LG Electronics says it plans to ramp up the first dual-format Blu-ray Disc/HD-DVD player for the United Kingdom in May.
The manufacturer is introducing the dual player because it believes the uncertainty over both of today's incompatible formats will linger for awhile, leaving consumers who currently own DTV and HD monitors waiting for a next-gen DVD solution. LG's new dual unit will be the Super Multi Blue BH100, the company told IT Week in London.
The BH100 will be capable of 1080p and provide BD-Java, an array of audio/visual formats (including playback of standard DVD with 1080i upscaling), MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 video, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS and DTS-HD audio. But the dual player will likely start out at higher price points than the cost of buying an individual Blu-ray player and an HD DVD player.
Samsung, also has announced it will intro a dual-format HD disc player in several regions of the world, probably including the U.K. (HD Notebook, April 18, 2007) but it likely will not be available until next fall's holiday season.
