Dual Format Disc Player Announced - Page 8

I will be more than happy to buy a dual format player if it does a better job of playing Blu-ray than my BD10 and a better job of playing HD DVD than my A2. I will just move my current players into the bedroom and save some space in my stand. I am enjoying both formats and plan to do so as long as they are available.

At that price, there may definitely be no need to purchase any Blu-Ray player whatsoever, providing that it can demonstrate speed, top playback quality and features. In essence, any future Blu-Ray adopter can immediately be "format neutral" with a dual-format player. It will not, however, stop HD DVD players from selling, especially when you can get the A2 for about $399 and the XBox 360 HD DVD add-on for $199 or less.

Yep, people will stop buying PS3's because of this..

Price is reasonable if it delivers on features and performance. For me to consider any player at $1199, it must have 1) selectable 1080p60 and 1080p24 output, 2) built-in decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA, 3) support for CD and DVDs, and 4) HDMI 1.3.

I was at Best Buy yesterday. It looked like people stopped buying PS3's already.

I think though that the vast majority of PS3 owners buy it for gaming primarily. Movies are a distant second. Most who post in the Blu-Ray & HD DVD forums however who have a PS3 buy it primarily for movies, and play the occasional game.

So this new technology needs to be developed and then added to the production of both devices. And only after LG manages to get this to work and into the marketplace. How many PS3s do you think will be in existance by the time a combo PS3 might be ready for prime time? 10 million? 20 million?

So is it time for the Admins to open up a new forum for dual format players?

The PS3s will continue playing the games and Blu-ray disks like today. Nothing gets broken. In fact, if universal players are wildly successful they could actually increase the demand for additional titles resulting inthe studios producing more Blu-ray titles which would benefit PS3 owners. The more PS3s the more people that would benefit.

One thing if feel is this will definitely cause the BD exclusive studios (and hd-dvd for that matter) to stay exclusive. If combo is the wave of the future why would Disney, Fox etc. go neutral when there will already be a huge PS3 install base and when future players will play both formats anyway.

Makes sense to me. Why should those studios complicate their lives by producing and distributing two formats when the majority of the market only needs one.

This is great news for Blu Ray!!

I can see this dual player being even more buggy than the Toshiba players!!!

Well, at least the Blu Ray portion of the player will give you 1080P, but you'll only get 480P out of the HD DVD section.

theblab strikes again.

PS3 Add-on!!!!!

And those discs released on BD will not play on the HD DVD add-ons already released into the market, cutting off a sector of potential customers. The more PS3s and add-ons are sold the smaller the market for a universal player becomes.

Unless, these go dual format as well I would think that people are going to be less and less inclined to purchase a (single HD format) PS3 or add-ons for video once low-cost universal players become available. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I guess it could go either way. I'm just looking forward to a player that plays anything. I'm just a little tired of looking at the HD DVD versus BB movie release reports when I do my "what if" purchase analysis.

Two years from now when combo players are $199 or less no-one is going to be monkeying around with playing movies on the PS3 or XBOX360 with thier first-generation hardware and clunky interface. Just like the number of people that watch DVDs on an XBOX is statistically irrelevant compared to the total number of DVD players in existance.

I agree with shades: If dual-players work just fine it is actually in the best interests of customers to *continue* the format war - the manufacturers of the two formats will be cutting media costs to compete with one another, and prices will go down.

I dont think the color of the cases is going to be a significant factor

Andy K.

One more thought to add to the mix -- if this dual-format proves itself performance and feature wise, there is no real reason to purchase a similarly-priced Blu-Ray only player which will force other Blu-Ray only CE companies to scramble and do one of two things (or both) to remain competitive:

1. Drastically reduce the price of their current Blu-Ray models
2. Flush them out and introduce their own dual-format players

If they do not do one or both, their sales (as bad as they already are) will likely decrease even further. A possible third option is for them to introduce HD DVD players for the sub-$400 market. Either way, it looks like HD DVD has the upper hand here with their $399 and under players, and with dual-format player(s) entering the playing field this only broadens the HD DVD market. One would almost get a sense that there could be a 'phasing out' of Blu-Ray only players all together (with the exception perhaps of Sony, who would be forced to reduce their player well below the cost of any dual-format counterparts). The spin off of all this is increased sales of HD DVD movies.

I was at BB on Saturday and it looks like the same thing for the HD-A2. 12 of them up on the shelf, collecting dust. I asked Tom, the Manager there I work with and he said they have not sold an HD-DVD player in 2 weeks and had sold 3 of the Sony BD player this week and 7 Samsung BD-P1000's this week.

~Josh

probably because they have the BD players set up

Wow, makes me wish I didn't just buy the PS3. I agree that it spells trouble for Bluray. Who is going to spend $1200 on a bluray only player? If combo players become affordable, and everyone has them, why would studios spend more money making bluray movies when it is cheaper for them to use the DVD facilities to make HD-DVD discs?

