New LG Combo player

[DavePS3]

Apparently LG is coming out with a new combo player late this month, that has full HD-DVD accessibilty along with BD. The kicker is that it'll retail closer to the 500.00 price point. Obviously they're fairly pleased about the Paramount decision.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by DavePS3

Apparently LG is coming out with a new combo player late this month, that has full HD-DVD accessibilty along with BD. The kicker is that it'll retail closer to the 500.00 price point. Obviously they're fairly pleased about the Paramount decision.

So far there is only two true working combo players scheduled for this fall. Both the LG and the Samsung are going to have a list price of $999. LG has not announced a $500 player yet. Some time in late 2008 we should see a flood of combo players for under $500.

[JonasK]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

So far there is only two true working combo players scheduled for this fall.
Both the LG and the Samsung are going to have a list price of $999. LG has not announced a $500 player yet.
Some time in late 2008 we should see a flood of combo players for under $500.

I think that the fact that both LG and Samsung both have priced their combo players so high above the Blu-ray players shows that they don't want the combo players to become the main-stream product.

As I see it, there are three formats in the war. Blu-ray, HD DVD and combo players. With less CE (and studio) support for HD DVD, and with approximately the same manufacturing costs for Blu-ray and HD DVD, HD DVD doesn't have much a chance to survive in the long run. The only real competitor to Blu-ray is Combo players. They will make the consumers able to watch all movies and film studios can choose which format to use. The problem is that Combo players will generate less revenue for the CE companies than if Blu-ray wins. It just costs more in terms of development costs and licensing, and the amount of money consumers will be interested in spending on players after the war is over will be the same, indepent on who the winner is.

Therefore I think the CE companies does not really want to promote Combo players, and I doubt that they would like to lower their prices much. It's just a way for them to make some extra money during limit period of time (until Blu-ray will be the clear winner ).