LG not ditching HD DVD just yet, hopes to accommodate early adopters

Shortly after Samsung stated its intentions to focus on Blu-ray in the future, along comes LG looking out for those guinea pigs who've already started building up a respectable HD DVD library. Reportedly, the firm stated that it felt it "necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore creates simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer." Furthermore, Daniel Aziz, marketing manager for LG Electronics, was quoted as saying that Toshiba's announcement "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." 'Course, we wouldn't try to read between any lines here -- it seems that LG won't be yanking its combo players anytime soon, but there's no doubt it understands that the future is Blu.

[Via HighDefDigest, thanks JoseB]

[phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 5:36PM]

LG huh? does it come in clamshell?

[EatingPie @ Feb 19th 2008 6:02PM]

No clamshell, but...

The LG SuperBlu costs $1000.00. Yes, a cool grand.

All I can say is, NO WONDER they're not ditching the HD-DVD guys! :-)

-Pie

[fischju @ Feb 19th 2008 5:40PM]

Good news, I have a lot of HD DVDs and not a combo player.

Why did Blu-Ray win? Oh right, it has harder to crack DRM. Not because it would be good for the consumer.

[Matt Bateman @ Feb 19th 2008 5:46PM]

I don't care what reason Blu-Ray won over HD-DVD. For all we really know, BR was victorious because of a flip of a coin. The important thing is that most of hold outs can make the jump to the next generation of device.

[CraigJ @ Feb 19th 2008 6:27PM]

Why did Blu-Ray win? Because Sony wrote a big fat check (or, a lot of big fat checks). That's why.

[JC @ Feb 19th 2008 6:53PM]

Sony wrote checks written on a Dubai bank account. Funny how Dubai bails out Sony and within weeks the format war is over. Now if Sony would have only put that money into developing a higher quality product and have it ready for the future (BR 2.0) maybe the battle would have been somewhat of a level playing field.

[JohnTitor @ Feb 19th 2008 7:00PM]

there is only one correct answer to why they won, and it's the PS3

[phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 5:50PM]

the firm stated that it felt it "necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore creates simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer."

translation: "we have inventory to clear"

[Evan @ Feb 19th 2008 5:57PM]

Seriously, thank you LG. This statement alone has made up my mind that I will be picking up one of your combo players. Everyone else wants to lock us in some corner and pretend we never existed.

[phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 5:58PM]

agenda much?

[Tedechman @ Feb 19th 2008 6:00PM]

umm wait....... who are you again?


And who left the corner cage padlock open?

[Evan @ Feb 19th 2008 6:09PM]

They let me out, I tried the blue kool-aid.

[sracer @ Feb 19th 2008 6:11PM]

If you were going to be so whiney about being on the losing end of the format war then you shouldn't have taken the chance in the first place.

Or did you not consider the possibility of being on the losing side?

[telepheedian @ Feb 19th 2008 6:19PM]

It sure is great that you're really happy about this, because nobody else cares.

[telepheedian @ Feb 19th 2008 6:21PM]

Never mind this, reply buttons didn't work through my RSS reader, was aimed at Bisu.

[telepheedian @ Feb 19th 2008 6:19PM]

It sure is great that you're really happy about this, because nobody else cares.

[Sarcasticone @ Feb 19th 2008 6:24PM]

Eh hem.....douche

[Sarcasticone @ Feb 19th 2008 6:25PM]

Cue one republic

It's too late to apologize...

[1Time @ Feb 19th 2008 6:28PM]

I remember my Dad buying a Betamax Videorecorder. He quickly realized that it didn't have the marketing forces behind it and switched to VHS. For those with an existing HD-DVD video inventory, the LG combo is probably a good choice. But anyone buying a new player, would be wise to go with Blu-ray.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/64894-sony-s-blu-ray-betamax-lesson-learned

- Tim

[Matt O @ Feb 19th 2008 7:31PM]

wow, your a genius! not...