I find that hard to believe.

Which Best Buy was it? I know that your BB in Colorado Springs has none in stock right now, and two are in transit and should be available tomorrow. Looks like all 12 sold since Saturday.

I just looked on Amazon and was surprised to see that the Samsung shows as #869 and the HD-A2 as #625, with both in stock. I would have expected to see the HD-A2 much higher than that compared to the Samsung. Maybe some people are waiting for news from CEDIA, like I am.

BTW: The Sony shows down at 6000 and something.

--Darin

LG Dual Player price is $1199.
I don't buy it, I like PS3 20G + HD-A2.

That is just too much. Most people who are passionate enough about HD to spend that kind of money probably already have one of each player already. Hopefully, some other vendor will introduce something more reasonable.

Wow, I'm glad I bought two seperate machines, the HD-A1 and the Philips BDP9000, I saved about $300 instead of buying 1 dual-format player.

I suspect that Amazon sold a lot of the Samsung players when they were priced at $569-599 for the past 4 weeks or so. Now its priced at $799 so probably not as many takers. As for the Sony, they (Amazon) didn't have it in stock until mid-to-late December and even then its availability was sporadic.

If the 1st dual player really comes out at $1199 MSRP, it won't take that long for it and upcoming ones to go lower. Look at the 1st gen Samsung, which can already be bought close to $500... That's almost 50% of what it used to be...

Give it some time and dual players won't be any more expensive than current single format players today. My guess is end of 2007 for them to reach somewhere around $600 street price. Granted it might still be a bit high for mass-market adoption, but still a better investment than buying a $300 HD-DVD player and a $400 BD player when that time comes...

I just wonder how the BB or CC sales people will position this LG player at this price. It is in the same price range of other reputable brands that only play a single format. Do you direct people to the HD-XA2, the Sony, the Panny or the Pioneer Elite? How do you try to sell them on the value of a universal player without killing any chance of selling one of the "more reputable high end brands?" This seems difficult to me, but then again I'm no marketing genius either.

BINGO.

Dual format players for SACD/DVD-A did NOT resolve that war. The formats both failed (ok they cling to life on the internet - don't flame me). Unless there is ONE replacement for DVDs and the studio's STOP making DVDs the war will remain a war and BD and HD-DVD are going to put us back in the same position we are today with dual audio formats that appeal to audiophiles.

Dual format players appeal to videophiles and only videophiles. The improvement over a quality upscaling DVD player on an average size set (42 inches or below - and heck on 50" from the average viewing distance is NOT appreciable). Same way DVD-A on a standard receiver or lesser HTIB is not appreciable. Yea its better but who can HEAR on tin can one driver 3.5" cone speakers and the 80WPC 6" "subwoofer" in Joe6Pack's home theater room?

Here's how it plays out:

Joe 6 Pack - I can find anything on DVD and with a $29.95 player I have one for
every room. Wait DVD is cracked to I can copy the DVDs to my hearts content for free... YEA! Joe6Pack 2 - you got that new Lord of the Rings disc - can I borrow it?? WINK WINK? I'll get it back to ya later this week. I have to go to the store to buy a pack of DVD-Rs - na I'll splurge on the dual layers so I can get it all. Love those bonus features ya know. Nothing better than trailers...

Audio/Videophiles: The best only the best will do since we hear/see the difference. Searching for DVD-A, searching for HDCD, searching for SACD... Ah found one, wait two... OOOO they have 20 at that store... but can I get Thriller on DVD-A? No, oh well I guess I have to wait for it on DVD-A and just stick with my CD for now.

Audiophile Man to Wife - Honey the Lexus plays DVD-A but not SACD - can you bring the Thriller CD, no better yet get me the i-Pod... 384k MP3/AAC will work fine for the car with the road noise.

Does any car on the market now play SACD in an OEM head unit? Why didn't the dual players take over that market? They should be all the rage. What about HTIB - any have dual format CD/DVD-A/DVD-V/SACD drives?

See where this is going??? Dual Format players are doomed for failure just like SACD and DVD-A. I have a Pioneer DV59-AVi that plays both. I have less than 20 SACD/DVD-A disks. How many CDs do I still buy - lots and lots. The Dual format player is a feature that got me interested in the formats - given the lack of discs it never converted me.

Just sit outside a Best Buy at Christmas - see those Elite/ES/Denon DVD players flying off the self with Joe6Pack in tow? Hell no. Give em a $20.99 Brokesonic up-converting or progressive scan near HD DVD that I can shove on top of the TV with composite cables in the box.

Ok, and the final laugh - you guys think Sony is going to support a dual drive player? HA HA HA.

SONY sells. LG - well LG is LG (dosen't it mean Lucky Goldstar?). Now that's a fine component I want on my rack.

Quick head count - how many here own an LG product? (I think I have one of their microwaves in my office....)