LG lets loose pics, release date for internal Blu-ray / HD DVD drive

We've known that LG has had an internal Blu ray burner / HD DVD player combo drive in the works for some time now, but the company has just now let loose the first pics of the format-agnostic device, as well as presumably final release date, in anticipation of its official unveiling at CeBIT. Of course, being an internal drive, there isn't a heckuva lot to see, but those side by side logos should be more than enough to impress anyone looking closely enough. Equally impressive is the price, with the drive, dubbed the GGW-H10N "Super Multi Blue," set to demand a hefty $1,200 when it rolls out in May. While the release date's been changed slightly, the drives specs don't appear to have been, with the same 4x recording speed for Blu ray discs, and write speeds between 6x and 10x for the usual line-up of DVD formats.

[Via Wired Blogs: Gadget Lab]

[wawul @ Mar 13th 2007 5:55PM]

a few more years and there won't be any more space for format logos

[DS @ Mar 13th 2007 6:21PM]

SOMEONE needs to win these format wars already. $1200 for a burner? WTF?

Does anyone remember how much DVD burners were when they came out? I dont remember them being over $1k, but then again, I was pretty young.

[Zadillo @ Mar 13th 2007 6:51PM]

I don't know, I'm pretty sure at some point they cost that much, early on. I remember when CD burners first became available, and just the idea of being able to make your own CD was pretty exotic....... I remember my office got one, and I recall it costing in the ballpark of $1000 (I think it was a model made by Pinnacle Micro).

[Jimmy Hoffa @ Mar 13th 2007 6:26PM]

when they hit the mass market, I remember them being around $500-600, but there was a time before you could buy one at your computer store when people were talking about $10k+ burners. Then again, my memory is a sieve.

[humpty @ Mar 13th 2007 6:40PM]

Why is it so hard to make an HD-DVD burner.. its almost been a year, and they are still scarce.

[Sy @ Mar 13th 2007 6:45PM]

They just have Blu-ray recording capabilities and HD DVD recording? Is there any question which is the better format anymore? HD DVD should just fold.

[Scooter @ Mar 13th 2007 6:46PM]

$1,200 is just crazy. You might as well buy a nice NAS setup and have 1-2 terabytes of storage at you finger tips... for less then $1,200

http://www.gadgetgrid.com/2007/03/06/infrant-home-nas/

[Scooter @ Mar 13th 2007 6:46PM]

$1,200 is just crazy. You might as well buy a nice NAS setup and have 1-2 terabytes of storage at you finger tips... for less then $1,200

http://www.gadgetgrid.com/2007/03/06/infrant-home-nas/

[Rick wilson @ Mar 13th 2007 6:49PM]

The ONLY advantage some HD DVD backers claimed was that it was slightly less expensive... well... now this just blew that out of the water, you waste time combining these two formats. Just put out a 4X blu-ray drive and be done with it! You're only encouraging Universal! They need a clear message, everyone else is backing Blu-ray, we'll wait for Back to the Future.... we've got Star Wars!

Anyway, HD burners are out there, its just they're slim, 1X and only single layer (15GB), so a pretty big waste as well.

Blu-ray is about to launch a SLOT LOAD BD slimline drive, that will take over the market for sure.

[jason @ Mar 13th 2007 7:02PM]

wow! I mean wow! who would have thought the [disk] drive would look like all previous disk drives save the brand and format logos.

[greg @ Mar 13th 2007 7:23PM]

i dont even care who wins the format war. i just want someone to win.

[cduran01 @ Mar 13th 2007 7:35PM]

$1200 is WAY too much, Bluray burners can be found for about $600, there is no incentive to get one of these combos. Like others have said, LG is just encouraging a long format war. BD drives are droping in price almost monthly now, by the end of the year HD DVD will loose what little advantage it has right now.

[Klaus Burton @ Mar 13th 2007 7:36PM]

I agree, greg.

Also, in the article it says "Blu ray burner/HD DVD player", does that mean it burns Blu ray but only reads HD DVDs?

