HD For Indies

Paramount dumps Sony's Blu-ray format - Times Online
"Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have dropped support for Sony’s Blu-ray next generation DVD format in a shock move that will see the two studios exclusively use Toshiba’s rival HD-DVD system. Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, the media giant, previously released movies in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Significantly, it cited HD-DVD's cheaper costs as a decisive factor behind its decision to back it. The latest development is a blow for Sony, which has invested heavily in Blu-ray."


This is surprising - Blu-ray seemed to have been gaining ground of late, and for someone with a foot in both camps to drop Blu-ray is something I wouldn't have bet on.

I was about to the point of resigning myself that the more expensive (boo!) but higher capacity (yay!) format was going to win, and just wait for Blu-ray to go ahead and take over so we only have one standard that consumers would therefore more willingly back. Not yet with this move, that says that the game is still wide open.

I'm also surprised that a company the size of Paramount would dump a format - why NOT keep two formats out there and maximize sales? How much more is it costing them to make both rather than a single format? They already had the infrastructure in place to produce both, so dropping one is an especially surprising move.

AFAIK, the only reason to dump Blu-ray was because they felt it wouldn't make them as much money. They think NOT selling a product in another format is going to save them money? Ouch.

Toshiba's players have been dropping in price (the HD-A2 is now about $240, the 1080p capable HD-A20 is about $330, both available at the HD For Indies Amazon Store). The PlayStation 3 (60GB), still the favored Blu-ray machine, is now only $500, but don't forget the $25 Bluetooth remote if you don't want to use a game contoller to play/pause.

-mike


Thanks to reader Jonathan for sending in this link. Always feel free to send in something good/relevant if you come across it.

UPDATE MONDAY 11PM

READ THE COMMENTS- rumor has it $150 million was paid to get two groups to dump Blu-ray. Fascinatingly naked ploy. Links in comments (Comments link below)

Labels: Blu-ray, format war, HD-DVD

I threw a few comments about capturing content via analog from living room to studio (HD-DVD and digital cable) on my AppleTV Hacker blog. In short - the analog hole is alive and well, but does imply a quality loss.

And takes a looooooong time to encode/process. Many many times realtime.

Labels: acquisition, AppleTV, AppleTVHacker, consumer, DRM, Final Cut, hardware, HD-DVD, HDTV, home theater, how done

Hey all - with NAB fast approaching and the press releases flying in at a mad rate the same week taxes are due, sometimes ya gotsta punt - thus the entity I call a blogwad - a buncha news all piled into one post. I've at least broken it down by category for you this time - here's the one on high def disc news:

BLU-RAY/HD-DVD NEWS
===================

AACS hacked to expose Volume ID: WinDVD patch irrelevant - Engadget

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Samsung to Launch Dual Blu-ray HD DVD Player - Yahoo! News But here's what's wrong with all the combo players:
"Sony's BDP-S300 will launch in the middle of the year for about US$599 while Toshiba's HD-A2 player carries a recommended price of $399 but can currently be found on Amazon.com for $309. In contrast LG's BH100 dual-format player costs $1,000."

...so if I can buy two separate players for less, or a $309 HD-A2 and a Blu-ray player for $600, or better yet a PS3 for $600....why would I spend $100 more on the combo player, other than for the convenience of "one box, one remote, one plug?"

They aren't solving the problem. The problem is price first, two choices of players second. Combo players need to be under $500, more likely under $300, for this market to move forward substantially IMHO.

With Toshiba's HD-A2 HD-DVD player available for $309 right now (no kidding!), and Sony's expectation that a $300 player is 2-3 years away, there's two choices - either wait for the format war to resolve itself (smart play, but requires patience), or say what the hell and get a more affordable player now and watch a bunch (but not all of) HD movies next week? Buy what I got - the HD-A2 if you're of a mind to buy in. This is from my Amazon Affiliate store I'm setting up, so I get a little luv from Amazon if you buy through me (but from Amazon really - all their sales/support/shipping/etc).

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And BusinessWeek agrees with me - Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: Price Matters: "The war for dominance of the next-generation DVD market may be decided on price. Some analysts are betting that whichever format%u2014HD DVD or Blu-ray%u2014has the most players in stores for $500 or less in time for the holiday season will ultimately win over consumers. Everything else, including the movie studios that have already aligned with a particular format, will follow the money."

