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LG BH100 in stock at BestBuy.com
LG's hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD player shows up online

Although it was previously thought that LG would have trouble selling its hybrid BH100 Blu-ray/HD DVD player to the public, at least with the HD DVD logo onboard, it appears all is well in hybrid-land again. BestBuy.com is showing the LG BH100 in stock with purchases shipping from its warehouse within one business day.

The initial ruckus kicked up over the BH100 was over its inability to playback iHD interactive content on HD DVD discs. According to Crave, the only concession handed down to LG from the DVD Forum was that the official HD DVD logo could not appear anywhere on the product.

However, the lack of iHD is the least of the BH100's problems. The $1,199 price tag is sure to give many consumers an upset stomach. Consumers could grab a $499 20GB PlayStation 3 and a $599 Toshiba HD-A20 for 1080p Blu-ray and HD DVD movie viewing. For those that can get by with 1080i HD DVD playback, the $399 Toshiba HD-A1 could also serve as a cheaper alternative.

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What they COULD win
By Lonyo on 1/21/2007 5:53:23 PM , Rating: 2
They could pick up a $499 PS3 and a $300 Xbox 360 + $200 Xbox HD-DVD drive, and end up spending only $1000 and getting 2 games consoles as well.




RE: What they COULD win
By Exodus220 on 1/21/2007 6:06:06 PM , Rating: 3
That is like a quadruple whammy...I would totally do that if I really wanted to be able to watch BluRay and HDDVD movies. Then I could also play PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox, and Xbox 360 games, on top of all the emulated software that is available too. Crazy good deal if you ask me.


RE: What they COULD win
By AlexWade on 1/21/2007 6:35:57 PM , Rating: 2
HD DVD does one thing that Blu-Ray can't, and neither can this player. HD DVD mandates a dual-stream decoder in the players, which allow studios to add exclusive content while the movie is playing. The iHD and PiP feature is why some movies from studios that support HD DVD and Blu-Ray haven't released the Blu-Ray version yet. This is actually a very cool feature.

Regardless, one day someone will make a true dual-format player. And this stupid war will be useless.


RE: What they COULD win
By HaZaRd2K6 on 1/21/2007 6:43:14 PM , Rating: 2
This war is useless already. It's just going to be VHS vs Beta again, albeit this time with much more money involved. I don't know anyone who's seriously planning on upgrading to either format for quite a while yet (as in at least a year). So while this war may be fought, nobody will care.


RE: What they COULD win
By masher2 (blog) on 1/21/2007 7:44:12 PM , Rating: 2
> "I don't know anyone who's seriously planning on upgrading to either format for quite a while yet "

Already upgraded nearly a year ago...and just upgraded my first gen HD-A1 player to the HD-A2. Which, by the way, I strongly suggest that anyone considering the A1 spring for the little bit extra for the A2. The unit is significantly smaller, and response time much better.


RE: What they COULD win
By FITCamaro on 1/21/2007 8:18:40 PM , Rating: 5
Yes and you obviously just have money to throw around if in a year you've dropped $1000 or more on DVD players.

That is not indicative of the average consumer anywhere in the world.


RE: What they COULD win
By masher2 (blog) on 1/22/2007 9:12:40 AM , Rating: 2
The average consumer need not spend $1000 though. HD-DVD units are now under $400...very near the $300 price point that popularized DVD.

Of course, DVDs were much more compelling compared to videotapes, than HD-DVD or BluRay are to DVD. So I wouldn't expect the average consumer to opt into either format until the sub $200 range.


RE: What they COULD win
By therealnickdanger on 1/22/2007 4:27:56 PM , Rating: 2
Sh*t, I've probably spent $1,000 on HD-DVDs by themselves, with nearly all of them under $20. That was the real draw for me. The player isn't what's important, it's the media cost that determines value.


RE: What they COULD win
By justmoe on 1/21/07, Rating: 0
RE: What they COULD win
By masher2 (blog) on 1/21/2007 11:00:34 PM , Rating: 2
Except for the fact that, HD-DVD is still outselling Blu-Ray. PS3 sales figures have been disapointing...and it seems most of those PS3 owners have little interest in buying BD movies after all.

