LG May Develop HD-DVD / Blu-ray Combo Player

Fresh from the rumor mill: LG will drop production of the BD199 Blu-ray Disc player as it considers developing a combo HD DVD / Blu-ray player .

If uncertainty in the format war between the next optical formats isn't enough reason for consumers to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, a recent memo from LG should. The memo was sent to LG dealers from its Consumer Electronics Sales VP Bob Perry. It said that the BD199 (announced back in Jan at CES) would not ship as planned for this spring. It goes on to say the Seoul, South Korean electronics firm is planning a late summer or early fall release of a dual format player. This new device will playback both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, which would only make it the Holy Grail of HD optical players.

The implications are revolutionary, considering Samsung has publicly stated such a device couldn't be made at this time. It was only two months ago Peter Weedfald, Senior VP of Marketing at Samsung North America said; "...there is nothing we can do about a universal product ." So, the next gen DVD format war rages on.

Is it possible that the landscape of this fast moving market has changed since January? The answer is yes, of course. Blu-ray Disc release dates have been announced and with the merger of Sony and NEC's optical drive manufacturing a lot of significant moves have been made. A formal announcement from LG about the release of a combo disc player is sure to kill the sales of any Blu-ray or HD DVD players planned early this year.

The memo from Bob Perry also covered parts distribution problems that would prevent LG from shipping the 71SA1D and 62SA1D. These were both going to be LG's new LCoS Rear Projection televisions at 62" and 71" respectively. Although the major breakthrough in this memo is the HD DVD / Blu-ray combo possibilities, the subtext is LG is forsaking LCoS technologies. This could be a result of LG emphasis on global Plasma TV market domination .

Special Thanks to www.hometheaterfocus.com