[SuicideNinja @ Mar 13th 2007 7:46PM]

I'd be all for Blu-ray winning at this point if the picture was solid...HD-DVD still wins in that department. Even at 1080p over HDMI, I'm very disappointed in Blu-ray.

I'm not even sure why these minimal upgrades are even necessary at this point, when DVD is just fine. Upscaling does a pretty good job nowadays.

I don't know about you, but the ability to see women's facial hair on closeups isn't exactly my idea of enjoying a movie.

[Gamey McGee @ Mar 13th 2007 8:31PM]

SuicideNinja: You're probably disappointed by the video codec, not the disc format. Most blu-ray aren't in MPEG4 yet, and are still using MPEG2. That does effect the quality of the image. This will change soon as Sony and a couple others are now releasing MPEG4 video that is discernibly better. I can assure you in my own experience, regardless of codec, the transfer to digital format also factors into the quality drastically. I've seen some that look like an up-sampled 480p and others that are as crisp and clear as anything I've seen.

[SuicideNinja @ Mar 14th 2007 11:03AM]

I'm aware of the codec problem. HD-DVD has been using the better codec thus far (H.264 was it?), and I've been pleased with what I've seen there (but I'm not so willing to drop money on the format). I imagine Blu-ray will get there someday, but it's annoying to have spent all this money for nothing in that department. Games are more important, and the PS3 isn't delivering there either.

If the movies I care about don't look any better than their DVD counterparts, then it is still a problem. Not to mention my last point was only a half-joke. When it comes down to it, Blu-ray and HD-DVD are for videophiles, which most general consumers are not.

[Chris K. @ Mar 13th 2007 8:01PM]

The first consumer DVD burners were in fact well over 1000, but prices fell rapidly and were around 200 about 2 years later. I'm sure this will follow a similar path.

[Gamey McGee @ Mar 13th 2007 8:20PM]

Looks like the ramp-up to produce players that do both HD-DVD and Blu-ray won't really matter much. Blu-ray is running away with the crown and HD-DVD, unless it can find a niche as a super-cheap alternative for data storage, has already "lost."

Seriously, why pay $1,200 for a dual format burner when I can pick up a Blu-ray burner (the ever-increasing fore-runner) for $600?

[taka @ Mar 13th 2007 9:51PM]

actually everyone, this is not a blu-ray hd-dvd burner...
it is a cd-r cd-rw dvd-r dvd+r dvd-9/dl dvd-ram hddvd-r bd-r burner-i agreee w/ wawui

when it says 6x-10x for the usual dvd formats, does this include hd dvd?
does this mean normal dvd write times are 6x for a $1,200 buner???

[Markus87 @ Mar 13th 2007 10:48PM]

I don't see what the fuss of 1200 bucks for a BDVD/HDDVD player/burner. At retail it seems that most players go for that kind of cash anyways... Especially combo drives... at least thats what it seems like here in Canada.

I agree with one of the posts above though... I think the seven or so format logos are old.

Also HD-DVD is not all that bad. Sure there isn't much studio support for it, but thats not its fault. Sony has it's greedy hands in everything now lol. Also HD-DVD is also supported by Warner Bros... not just Universal.

Also HD-DVD players are a little cheaper too... For example the 360's add on is only 200 bucks.

[E71 @ Mar 14th 2007 8:30AM]

Why would you want HD-DVD support on your Blu-ray Drive? HD-DVD will be extinct soon anyway... I mean, if this drive was about the same price as a Blu-ray-only Drive I don't mind buying it but, I sure as hell ain't paying an extra $300-$400 just to help those losers at Toshiba to slow down progression of Technology with their low-capacity discs.

'Super Multi Blue' -- what a lame name...

[drock4456 @ May 15th 2007 10:05PM]

As far as I know hd dvd has gotten up to 3 layers working properly and they are working on a 4th while blue has failed to make 2 work properly. That would leave hddvd to hold more space.

[shumly @ Oct 25th 2007 5:56PM]

How do I get an internal HD DVD ROM Drive