I so wholeheartedly agree with this article. Read on as they address issues of studio support, porn, price points, points of differentiation between the two formats (minimal), etc.

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Will Porn Settle Next-Gen DVD Battle? - Yahoo! News: "Now some think that the adult entertainment industry could play a critical role in determining which format comes out on top. Diane Duke, the Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, an advocacy group for the industry, said that adult filmmakers are part of a powerful industry.

'We have led the way on a lot of technology,' Duke said, 'and it would make sense that the adult entertainment industry would play a similar role with high-definition DVDs.'"

While I like Blu-ray better in theory (higher capacity, Apple backing, not entangled with MS for interactivity layer), HD-DVD is making a lot of financial sense. The biggest advantage Blu-ray has is studio support, in part because Sony owns their own. As I keep saying, technology is only as relevant as its price point...

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...so all this is to say, I'd LOVE to back Blu-ray more strongly, but the price point is making it tough to do so....a PS3 at about twice the price? Or a set top box with a $599 MSRP later this year? Better get on the ball, Sony folks, or you're going to lose this battle....AGAIN.

But if you do want to buy one, here's my Amazon Affiliate page with both HD-A2 & PS3.


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Labels: blogwad, Blu-ray, format war, HD-DVD, NAB

A quick update on HD-DVD vs Blu-ray - I was responding to a thread on a board somewhere, and just kept on typing, so I decided to put it over here too:

I'm tracking both formats, and bought an HD-DVD recently on a whim because it was a $150 upgrade over the uprezzing DVD player I was going to buy anyway (the Oppo unit that is so highly reviewed). The least expensive Blu-ray player is the brand new $600 list unit from Sony - and I'm not even sure they're available yet. Or a PS3 for the same price, with the bonus inclusion of, well, a PS3 for games as well as Blu-ray playback. (Edit - there's a Samsung unit that Amazon has for $500...but that's still more than double the price of the DVD player I was considering, and $125 more than the HD-DVD player...I'm writing this sitting on Congress Avenue in line to buy tix for the Rodriguez & Tarantino attended premiere of Grindhouse in Austin).

Blu-ray discs have been outselling HD-DVD of late (one week's sales a few weeks ago were 2 or 3 to 1 in Blu-ray's favor), I'm curious to see if that persists after the rush of PS3 sales for Christmas. HD-DVD players are cheaper, which the uneducated will buy on price alone.

The gamers are loving that PS3 includes Blu-ray by default, but the price matches that of Xbox 360 plus the HD-DVD unit - and it would APPEAR, for the moment, that they are spending more on movies than the HD-DVD crowd on a per-owner basis - the intereting thing is whether this is a long term trend or a temporary spike...oops, already said that elsewhere - but it is the thing to watch.

LG's Blu-Ray/HD DVD hybrid isn't the answer (yet), since it costs MORE than a HD-DVD plus a Blu-ray player together cost. The only savings is space and one less remote. But a good HD-DVD & Blu-ray players can be bought together for about $1000....$200 less than MSRP on this device. As I keep saying, technology is only as relevant as its price point. The $1200 price point is annoying from a consumer perspective - are there NO redundant components in the box? The idea was to save money by putting all in one device, sheesh...

The studios have been all over the map, and of late (last I heard, somebody correct me if I'm wrong) 7 of 8 studios were supporting Blu-ray, 3 of 8 were supporting HD-DVD. How many both? I don't have stats handy for which are supporting both, which I think is a crucial factor.

Quality CAN be the same with either format since they use the same video codecs, but in the field the authoring quality has varied a bit, and overall last I heard Blu-ray had more better looking titles than HD-DVD.

So I've got an HD-DVD player, but only on a whim - don't read that as a big vote of confidence on my part. Plus I can burn DVD-R discs with HD-DVD content on them and play them on my player and computer, which I can't at this time do with Blu-ray.

The oddness of the market is this:

-I can presently buy a Blu-ray burner.
-Toast 8 point something supports burning Blu-ray DATA discs.
-DVD Studio Pro can author HD-DVD content onto standard DVD-R media, which will play in HD-DVD players (I've verfied that, see post from a couple of weeks ago - search for HD-DVD)
-BUT there are no HD-DVD burners available for Macs AFAIK
-there is no Blu-ray video disc support for Macs as yet (hopefully we'll see that at NAB next month)

So is a bit of a conundrum in terms of indie authoring capabilities. I'll do a survey some

Standalone set-top Blu-ray players are still substantially more expensive than standalone HD-DVD players, and the combo players are more expensive than buying one of each, so THAT'S no solution in the near term.

