Blu-Ray + HD-DVD Dual player?

[Mr. Kite]

As it appears that these two competing formats are going to market, I don't see a hybrid format as being a likely choice. Therefore it will be up to the DVD player manufacturers to provide the consumer with satisfaction. So will a dual format player soon become available to the public? Seems like a logical solution to me. I'm 100% behind blu-ray technology, but if committing to one format means being excluded from the other format's titles I will pass on both of these.

[thunderhawk]

This topic has been launched many times and as far as I know, the formats technologies cannot be unified (I mean combo players) because of their fysical differences.

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[zombie]

I'd say it's likely a dual format player with two drives will be made at some point if both formats manage to succeed in the marketplace.

[phloyd]

The Sharp BD is a dual drive - DVD and BD in the same unit (separate trays).

All said, I am not so sure that a universal player is out of the question. A universal recorder is almost certainly not possible... but for playback we may see that.

I personally would wait for a BD recorder that can play back both - I never want to consider recording HDDVD but I might consider playback of pre-recorded movies.

Cheers!
DAve.

[Mr. Kite]

Originally Posted by n2blu

I'd say it's likely a dual format player with two drives will be made at some point if both formats manage to succeed in the marketplace.

This is what I'm imagining. I, personally, am not at all interested in DVD recording, so i'm looking forward to hearing more about the BD players.

[thunderhawk]

if both formats manage to succeed in the marketplace

I don't think thats likely to happen, as the market for prerecorded optical discs isn't big enough for both formats I think.
Another format war, where both standards did find a place was the war of the vinyl........ There were 2 formats: the LP and the EP (the single!).
Thats explanes too why one has 35 rpm and the other one 45... (is that rpm?)
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[zombie]

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

I don't think thats likely to happen, as the market for prerecorded optical discs isn't big enough for both formats I think.
Another format war, where both standards did find a place was the war of the vinyl........ There were 2 formats: the LP and the EP (the single!).
Thats explanes too why one has 35 rpm and the other one 45... (is that rpm?)
..

Well it depends what the studios consider successful sales. Several studios think the small movie market brought on with PSP is enough to make it worth their while to release movies on PSP discs.

[Gorkab]

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

I don't think thats likely to happen, as the market for prerecorded optical discs isn't big enough for both formats I think.
Another format war, where both standards did find a place was the war of the vinyl........ There were 2 formats: the LP and the EP (the single!).
Thats explanes too why one has 35 rpm and the other one 45... (is that rpm?)
..

Yep it was RPM

[thunderhawk]

yup, rotations per minute..
Nice time back then 8)

DVD is the work of many companies and many people. DVD evolved from CD and related technologies. Some of the early proposals for "high-density CD" were made in 1993, and these efforts gradually coalesced into two competing proposed formats. The MMCD format was backed by Sony, Philips, and others. The SD format was backed by Toshiba, Matsushita, Time Warner, and others. A group of computer companies led by IBM insisted that the factions agree on a single standard. The combined DVD format was announced in September of 1995, avoiding a confusing and costly repeat of the VHS vs. Betamax videotape battle or the quadraphonic sound battle of the 1970s.

A little refreshment for the memory...
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And yes, there may be an opportunity to combine the drives into one drive... But the coast to produce it and sell it would be tooooo high for consumers to buy I believe.
You can easily create a player with 2 drives, one for HD-DVD and one for the Blu-ray Disc format. But the coasts will be also tooo high for the average consumer I believe.

[erdega79]

there was no dual drive with dvd and divx and I don't see it happening here

[zombie]

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

You can easily create a player with 2 drives, one for HD-DVD and one for the Blu-ray Disc format. But the coasts will be also tooo high for the average consumer I believe.

If both format are still around by summer 2007 I'd be shocked if there weren't at least a couple universal players available. If the formats manage to have success for 3-4 years then I'd bank on it that the Chinese will come up with a universal player that's $200 or less.

[zombie]

Originally Posted by erdega79

there was no dual drive with dvd and divx and I don't see it happening here

There didn't need to be since all DIVX players could play regular DVDs as well.

[thunderhawk]

Mmyes, but its technically possible, no?

[Neurot]

Samsung has already said they will make a universal player that does both blu-ray and hd-dvd.

http://news.com.com/Samsung+to+launc...3-5851704.html