 more would still be worth it. As it is now $700-$800 for a combo player is silly since you can purchase the 2 separate players for around $500. I wonder if the LG optical combo drives price will come down. Since the powerDVD software that comes with it is not the full version they should drop the price by $100 or more so the price of the drive and the software upgrade is still around $300.

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RE: Makes sense, if marketed properly.

By Belard on 2/20/2008 2:19:16 PM , Rating: 3

There won't be any HD-DVD anything player (combo or otherwise) by then. For the next few months, LG has a market all to themselves to sell the combo players... but LG has sold little players in the past, at $800.

They maybe able to lower the price to $700~600 - but that is still WAY to expensive... considering that Toshibas are selling below $100 in fire sales. Cheaper to buy another one for a backup.

You can bet they are phasing out their production lines and in 2 months at the most - no new HD-DVD players will be found. Just ebay or Amazon for bidding or selling used.

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RE: Makes sense, if marketed properly.

By BansheeX on 2/21/2008 12:01:28 PM , Rating: 2

This might be profitable in the short-term, but logically, this just has no long-term potention. You have 1 million people with HD-DVD players (that's actually a very small number compared to a mainstream install base like DVD). Why would even these people a dual format player? They already have an HD-DVD player. And why would anyone who didn't have an HD-DVD player buy a dual format player? The movies will leave the shelf and mainstream buyers haven't even bought in yet. This is going to be an extremely niche item.

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RE: Makes sense, if marketed properly.

By Oregonian2 on 2/21/2008 6:25:48 PM , Rating: 2

Reason for a person with an HD player to buy a combo would be that they want to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player for the future, but don't have the room, HDMI TV ports, or just dont-wanna have two players in their system.

A dual format player allows them to replace their HD player with one that still can play the HD discs they already have as well as to play blu-ray ones they buy in the future.

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i never understood why LG made a combo player

By RamarC on 2/20/2008 12:01:55 PM , Rating: 2

but didn't make a hd-dvd only player. (ditto about samsung.) they already paid the licensing cost and they'd certainly sell more hd-only players than combos. if toshiba had other manufacturers building players, hd-dvd would have been more competitive. i guess once hitachi defected, the other guys were already leery.

RE: i never understood why LG made a combo player

By masher2

(blog) on 2/20/2008 12:16:53 PM , Rating: 2

The players were already down to $100 -- cheaper than many upscaling DVD players. Hard to get more competitive than that.

The problem with HD-DVD was studio support and marketing, not hardware costs.

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RE: i never understood why LG made a combo player

By RamarC on 2/20/2008 12:22:15 PM , Rating: 2

cost isn't my point. i think if more than one (major) company was making players, it would have made the format more competitive from a mindshare standpoint. if lg and sammy had made hd-only players, they certainly would also have spent marketing cash to promote the format. remember that sammy was bundling blu-ray players with some of their TVs.

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RE: i never understood why LG made a combo player

By KristopherKubicki

(blog) on 2/20/2008 12:53:28 PM , Rating: 4

I think with the lessons learned of the DVD+R/DVD-R format war, these guys should have been giving away their players for free. Even the console wars could have taught them that.

But you know some brand manager thought to spend 100s of millions on a few commercials rather than getting the cost to the point that the media would have pimped it out for free.

And now that one format lost -- well it would have been cheaper to wrap the players in $20 bills. Economies of scale could have kicked in. If we had $60 HD DVD players in 2006 this war might have gone the other way real fast.

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This guy cracks me up...

By A5un on 2/21/2008 2:24:02 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Daniel Aziz, marketing manager for LG Electronics, told Pocket-Lint. “LG believes that at this present moment in time, it is necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore create simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer.”

First of all, you're aiming for the market that is already buying HD DVD's, which means they've most likely already got a HD DVD player. Now, which makes more sense? To buy a player that plays both HD DVD and BlueRay or just the BlueRay player (say a PS3) at a lower cost (say a price difference nearly equal to that of a HD DVD player)? There are only a limited number of people who are as anal about the layout of their electronics as I am, and we won't mind saving that $100.

RE: This guy cracks me up...

By masher2

(blog) on 2/21/2008 9:25:10 AM , Rating: 2

I think most videophiles are far more interested in the most convenient solution, rather than saving a few bucks. Having a single player which handles both formats is a much cleaner solution than two cheap players you have to continually switch between.

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RE: This guy cracks me up...

By BansheeX on 2/21/2008 12:06:45 PM , Rating: 2

Okay, so you're basically saying that maybe half at best of the 1 million HD-DVD install base, those with lots of movies, go out and pay a premium over a blu-ray-only player to get this item. Anyone else? Not likely.

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RE: This guy cracks me up...

By masher2

(blog) on 2/21/2008 1:35:08 PM , Rating: 2

That sounds like a reasonable estimate. Still, half a million is a market worth catering too, especially if you have absolutely no competition at all.

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Case in point

By dflynchimp on 2/20/2008 11:17:27 PM , Rating: 2

People owning HD-DVDs most likely already own a HD player (unless they're strange people) so you can't expect them to by a combo player unless it's close enough to a BD player in price that they can consolidate they're media onto one player. If the price gap is too large then they would simply get a second BD players for Blue ray movies and keep their HD player for HD-DVDs.

I guess if a person hasn't yet entered the hi-def market calculates that the HD-DVD low enough that investing in a combo player could save them money (stock up on cheap blue rays) then they might swing for that route.

Sumnation? it's all about the prices. I for one am more than content to play the waiting game until BD players have dropped in prices and currently HD-DVD exclusive titles are made into Blue Rays (which they will, now that the format war is over)

Strange turn of events...

By WTurner on 2/21/2008 11:00:05 PM , Rating: 2

I never picked a side in the HD-DVD Vs. BR war so the fact that BR "won" doesn't have much meaning to me. However I find it interesting that HD-DVD will linger on with LG players.

This makes me wonder if we have really seen the last of HD-DVD. Consider BR will be upgraded next year (or so I have read) and that current BR players won't be able to acomodate the 2.0 BR discs. Also consider HD-DVD is a complete product right now the same HD-DVD player you have today will play movies made well into the future.

Again, I am not taking sides. Frankly regular DVD is more than enough for me since I don't have an HD-TV and don't plan to get one.