All that said, King Kong and Batman Begins look GREAT on HD...but I wish I could watch Casino Royale on HD.

I'll eventually probably buy a Blu-ray player to go with the HD-DVD player, but I DON'T recommend everybody do that - I'm a nut, and I know it.

I say wait it out to see which format wins out...and if it is the more expensive Blu-ray, that is a mixed blessing...I like the greater capacity of Blu-ray for burning data, but the price point is still 50% higher than HD-DVD.

There's lots of factors at play - should "the winner" be declared for greater player sales or greater movie sales? Hmm...I think it'll be a combo factor.

I just want to see one clear winner within the next year, and that'll determine whether consumers should jump in. Except for the zealots (like me), I don't recommend most consumers buy yet.

OK, line's moving, gotta go, but thought this worth posting.

-mike

Oh yeah - and a Sony rep (read this somewhere on CinemaTech I think) acknowledged that player sales won't take off until prices drop, and suggested $300 as the price point that'll make a difference. I read that as Sony is working on a $300 player then - maybe by Christmas? Or earlier part of next year? Christmas would make the most sense. At present, $500 is cheapest street price I've seen for a Blu-ray player (a Samsung), and $375 least expensive HD-DVD player.

-mike

Another update - Xbox 360 Elite: new, black limited edition Xbox with HDMI and 120GB drive - Engadget headline says it all other than late April, $479 price. HDMI is the big deal here - no mention of 1080p support. Since previous generation was designed with component analog outputs, which only supported 1080 res when interlaced, I doubt it.

PS3 I hear is a REALLY nice Blu-ray player, and has HDMI out. Xbox360 SEEMS to be favored game platform from the gamer buddies I have talked to, but lacks HDMI. This'll fix that. That puts you at $680 for game box with HD-DVD playback capability, HD movie download rent/buy capability, etc. But Sony will always have access to that Sony movie library, and I don't know if they'll make it available to Xbox360 - they may want to keep that PS3 exclusive.

-mike

Labels: Blu-ray, format war, HD-DVD

Funny how some prayers go answered seemingly forever (list too long to mention), but others get prompt responses - not a week after I discovered button playback problems with my new Toshiba HD-DVD player when I tried to make high def red laser discs with DVD Studio Pro, there MAY be an answer - Apple just released DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2.

From Software Update:

DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2 provides important bug fixes and addresses compatibility issues with DVD Studio Pro 4.1 HD DVD projects and Toshiba HD DVD players.

DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2 also updates the Disc Description Protocol (DDP) 2.1 to DDP 3.0 and the Cutting Master Format (CMF) 1.0 to CMF 2.0, which is required for HD DVD replication.

This update is recommended for all DVD Studio Pro 4.1 users.


...which is nice but inconclusive. From the online PDF of updates, there's LOTS more info, including:

-fixes for still image processing (not broked any mo')
-Compressor compressed stuff will seamlessly play one clip to the next now, wouldn't before
-BAD NEWS:

DVD Studio Pro Does Not Support All HDV Formats
The following HDV formats are not supported by DVD Studio Pro:
720p24
720p25
1080p24
1080p25

You can convert these to supported HDV formats (720p30, 720p60, 720p50, 1080i60, and 1080i50) for your HD projects using Compressor.

...which is a damn shame, since I'd want to use those. Have to convert'em.

-DLT drives now work right on Intel Macs (WOW, it took them this long to fix that!?!?)
-use Build & Format to fix previously broken setups (like mine)
-HD Projects Burned to Red Laser Discs Now Work More Reliably - it doesn't say they work right, but at least that's an improvement!
-some HD-DVD players blow their lunch when jumping from interlaced to progressive footage, so beware
-uh oh - Some HD DVD players incorrectly position button highlights when they are placed over
720p or 1440i backgrounds. Button highlights placed over 480i, 480p, and 1080i backgrounds are correctly positioned.
-AC-3 issues improved, esp. with Intel Macs
-Still Menus from Intel Macs now better
-and more, read it yourself..

I'll update or link to this when I get a chance to test...