The "war", such as it is, isn't going to be over until one or both formats are selling videos at the same cost as DVDs...most consumers aren't interested in paying a stiff price premium for a little extra image quality. Given HD-DVDs far lower production costs, I'm betting its going to get there first.

Long-term, Blu-Ray may win out on the data storage front, especially if dual-format players proliferate. But for movies, HD-DVD is going to be the clear winner.


RE: What they COULD win
By kelmon on 1/22/2007 3:20:31 AM , Rating: 2
I entirely agree. I have absolutely zero interest in either format given that I can buy DVDs for absolute peanuts these days and neither format provides any real incentive above and beyond what a DVD can do. Sure, they can show a high definition picture but for me DVD was compelling not just because the image quality was better than VHS but also because you could do things like skip to the parts of the movie you wanted, no more rewinding, you could watch them on the move and they take up much less space. Presently I'm very much of the opinion that the picture quality of DVD is "good enough" so I fail to see why I should need to spend the sort of the money that these two formats are demanding.

At this point I think that both formats are "too early" and that they'll go the way of laser disk. Plus, I have news for Sony and that's even if I ever buy a PS3 then even then I'll continue to buy DVDs rather than Blu-Ray movies if they are more expensive still since I cannot justify paying more for what is essentially the same thing.


RE: What they COULD win
By timmiser on 1/23/2007 7:24:40 AM , Rating: 2
You don't have to turn the clock back too far when DVD players cost $200 and at that price, most people already had them in their home. Go ahead and keep buying DVD's but I think you'll find yourself buying BD/HD-DVD disks a few years from now to replace the DVD's you're buying today.

Possibly the best solution is to start buying those HD-DVD/DVD combo discs they are selling now. That way you can watch the DVD today, and still be ready for the HD-DVD upgrade tomorrow.


RE: What they COULD win
By goodstuff on 1/24/2007 10:48:34 AM , Rating: 2
BD is outselling HD-DVD now and a pretty fast rate as well.

Sales chart at top right of DVDEmpire:
http://www.dvdempire.com/index.asp?userid=99365231...

Amazon sales:

http://www.hdgamedb.com/amazon/versus.aspx



RE: What they COULD win
By timmiser on 1/23/2007 7:19:52 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I don't know anyone who's seriously planning on upgrading to either format for quite a while yet (as in at least a year). So while this war may be fought, nobody will care.


If people really don't care, they should. HDTV's have been out for years and I think most people now have at least one in their home. You can't even buy a SDTV anymore except for the $100 cheap TV. That being said, the high-def DVD player is actually late to the party. My parents have a 32" LCD HDTV with a built in DVD player! What's with that?!




RE: What they COULD win
By Bluestealth on 1/21/2007 6:57:22 PM , Rating: 2
That feature sounds completely useless and I wouldn't even think about it when I was making my purchase. I will however wait for a winner or for a fully featured HD-DVD/Blue-Ray Player.


RE: What they COULD win
By timmiser on 1/23/2007 7:27:12 AM , Rating: 2
With the advent of the dual format player, the war is done. It will have exactly the same outcome as the DVD+R / -R format war.


RE: What they COULD win
By psychobriggsy on 1/21/2007 7:42:54 PM , Rating: 2
So BluRay doesn't have this capability? But it has a higher mux rate (HD-DVD: 30mbps, BluRay: 51mbps) which would make it more desirable to include.

The low mux rate on HD-DVD makes the IME/PiP feature less desirable as it will use up 1-4 mbps of an already limited resource that also has multiple audio tracks (lossless audio at 3-4mbps, DD+ between 640kbps and 1.5mbps, Dolby TrueHD has an average rate of 4.7mbps (24/48/8ch), etc).

One would assume that the processing capability of the player could handle the peak mux rate of content it could decode, "dual-stream decoder" or not.


