According to this post in the news thread Hitachi is introducing its Universal drive.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10768756&&#post10768756

http://i15.tinypic.com/52fs3rm.jpg

http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=40273

Hitachi GGW-H20N
Read: HD DVD, Blu-Ray BD-R and BD-RW (6X reading speed), + all cd/dvd formats
Write: Blu-Ray BD-R and BD-RW (4x writing speed) + all cd/dvd formats

I expect all CE manufacturers except Tosh, Sony and Panny to go nuetral before the end of 2008.

That isn't unreasonable. I'd look at which manufacturers made LD players and expect the rest to quit.

That isn't unreasonable.

Not at all, except I edited my post ;)

According to this post in the news thread Hitachi is introducing its Universal player.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10768756&&#post10768756

http://i15.tinypic.com/52fs3rm.jpg

http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=40273



I expect all CE manufacturers except Tosh, Sony and Panny to go nuetral before the end of 2008.
I think you're not far wrong.

Many of the vendors are developing or considering hybrid players.

One thing is for sure - HD DVD is here to stay. The BD strategy of excluding it from the market with the PS3 sales has failed.

The war is now switching to price and features for the holiday season, IMO.

Not at all, except I edited my post ;)
Good thing that I captured it for posterity. :p

Good thing that I captured it for posterity. :p

So did rdjam. Not that this is the first or the last time I'm saying it ... ;)

That isn't unreasonable. I'd look at which manufacturers made LD players and expect the rest to quit.
Which were all the manufacturers that made LD players? I suppose you meant "the final" manufacturers?

I suppose you meant "the final" manufacturers?

Yeah, I guess I did. They seem to be gluttons for punishment.

It's just the guts of the LG hybrid player by HITACHI-LG.

It's just the guts of the LG hybrid player by HITACHI-LG.

They put a Blu-Ray/DVD burner in their player? No wonder it's so damn expensive! :)

They put a Blu-Ray/DVD burner in their player? No wonder it's so damn expensive! :)I stand corrected :D Hmm no HD DVD writing?

I stand corrected :D Hmm no HD DVD writing?

why would you want hd-dvd writing?

why would you want hd-dvd writing?

To burn HD DVDs to play in your standalone HD DVD player, or to play nice with your new Toshiba laptop.

Can't think of any other reasons.

According to this post in the news thread Hitachi is introducing its Universal drive.

It's Hitachi as in Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS) and it's the successor to the GGW-H10N, so it's not their first "universal" drive. HLDS ODDs are also only sold under LG's brand to end consumer, not under Hitachi's brand.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the CE division of Hitachi will put a "universal" drive in a stand-alone player. In fact Hitachi has no plans to release a player at all this year (at least in Europe, the current plan is to release a Blu-ray player next year). I'd guess Hitachi will focus on BD recorders, mainly for the Japanese market where no one cares about HD DVD support anyway...

To burn HD DVDs to play in your standalone HD DVD player, or to play nice with your new Toshiba laptop.

Can't think of any other reasons.

Have toshiba even sold any laptops with hd-dvd drives in them yet? for a combo player, it just doens't make sense to me since blu-ray has more capacity for holding data than HD-DVD does.

Have toshiba even sold any laptops with hd-dvd drives in them yet? for a combo player, it just doens't make sense to me since blu-ray has more capacity for holding data than HD-DVD does.

Common sense says you are correct. Common sense is still puzzled why anyone would want hd-dvd to win in anyway possible due to so many shortcomings, including space limitations.

Anyway, the drive is just a rebadge. HD-DVD cannot get any REAL true support.

Yeah, I guess I did. They seem to be gluttons for punishment.

Pioneer, I think they still actually make a LD/DVD combo.

Have toshiba even sold any laptops with hd-dvd drives in them yet?Yes -- since last July.

Common sense says you are correct. Common sense is still puzzled why anyone would want hd-dvd to win in anyway possible due to so many shortcomings, including space limitations.

Anyway, the drive is just a rebadge. HD-DVD cannot get any REAL true support.

Clearly common sense is a relative thing. Perhaps people should at least pay passing attention to facts before making statements hahaa.

Personally I think that BR is in more trouble than HD-DVD at this moment in time. I think the pendulum is swinging... Watch your head. IN either case, I think it is pretty clear to most people that neither format is going anywhere in a hurry.

We have short term pain from some titles being in the "other" format, but we are also seeing huge pricing benefits and enhancements to the tech coming fast and furious. In the long term we will still have the pricing benefits and the features advances, but we will also have access to all the movies either because all the studios are releasing in both or bacause we all have Duel Format players.

BR will be able to take full advantage of its higher capacity as storage medium over the next couple years. Not sure what the home market will look like for that when HDD are so damn cheap. I bought 2 500gb SATA name brand drives last weekend for $119 CDN each... Madness. I might be adding a couple more.

Cheers,

Richard

PS. I am pretty sure a side by side feature and function comparison of the best stand alone players each has to offer at the moment would put the win squarely in the HD-DVD corner so your other statement makes no sense based on our current reality.

I have still to be shown a real world scenario where all the great to-be BR goodness would actually make a material difference in my movie watching experience compared to the best HD-DVD has to offer.

Opinion is one thing, pure cheerleading another. There are more than enough folks on both sides doing that here unfortunately (Myself included at times as well I am sure whether I realize it or not hahaa).