UPDATE - Woo hoo, H.264 works! It appears to be playing in real time, which it did NOT before. There's a brief blackout pause at first, then it works, and audio plays as well. I need to go make a new test disc that'll check for lipsync. Menus are acting funny but at least WORKING AT ALL which is an improvement over before. 15 megabit H.264 720p looks GOOD, but I'm testing from the DCI StEM footage - scanned film, so a VERY clean source to work from.

I'll make a new test disc and update perhaps over the weekend...but this is a BIG improvement!

FINALLY - I can make red laser DVDs that play in my HD-DVD player (and Apple's latest DVD Player application), and now I have an appropriate screen and playback device to test and evaluate...so HD For Indies will be able to do some very salient research...

-mike

Labels: Apple, Final Cut, HD-DVD, post

Mike's first thoughts on his HDTV, HD-DVD player, and HD cable, in rambly blog fashion.

thoughts on new HDTV:

-I got my Sony KDS-60A2000 HDTV delivered. It is a 60" SXRD (Sony's flavor of LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon)), then I got the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player, and Time Warner Cable's HD cable box

-setting up wasn't as bad as I thought - not as many initial "must decide" decisions to be made, but a ton of color correction choices, mostly involving turning "enhancements" OFF.

I found this handy page that has cnet's settings they'd clearly spent time coming up with to optimize viewing.

The default "Vivid" settings, especially in a bright room, are far too contrasty, oversharpened, and saturated - looks good in the showroom, but a guy with dark hair and a dark suit is a black blob all too often, especially on modern shows like CSI with that high contrast look.

There are three presets - Vivid, Standard, and Custom, which you can tweak as needed - I'm thinking I'll use a modified Standard setting for day and Custom for night.

Nice features - you can fine tune sharpening, edge enhancement, white point, gamma, etc. All those settings..and most of them I end up turning off or waaay down.

Each input retains its own custom setting - a VERY nice option allowing fine tuning of each input - I anticipate setting up my Multibridge Extreme to use both HDMI and HD component outputs to feed into the HDTV via usage of long cable runs under the house (yeah, I'm that kind of geek), so I can route from studio to living room.

One downside, though - viewing angle is CRITICAL - even standing up (from sitting on couch) creates a HUGE shift in luma (brightness) - side to side there is some variation, but if I display a flat grey screen, I can move up/down a foot and see the grey shift darker and bluer. Standing in front of the set, even 5 feet back, gives a completely off-the-map bad viewing experience, so the sweet spot to view is sitting on the couch, about 3 people wide. Hmm. Of course, two people is really optimal for Movie Palace Mode viewing. : ) I've tested extensively with a wide demographic cross section.

The HD-DVD player takes a long time to fire up, and the UI is interesting - the difference between reading about it and then actually using it is interesting - I got King Kong and Batman Returns in HD-DVD, and while King Kong follows the expected DVD main menu structure, Batman Returns just starts playing the movie until/unless you press a menu button.

Then you get a UI that pops up from the bottom WHILE THE MOVIE IS PLAYING which is pretty cool but a little distracting, it is superimposed as a graphic layer over the playing movie. Pretty slick. You can explore the menu stuff (and even get descriptions) while the movie is playing, surf for other chapters while the movie is playing, etc.

But an interesting note about how the HD-A2 HD-DVD player works - it is like a computer with an anemic graphics card, struggling to do what it is doing, barely able to do it. Fast forwarding is rough and skippy and not smooth, the UI elements slide out in course chunks, not smooth. I've heard HD-DVD players are essentially comptuers with video outputs, and if this is true, it has a slow CPU and a not-great GPU. I picture future players capable of smoother fast formwarding (mine goes in chunks, and not even time chunks of same size!), smoother UI motion, etc. Curious to know if the $1000 players do any better. I'd like to have the HD-A20 due this spring with 1080p capability, but I don't know if that'll actually play any better - is the 1080i output here just 24p with 3:2 pulldown added? How would a 1080p player work with 24p footage? 2:3:3:2 or 2:3:2:3 cadence to play back progressive frames? And will it run the UI any more smoothly?

When you pause, after a couple of minutes a Universal (the studio not generic) screensaver comes up - interesting.

TV stations - turns out my digital cable service offers HD digital cable - all I had to do was drive 10 minutes away and swap out cable boxes. I kept also traded out the old one to use in my bedroom for an extra $7 a month - not bad.

