Ben Reid
20 Sep 2006 16:52
Earlier this year, Korean electronics company LG indicated that it was considering creating a player that could house the ability to play both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD movies, but that now does not appear likely - at least not for the time being.
"We have had discussions about having such a device, but there are no official plans at the moment," said LG spokesman John Taylor. "The product in question was never really fleshed out in a lot of detail publicly."
Many believe that building a home player that could read the discs of both high-definition formats is practicible. Some, such as Sony Electronics COO Stan Glasgow believe cost is a major obstacle to such a project. The 'evolution' into High Definition is still in its early stages, therefore prices for HD hardware are high. Standalone HD players currently retail at about $500, while Blu-ray players sell for around double that. (Although Glasgow believes the prices of Blu-ray players will have halved to around $500 by next year.)
Steve Baker, an analyst with sales & marketing research firm NPD Group, doesn't believe a lack of a combination player in the near future is a major issue. "These are early-adopter products. It is fine if there is a fight right now," he said.
He also noted that Pioneer, another company that once pondered the idea of a combo player, has scrapped those plans.
Source:
cnet