[Doz @ Feb 19th 2008 6:37PM]

Good to hear, I'll eventually snag one of their internal drives for the htpc. But anyone else think its odd their internal combo drives can be had for $230 yet the standalones are pushing $800? And yes I realize it still requires a pc, but you can get a nice barebones for $400 or less that will best many standalone players.

[wickedpheonix @ Feb 19th 2008 6:51PM]

Is it just me or are Universal and Paramount still releasing on HD-DVD (even if not for long)? Good thing the format still has some support, here's me hoping my 360 HD-DVD add-on doesn't die for a very, very long time...

[wickedpheonix @ Feb 19th 2008 7:02PM]

whoops, hadn't read past page 2 of engadget yet... *sheepish*

[Fruition @ Feb 19th 2008 7:19PM]

Actually, a friend of mine was just telling me about this yesterday... So despite the odds this is relevant to my interests. :P

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Feb 19th 2008 7:21PM]

I think this is a good idea on LG's part. Some say it's just to clear out stock of existing H20L drives. Well, maybe so, but it's still a good idea. Combo players can be sold to existing HD-DVD adopters at a premium price for the next 18 months to two years.

[ethana2 @ Feb 19th 2008 7:25PM]

You only really got burned if you used a standalone player.

Thank goodness for digital disk images. Back up much? This is why you should.

[TomScrace @ Feb 19th 2008 7:40PM]

This is foolhardy. LG is overestimating the number of users who need a new player AND whose HD DVD collection is more valuable than the premium cost of the player.

They should cut their losses.

[Andy @ Feb 19th 2008 8:57PM]

Assuming that the combo players cost more than a BR player (as has certainly been the case) where is the market for these past those who are willing to pay that extra amount to have one player instead of two?

If I was an HD-DVD person and have discs, then I ALREADY have a HD-DVD player, and my next purchase will be a Blu-Ray player. If I don't, then I'm just going to get a Blu-Ray player since it's going to be able to play EVERY movie now.

[Paul @ Feb 19th 2008 10:40PM]

They aren't pulling the combo drives because they are hoping uninformed people will still purchase them.

[Cotay @ Feb 20th 2008 6:57PM]

I have the XBOX 360 add-on and I will be picking up one of the LG internal combo players for $230. It makes sense to me in that I am getting a BR player and a second source solution for my HD-DVD collection. I will then store my 360 add-on in case something happens to the internal drive later on. I totally see why HD-DVD adopters would pick up a combo player...

[Rich @ Feb 20th 2008 1:09AM]

Sony won for two reasons: 1) Studio support, essentially saying, paying, or doing whatever was necessary to get exclusive support; 2) Forcing adoption of the format by it's inclusion, and to the initial detriment of the Playstation 3 console. If the studios took an agnostic approach to the hardware and released its wares on both formats, day and date, there wouldn't have been a format war per se as both formats would have flourished. Sadly the greed factor kicked in on the BR side and they wanted all the marbles to themselves in terms of royalties and licensing fees.

With the death of HD DVD today, some retailers will certainly offer fire sales to get rid of their current inventory of hardware and software. It will be a good time to add some new movies tothe collection, then start acquiring new and future content in the BR format. For people like that, or those who only have room (space or connectivity wise) for one component, the dual format players certainly offer some value, especially as the prices continue to drop. The dual format players will also be of value to those people who already have a library of HD DVD content when adding a player for another room, or for that time if/when their current player stops working. It's not likely that people who already have HD DVD content are going to double dip and purchase the same content in the BR format.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 20th 2008 8:07AM]

You can still buy DVD/VHS combo players, so while you still see them, I bet there will still be Blu-ray/HD-DVD players.

I like LG, and if they made a decent Blu-ray player I may buy it, but I wouldn't buy a combo player.

[Hottascarias @ Feb 21st 2008 3:24PM]

Money talks. Toshiba did not talk the language of the Entertainment Industry. That, and extremely poor market skills. However, the HD-DVD box is just a PC in disguise, so I wonder if it can be reprogrammed to read Blu-Ray...