I stayed up late, watching Lost in HD then The Departed on my plain jane DVD player going into the component outputs - looked good, but nowhere near HD good. Mosquito noise is glaringly obvious at this scale.

Scaling oddnesses - there's Normal (4:3 pillarboxes), Full (16:9 full screen), Zoom (for 16:9 on a 4:3 screen) and Wide Zoom (same thing but for what, anamorphic? it squishes it vertically a bit more)

Had a few issues - audio dropouts during Lost every few minutes - turns out it is doing that to everyone. And annoyingly, changing audio volume on the remote doesn't do anything. I already had tech coming out from Time Warner cable, and he couldn't figure it out - all he did was make the cable remote change the volume on the TV itself...where there was no audio (DVI link from cable box to TV carries no audio signal, using toslink (optical) to receiver). As it is toslink I need to adjust volume on the final device audio is sent to....all this is yet another factor in the fact that all this HD related stuff is waaaaaaaay too complicated for the average consumer - if it is a pain for ME, what might it be like for someone like my Dad who can barely get a regular DVD to play? Typical consumers are completely out of their league - if it took me hours and hours of research to make an informed but still compromised decision, what's it like for normal people? I figure at LEAST 2-3 years for prices to get more affordable and interoperability to get resolved for the most part, and several more years for affordable Apple-level-of-ease to make it work well together.

My old Sony XBR 32" CRT had speaker inputs to use the TV as a center speaker - unfortunately, the new TV doesn't have that capability. Can't use HDMI downmixed as there is a delay - if both running I get an audio difference and an echo. So a center speaker is on my list. And while I've been happy with my Alesis Monitor Ones for providing base, time maybe for a subwoofer as well.

I now have to sell off some old gear to get some new toys - I'll put it up on eBay etc. and let you folks know.

Picture quality is AWESOME - I got my HD-DVD and watched the T-rex fight in King Kong and the Batmobile run in Batman Returns, and the detail is great. Black levels need to be adjusted to be right for day or night viewing.

SD content looks just so-so - the higher end XBR2 set supposedly has better SD uprezzing circuitry, but that was out of my comfort zone on price.

The compression artifacts in digital cable - on static scenes it is OK, BUT for fast moving scenes with lots of high frequency detail, MAJOR compresion artifacting, makes me think about getting that Algolith Flea HDMI device for mosquito noise and blocking reduction - but it is $1000, so never mind.

I'm definitely flip flopping on my "can't tell the difference" statements from before about DVDs on too small HDTVs seen from too far away. At roughly $2K if you shop aggressively online, this Sony KDS-60A2000 shows MILES of difference between SD and HD content. And with only 16 HD channels compared to the zillions of SD ones, my previous argument stating that most folks couldn't tell the difference....isn't quite the same anymore now that I've seen this.

The set I got for a bit over $2K was intro'd at a list price of $4500 just last summer. So I'd think it isn't unreasonable to think prices for something this size and approximate quality to cut in half again in another 6-12 months.

At that point, one's willingness to have something this large in your living room becomes the limiting factor.

It is definitely one of those things that once you see major HD, you don't want to go back. And even 1080 res stuff - I can see how I'd want it to be sharper - seeing how sharp the CG graphics are as compared to the footage - MOST of the footage shown isn't as sharp as this set.

I hooked up my laptop and ran iPhoto slideshow from some 5 megapixel digital stills - I can definitely see the advantage of higher res, even from my cheapie $300 Canon Digital Elph (a 450 model).

This bodes well for Red, Dalsa, and other greater-than-HD acquisition cameras.

Major quality glass is also a part of it.

-HDNet is woefully repetitive - clearly they need more content, and GOOD content. NOT HVX200 type stuff, either, but F900, 950, F23, Viper, Dalsa, Red One, (maybe SI-2K), with top-notch glass to really show it off. Will that work financially? I don't know.

HDNet's movie channel also runs a lot of ooooollllllld movies that have been re-transferred. While it is a delight to see a 1970s movie (McCable and Mrs. Miller) in high def, COME ON Mark Cuban, let's get some newer content on here! It is weird to see 80s hair and makeup in high def...

I'll be curious to see what the max bang/buck Red One setup, using still lenses for docs will be able to create.