RE: What they COULD win
By psychobriggsy on 1/21/2007 8:10:36 PM , Rating: 2
Answering my own question; after some hunting online I found a post on AVSForum:

HD DVD:

128 MB of persistent memory required
SD PiP decoding required
secondary audio decoding required
internet support required

BD-Video 1.0 (allowed until June of 2007):

64 KB of persistent memory required
no SD/HD PiP decoding required
no secondary audio decoding required
no internet support required

BD-Video 1.1:

256 MB of persistent memory required
SD/HD PiP support required
secondary audio decoding required
no internet support required

BD-Live:

1 GB of persistent memory required
SD/HD PiP support required
secondary audio decoding required
internet support required

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=79...

I wonder which profile the PS3 supports.

and the BluRay figure in my parent post should have been 48mbps, not 51mbps.


RE: What they COULD win
By Eug on 1/21/2007 6:40:42 PM , Rating: 2
You can also get the Toshiba HD-A2 standalone HD DVD player for US$399 (MSRP $499) at some stores.


RE: What they COULD win
By daftrok on 1/21/07, Rating: 0
RE: What they COULD win
By daftrok on 1/21/07, Rating: 0
RE: What they COULD win
By feraltoad on 1/22/2007 2:19:14 AM , Rating: 2
But that won't impress Uncle Joe now, will it?


By psychobriggsy on 1/21/2007 7:29:03 PM , Rating: 2
I wonder what happens when you put in one of the planned hybrid HD discs into a hybrid player...

Unless BluRay* smashes HD-DVD into the ground within two years, the next generation will be all hybrid discs, with cheap budget movies coming on dual-layer HD-DVD, and new releases, classics and the like coming on dual-layer BD-ROM.

I still won't buy into this market. 2008 maybe ... 2009 most likely. Everything should be settled by then, prices will be far more reasonable, technologies should be good, glitches and first-gen issues will be ironed out.

(* With 20m+ PS3s in the market by the end of 2008 I don't think there is going to be a situation where HD-DVD wins)




By feraltoad on 1/22/2007 2:17:22 AM , Rating: 2
As you pointed out they both have strong points in different areas so I agree that they could and should coexist. The only winners of an extinction of either format is the companies backing each one. God forbid they might be forced to share the market. Hopefully, dual-format players (esp. PC) will step in and end this ridiculous business ala +/- before it turns AC/DC.


Currently out of stock
By 42media on 1/22/2007 9:41:56 PM , Rating: 2
Just did a quick check of the Best Buy site and it seems that the high price has not stopped anyone. The BH100 is now sold out! Guess I didn't move quick enough to get mine.




RE: Currently out of stock
By timmiser on 1/23/2007 7:29:56 AM , Rating: 2
Circuit City has it in stock online.


By jabber on 1/22/2007 4:59:37 AM , Rating: 2
Popped into one of the usual music stores in the UK with a mate a few days ago. Saw the Xbox HD drive coming soon and for the price (£129) we thought it was worth a go when it arrived. We then went to another store that had HD-DVDs in stock. They were the first we'd seen and they had King Kong, Batman Begins etc. etc. However, they were all roughly £25 each ($50) and after we'd seen the same movies in the previous shop on DVD for £3 a go, we thought it best not to bother with HD stuff.

DVD will do just fine for quite some time.




Features still lacking
By FXi on 1/22/2007 7:02:29 AM , Rating: 2
There are a few features that really are going to be required at this price point:

RECORDING ABILITY - and key in that the capacity of the recording

cablecard 2.0 or equivalent multistream 2way descrambling

Boxes aren't cheap, but people are looking for things that give them MORE than their DVD players provide. HD recording with the ability to offload the HD stuff to disk is going to have to be a feature providable to really start luring the masses.




HD is cheaper than that...
By Oregonian2 on 1/22/2007 2:58:55 PM , Rating: 2
The Toshiba HD-A20 goes for under $400 at amazon.com





1088i??
By CrazyBernie on 1/21/07, Rating: -1
UGH!
By daftrok on 1/21/07, Rating: -1
"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it." -- SCEA President Jack Tretton

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