Sound & Vision Magazine - LG to Launch First Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo Player

LG BH100 Blu-ray/HD DVD/DVD player

LG BH100 Blu-ray/HD DVD/DVD player

January 8, 2007 — The high-definition disc format war took a direct hit Sunday from announcement of Swiss-like neutrality, as LG said it will soon deliver to market the world's first Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD combo player.

LG executives at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas said the company's model BH100 player, dubbed "Super Multi Blue," will hit retail stores, including Best Buy and Circuit City, by the first week in February with a suggest list price of $1,199.

Besides playback capability for Blu-ray, HD DVD, and standard DVD discs, the player's features include 1920 x 1080/30-Hz (1080p at 30 frames per second) output for both hi-def disc formats and support for the major video compression codecs being used in both (MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264). For audio, it is said to support Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, as well as DTS and DTS HD Master. It also has an Ethernet port for use with interactive discs, an HDMI 1.2 audio/video output, and a standard optical digital audio jack.

Executives on hand at an LG press conference were not immediately sure if the BH100's HDMI output will support the full 7.1-channels the new high-resolution audio codecs support or will be restricted to a maximum of 5.1-channel playback. (This is not much of an issue at present, anyway, since current movie soundtracks are typically 5.0- or 5.1-channel with a smattering of 6.1 titles.)

Though the BH100 provides full support for Java HD interactivity on Blu-ray Discs, it does not include all the functionality required by the HD DVD-I interactive-disc spec — a function of its starting out in LG's engineering lab as a standalone BD player before LG switched gears to make it a combo unit.

Three technology breakthroughs make the player possible, said LG's president and chief technology officer, H.G. Lee. Most critical was development of a dual-lens/dual-diode disc drive with both red and blue lasers; blue is used for all HD disc formats, whereas red is for standard-definition DVD. (The BH100 will not play CDs.) One of the lenses, on the other hand, is used for HD DVD and standard DVD, which store data at similar depths on the disc, and the other for Blu-ray, which stores data close to the disc surface and therefore requires a different focal point.

Besides the new dual drive, LG worked with technology partner Broadcom to develop an integrated chip set to handle both HD formats and spent considerable effort developing the machine's firmware operating software to support both disc types.

Along with the new player, LG will also release sometime in the first quarter a standalone combo drive that plugs into PCs to allow similar multi-disc playback. The GGW-H10N adds the ability to record on blank Blu-ray discs but only reads HD-DVD. It has CD read/write capability as well.

At the press conference, LG demonstrated the same BH100 first playing a clip from Batman Begins on HD DVD, then an excerpt from Superman Returns on Blu-ray Disc. The images were equally sharp and up to current expectations for hi-def discs. Lee said that the BH100 takes "a fraction of a second" to recognize which format has been loaded (including standard red-laser DVD) before initiating the appropriate start-up sequence.

Lee said that by building a combo player LG is attempting to address consumer reluctance to embrace HD disc technology until the format war is resolved. After beginning development last year of a standalone Blu-ray Disc player, "we recognized that the two formats are here to stay and there will be no reconciliation anytime soon. Our solution was to create a product that could solve at least part of this problem."

In other news, LG announced an expansion of its flat-panel HDTV lines, including three new 1080p plasma models and nine new 1080p LCD TVs. Its new flagship 71-inch LCD panel is priced at $14,999.