In any case, over the next week or two I hope to get everything all wired up so I can readily monitor from any of my three uncompressed HD capable Macs, via HDMI (using the Multibridge Extreme) or HD component analog. Should be fun to see how it all looks!

While I could clearly see the difference between this set and the $6000-$8000 consumer HDTVs, it is still pretty good. It isn't as sharp as a a pixel-for-pixel like LCD would be, but watching the desktop from my Macbook from 10 feet away running at 1920x1080 (and it overscans, I can't see the top pulldown menus!) is comfortably legible and looks GREAT.

I'm now juggling four remotes - the HDTV, the digital cable box, the HD-DVD, and the receiver's. Usual thing to sit down with all the new manuals and cross pollinate all the control functions - they all have the capability to control multiple devices.

I find myself watching stuff I wouldn't otherwise - just watched Ant Wars and some quest for giant crocociles on DiscoveryHD. Hell, even though I ADORE Lyle Lovett, I'm wathing him on Austin City Limits in HD (rocks that it is my local PBS channel, and I know it was shot about 3 miles from my house!).

-and oh yeah, I'm a total noob on HDTV, HD cable, and HD-DVD - so be it, this is where I am. I know it has been covered elsewhere, it is just new to me as as an owner setting it all up...

Everything takes longer with HD - and I'm not talking about renders in Final Cut here - the HDTV takes a while to warm up, is dark dark dark when it first turns on. The HD-DVD takes about half a minute to get rolling, and another chunk of time (too lazy to stopwatch it, you can Google and find out how slow) to start playing from the time the HD-DVD is put in. Again if it is a computer, it is a slow one. And changing channels on HD cable is sllllllooooooooow as well - can't just click-zip through like you can with regular cable, the Guide starts to make a lot more sense and be highly useful, because it takes 2-5 seconds (varies) from final button press until the picture and sound are up. And speaking of audio delay, after pausing or chapter skipping, it takes seconds for the HD-DVD audio to "catch up" with the playing audio. Switching inputs on the HDTV (which has nice labelling capablities, so it isn't Input 6, it is Cable Box or HD-DVD or Studio Feed) is also slow and takes seconds. Switching back and forth between shows/inputs is vexingly slow.

BTW - I ended up deciding to get the HD-DVD player as an upgrade from the $230 I was expecting to spend on an good HDMI uprezzing DVD player. For an extra $170 from Amazon it does good DVD uprezzing and OH! It plays HD-DVDs too. I've said it before, I'll say it again - technology is only as relevant as it's price point. A $400 2nd gen HD-DVD player, or a $600 PS3 or $800+ Blu-ray player? As a $150 bump up from a good uprezzing DVD player, it fits into the "kinda pricey upgrade but worth it", vs a major financial commitment (as gear goes) that you think twice or thrice before committing to. A $175 upgrade to something they were already buying (almost doubling it) is in the "Ehhh....I might." category. A $370 upgrade? Gotta check with the wife/girlfriend/back account/conscience...

Speaking of the player I got, I was surprised to see it does NOT support MP3 discs! Crazy considering what all it does - the Oppo uprezzing DVD player did DVD-A and the other high def audio format, as well as a bunch more stuff. While the HD-A2 does play DVDs and DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs (kudos), I was suprised at the lack.

I've got an AppleTV on order, but at this point the only thing it'll do I like is a nice interface for my iTunes collection...which won't fit on the 40GB hard drive anyway. I was thinking of making a dedicated media Mac with an old G5 (that I rarely use, sadly) that I could leave hooked up to the HDTV full time (or optionally with a long run DVI cable), and it'd do more and cost less (you can get Front Row to work on non-Intel Macs with an available hack). In any case, I'm letting the AppleTV order stand, in part just to keep up on things. The stuff I do for you guys...

OK, enough rambly for now.

-mike

Labels: HD-DVD, HDTV, original

HDBlog.net � Blog Archive � LG%u2019s Blu-ray HD DVD Combo Player Now For Sale: "The player retails for $1200, if I remember correctly. That%u2019s enough to buy both a Toshiba HD DVD player and a Sony PS3. So you have to determine what%u2019s more important to you: saving a little space, or getting the best of both worlds. (And remember, the LG supposedly doesn%u2019t fully support HD DVD%u2019s iHD feature.)"

Labels: Blu-ray, consumer, format war, HD-DVD