LG BH100 HD DVD / Blu-ray hybrid player in the wild and on sale
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 17th 2007 2:51PM
posted Jan 17th 2007 2:51PM
Whoa, that was quick. The story of LG's BH100 has moved from myth to reality quicker than some companies can even craft a marketing campaign, and astoundingly enough, the hybrid HD DVD / Blu-ray player has not only been captured on camera, but it's available for sale. You read right, LG's $1,199 harmony machine is apparently already leaking into a few CompUSA locations, and although we didn't know how its inability to play back HDi would effect the release status, we're now seeing that it beat the February 4th presumptions by a solid two weeks, and although it clearly lacks an "official" HD DVD logo, it seemed to handle The Hulk just fine. So if you just can't hold back your desire for a two-faced player any longer, and can track down a stocked CompUSA location, you can pick up your very own BH100 starting today. Click on through for a few more sneak peeks, and be sure to hit the read link for the full skinny.[Via CNET]
Warner could kill this so fast if they started making those Total HD discs...
Does this thing upconvert standard DVDs to 480p/720p/1080i/1080p? If so, it is a fantastic device; despite costing more than some HDTVs.
Then again...Xbox 360 plus HD-DVD plus 20GB PS3 w/Blu-Ray...
Wow, I guess it's a great buy for those stuck between both formats. Just wish this "media" battle would hury up already so prices will come down! ;)
Not really... Warner only makes a precentage of all movies. Sony Pictures will only make blu-ray disks for example. Isn't Warner already using those disks?
Remember, those TotalHD discs have to be cheap to produce, else the discs will cost an arm and a leg.
The DVD/HDDVD Combo discs are insanely expensive... I can't imagine how much more these will cost. I would rather have one format and be done with it, regardless of which format it ends up being...
Yes, it upconverts.
but if you bought $400 xbox360 + $200 HD DVD drive + $500 20GB PS3, you'd pay the same price, get bluray and hd dvd playback, and be able to play games and have all the extra capabilities of the ps3 and x360, but still be paying the same as this hybrid player costs, or even less!
I don't understand the allure- for $1200 I'm getting a broken player? A great HD-DVD player (Toshiba HD-A2, upconverts DVDs etc too) costs $399 or less, leaving $800 in change for a blu-ray player (or PS3, whatever) should that format ever win.
iHD is the interactive layer. There's nothing preventing you from watching HD DVD movies and enjoying all the basic features. Very few discs use iHD right now.
There's nothing preventing LG from releasing a free firmware update which adds iHD capabilities. They just haven't licenced the technology (yet).
Remember that HD DVD launched without multi-channel TrueHD playback and no Blu-ray players decode DTS HD Master Audio yet. The latter was enabled via firmware update a few months after release and DTS MA will be available for many players in Q1 or Q2.
Worthless as a HD-DVD player if it doesn't support HDi, which makes it incompatible with most HD-DVD movies.
So basically a $1,200 Blu-ray player with crippled HD-DVD support.
i cant imagine hd dvd winning the format wars because then everyone would have an hd dvd player, but none of those sony pictures movies would be available on that format, and sony pictures does make some pretty popular movies.
Too bad that most of sony pictures films are actually shit :P
>>iHD is the interactive layer. There's nothing preventing you from watching HD DVD movies and enjoying all the basic features. Very few discs use iHD right now.
Universal (the only HD-DVD exclusive studio) and many other studios is planning on moving a lot of the menus to iHD in the coming year, which means this player will not support those movies.
Clearly they couldn't licensee iHD since its a proprietary format designed by Microsoft (its a requirement for HD-DVD standard). The lack of a HD-DVD logo suggest maybe LG isn't paying HD-DVD royalties or isn't properly certified.
Only reason you would want these dual format players is to future proof yourself, but this player most definitely is not future-proof.
>>i cant imagine hd dvd winning the format wars because then everyone would have an hd dvd player, but none of those sony pictures movies would be available on that format, and sony pictures does make some pretty popular movies.
Sony, Fox, and Disney were the top-grossing studios by ticket sales this last year, none of them support HD-DVD. Its gonna be hard to sell a format without Pixar and Disney movies, Spider Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, James Bond, etc.
>>iHD is the interactive layer. There's nothing preventing you from watching HD DVD movies and enjoying all the basic features. Very few discs use iHD right now
Incorrect. HDi is what enables the menus, PIP features in films like Batman Begins, U-Control on Universal's Fast & Furious - Tokyo Drift. Warner has called its implementation IME, available on films like Superman Returns. Earlier films did not include anything other than the basic menu for selecting the audio or subtitles but that still used HDi.
Pick up a copy of Miami Vice and see how the menu works, this is what will be missing with the crippled LG player. All other features added that improve interactivity will not work on the lg.
Haha, that's my brother taking the pictures =) The store's in Frisco, TX btw.
Seems like more studios are going with Blue-Ray, but porn producers have gone with HD-DVD. I'm still waiting this one out.
Oh and Sony has made at least one good film. The Kung Fu Hussle was fantastic. Funny stuff.
kung fu hustle was the shit!
Actually Shelterpaw:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37021
Vivid is very serious about Blu Ray. And I really wish you people would realize its not HD-DVD, but "HD DVD". That gets annoying.
God you Americans speak proper english ' Its upscaling' not 'upconverts'....I joke!
Can anyone tell me if someone is planning on bringing out a HD / Blu-ray cinema surround system?
Please !
There are two listed for sale right now on Ebay!
Dont get me wrong, I love the idea of a hd combo drive like this. But something just doesn't add up to me. When you can buy an XBOX 360 and an HD-DVD drive for $500 (sans hdd) and a PS3 for $500 (20 gb hdd), wouldn't these purchases make much more sense? You have the best of both hd worlds, while getting two high end video game systems (ok ONE video game system and one "computer entertainment system" lol whatever that means). All the while they do an even superior job of playing HD-DVD titles (read: lack of iHD or HDi or whatever it is nowadays.) Granted the XBOX doesn't support HDMI as of now, but apparently they are working on that. http://gear.ign.com/articles/753/753296p1.html It just doesn't add up to me, but maybe I'm missing something.
Do the XBox 360 and currently available HD DVD players support 1080p? I don't think they do so that would be one reason to go with a combo player once a decent one is available. The 1080p HD DVD players soon to be released will be more expensive than their 1080i counterparts. I think the LG was rushed to market and is not yet ready for prime time. The next generation player will be the one to get.
And sorry "me" for the redundant comment. I guess I missed it my first time through.
Actually yea the xbox 360 and hd dvd set do support 1080p with the newest dashboard update (if you have an xbox 360 and u have it up to date, go to your hd settings and 1080p should be available) the only bad thing is that the only way u can display 1080p off of your xbox is to find a 1080p set that can accept 1080p through vga or component (which is pretty rare as most do only through hdmi) i believe this is the reason microsoft is releasing the xbox with hdmi support, so the majority of people can watch their hd dvd movies in their beloved 1080p (see the link in my above post) i have actually seen an hd dvd movie running in 1080p (i think it was batman) and i must say that it looks absolutely amazing. this tells me that when the xbox w/hdmi hits the shelves my current xbox will be hitting ebay so i dont have to buy a new set that supports 1080p through vga or component.
but yea i absolutely agree with you when u said that the lg player was rushed,, with the support of HDi (and some cosmetic enhancements) i think it would an all around a great machine.