LG's Blu-ray/HD-DVD Player Favors Blu-ray

Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:01PM EST

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Everyone's been raving about LG's new Super Multi Blue player since it partially offers a solution to the format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. But here's the thing: The machine favors Blu-ray. Yes, it plays HD-DVDs and even loads them up in less than 20 seconds, but unfortunately that's all it does with that particular format.

In other words, you'll get movie playback, but you won't get any of the highly touted HD-DVD interactive features. So forget accessing content like the pop-up-video-style director commentary and other in-movie features that come with Universal's U-Control and Warner Brothers' IME (In Movie Experience). Now, these interactive features aren't all that compelling—yet—but they're one of the main selling points besides improved picture quality that separate HD-DVDs from regular DVDs.

The LG player will play all of the next-gen extras on Blu-ray discs, however (stuff like the equally uncompelling Blu Wizard technology).

That said, the main reason I continue to lust after either Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs is the HD-quality resolution—I just need it to feed my HDTV—so anything that lets me do just that and save space on my media rack is welcome, but it all feels a little like Virtual Windows, dontcha think?

How about you: Are you ready to just play all the HD movies currently available, or do you want the interactive features, too?&

Comments on LG's Blu-ray/HD-DVD Player Favors Blu-ray

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  • 1 Posted by lpjakob on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    Perhaps a dedicated Blue-Ray player and the $199 HD DVD player for the XBOX 360 would be a cheaper and better solution.

  • 2 Posted by da900smoove1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    At this time I think I just want the great picture and sound from blu ray/hd dvd on a big screen at home in true current 1080i.To interact with a movie is a video game thing.The extras already aval on majority of dvd's are more than enough for home entertainment

  • 3 Posted by s795723 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    I usually don't have time for those interactive features anyway. When I get an HD DVD movie, I just pop it in, watch the movie and then send the movie back. I don't spend the hours and hours necessary for the extra features. I also find that the comentary's during the movie would be extremely distracting.

  • 4 Posted by ride_colorado on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    For me, right now HDDVD has my vote. Both formats offer High Deffinition for my Widescreen LCD, but HDDVD was the obvious choice. I bought an Xbox 360 because i didnt have to commit to the blu ray, or anything for that matter besides the game system. When Microsoft started selling the 200 dollar HDDVD player for my xbox 360, to me, it felt the same as buying a new dvd player. And yes, i know that it is the same total price for the ps3 but like i said, i just wasnt ready to commit. Xbox gave me the option. Plus, when you but it separately, it makes it easier to swallow. Now i just need to wait it out to see which format survives. As for all the extrs, i have to agree with the others, i dont have the time to watch 5, 10 or however many hrs. of extras on the dvd, and the commentaries are just distracting when they are playing. I watch a movie once and put it on the shelf, then i might watch it again later on but not usually. One of these formats needs to hurry up and die out so i can stop thinking about having to buy new equipment again, not to mention the 17 hddvds that i already have. I also used history to decide what i bought. Sony hasn't had the best record for introducing new media formats (i.e. Betamax, Mini disk, memory Duo because its not as popular as SD, and UMD which was a huge bomb for movies but used for games for the psp) all those formats that didn't pan out has led me to believe that Bluray might not do so well. But only time will tell....

  • 5 Posted by taficke on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    Does the HDDVD add on for the 360 display in 720p of 1080i?

  • 6 Posted by bergsjaeger on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:05PM EDT Report Abuse

    With the price tag of HD and blu-ray movies, rentals will be just as popular as DVDs when they first came out. Blockbuster is the only rental place in my town (and probably most others) with high-def movies, and they are ALL blu-ray. The only hope HD-DVD had was the XBox 360; but since it is an add-on, the games themselves have to be on a normal dvd (so people that didn't buy the HD add-on can still play them). On the other side, PS3 can make much, much larger games fit on a single blu-ray disc.

  • 7 Posted by nm4047 on Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:31PM EST Report Abuse

    My understanding is HDDVD was going to be TV stuff, but now Microsoft has paid $150million to one production house to only provide HDDVD and the porn industry has now anounced that they will being releasing their stuff only on HDDVD, this may assist (much that same way the porn industry help determine Beta Vs VHS)as to which format the consumer adopts.

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