LG's Super Blu BH200 Hybrid Blu-ray + HD DVD Player is Finally Here - For Under $1,000!

Although the war/race/competition (whatever you want to call it) between HD DVD and Blu-ray is nowhere near its bloody end, some of the most important names for the multimedia products industry are already coming up with players that can work just fine with both formats. After Samsung's announcement a while back regarding the shipping date for its high-end combo player, now we've got something rather similar, this time coming from LG.

Thus, after an almost two-month delay, LG's Super Blu BH200 hybrid player has finally arrived in stores, just in time for the HD-hungry Christmas shoppers. However, this thing won't be cheap at all, but we'll talk about the pricing details a bit later, after a short review of the player's most important features.

The main selling point of the player from LG is, quite obviously, its compatibility with both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Actually, although complete compatibility is not guaranteed, the Super Blu is likely to support full specs of both Blu-Ray and HD DVD titles and even comes packed with an Ethernet jack to support Internet features on HD DVD discs and future Blu-Ray movies.

The BH200 also includes a Qdeo Advanced Video Processing system for enhanced up-scaling accuracy and noise reduction. Furthermore, since I've mentioned the up-scaling issue, it's also important to note the fact that the player can upscale any standard DVD to full HD resolutions, thus enhancing the viewer's cinematographic experience even if they are not currently using next-gen DVD formats.

The device from LG also comes packed with the most advanced connectivity options available, namely
HDMI 1.3 with deep color, Composite and Component outputs, USB 2.0 interface, digital audio output, etc. And since we're on the subject of audio, I should mention the fact that LG's player provides some advanced features in this area as well, namely 96KHz/24bit digital/analog conversion, 100db signal/noise ratio, as well as Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital +, Dolby True HD, DTS and DTS-HD compatibility.

"The BH200's enhanced features and functionality eliminate the need for a second or third player and the additional cables and remotes that those units would require," said Tim Alessi, director of consumer electronics marketing at LG Electronics USA, Inc. "Its full support for features available on both Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs makes the Super Blu the flagship of the LG home video product line and complements the company's expanded line-up of 'Full HD' 1080p flat-panel HDTVs."

And now, for the best (or worst) part, pricing. Thus, the BH200 hybrid player from LG retails for around 999 US dollars, which makes a lot more expensive than a Blu-ray AND a HD DVD player bought separately, and this is one of the reasons why its future success can't be anything but questionable.

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