14 DAY TRIAL // LG Electronics is a well known manufacturer of electronics and generally stands out from the crowd because it offers well polished products at good prices. Lately, the company has been toying with ideas regarding the mass production of some concepts that have never passed the prototype stage until now. As innovative as it may sound, it's pretty hard to mass release a 70" LCD TV (and this is only an example) so LG knows that a new concept doesn't always turn into a good deal. But that doesn't stop them for trying. And we just love that about LG.
This time LG's project is not based on an entirely new idea. Samsung had this in mind for about a year, but in practice they discovered that a hybrid drive capable of playing both Blu-Rays and HD-DVDs would be too expensive to remain competitive. In the end, they canceled the project.
LG knows that, but they think they can do better. Rumors suggest that they already have a working hybrid device and that they will showcase it at the CES in Las Vegas. So you'll have to wait another 4 days to see if it works and how well it performs. LG plans to sell the unit in US during the second half of 2007. Unfortunately, no other details regarding the price or the performance are available. My only hope is that it won't be more expensive than a high-end player (a Pioneer Blu-Ray player still costs about $1400-$1500).
I don't know who will win the HD war but at the moment, HD-DVD has a large lead over Blu-Ray, mainly because the players are cheaper. The increase in the number of titles that were released in HD-DVD format also contributed to this situation. I guess that the war will continue whether the hybrid players come out or not but a universal reader could force a truce.