01.07.2007 — At the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas, LG Electronics debuted the company's Super Multi Blue Player BH100, announced last week.

Set to launch in the first quarter of the year, the Super Multi Blue Player will hit retail stores for $1199. The player will output 1080p video over an HDMI 1.2 connection, but is obviously noteworthy because it is the first product to playback Blu-ray and HD DVD movies in a single drive.

The speakers at the LG press conference lauded the player as a solution to consumer confusion over the two competing high-definition DVD formats.

"It will be much more convenient to our consumers," said Michael Ahn, president and CEO, LG Electronics USA. "They are confused by two formats and hesitate to buy a player -- we [are giving] them a solution."

"Sometime last year we decided and recognized that the two formats are here to stay and not anytime soon will there be a unification of the products," said president and CTO of LG, Dr. H.G. Lee.

LG is still a member of the Blu-ray Disc association, but decided that the company's Blu-ray player wasn't enough. "We recognized that the consumer needs something more, so our engineers tried to figure something more -- how we can add the capability to play HD DVD discs with the [Blu-ray] machine we were developing," said Lee.

Despite the focus on retail availability at Best Buy and Circuit City, Tim Olessi, director of product development for LG USA, said that the company expects the custom channel to welcome the product as well. "We fully except it to be well-received by all channels, including custom home integrators," he says.

The player is powered by three key technologies, according to LG -- the optical pick-up, including the optical system design and lens design; the core chipset solution that is compatible with both Blu-ray and HD DVD; and the embedded software, featuring interactive functions based on Java.

Formats supported by the player include MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 video, MPEG1/2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS and DTS-HD audio.

Changing discs between Blu-ray and HD DVD can take up to 1 minute, with a 25 second load time on Blu-ray movies.

The player was demoed with content from Warner -- Batman Begins on HD DVD and Superman Returns on Blu-ray. Lee said that Superman seemed the right fit to show the player's capabilities.

"Superman, with his blue suit and red cape, may be the perfect model to demonstrate our Super Multi Blue Player," he said to laughs from the audience.

LG is also introducing an internal drive for computers, capable of playing HD DVD and Blu-ray content as well as CD audio.