LG's Super Multi Blue HD Player spotted in CompUSA

In the really long name for a gadget device department, the new LG hybrid device has been seen for sale at a local CompUSA here in Texas (yeehaa). We wrote about this player earlier this month and already just a few days after the close of CES it's being sold right here in my backyard! A member of the forums at AVSForum.com has posted first-hand pictures of the new player.

In case you hadn't heard, the Super Multi Blue HD Player is LG's answer to detente in the next-gen DVD format war: playback capabilities for both formats bundled in a single player, the LG BH100 ($1,200 list)...Word was the player would hit Best Buy and Circuit City in early February, but it looks like a few are already trickling out into the channel. While we don't expect this to be a big seller at its lofty $1,200 price, it is nice to see it shipping.

Thanks to C|Net's blog Crave for the news.
LG's Press Release (1/7/07)

Update! I just got off the phone with Ed in A/V at my local CompUSA store here in San Antonio, TX and he said they have 4 in stock, 1 on display and they arrived at their store on Friday! Looks like I'll be paying them a visit to test out the new player for myself. I'll have a writeup and pictures soon.

LG to make hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD Player

Only to spice things up even more, the folks over at LG are cooking up a hybrid player that plays both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. Unfortunately, you can expect about 0.01% of the population to actually purchase just such a player due to the fact that the heated battle between both formats is still going on and the average consumer is left in the middle still choosing the older DVD standard for their viewing pleasure. Consumers are just now getting warmed up to buying HDTV's without too much hesitation as prices have gone down dramatically and production has increased sharply. DVD's are finally becoming ubiquitous, and now here's a pair of standards that to some seems more evolutionary than revolutionary.

At least one other company looks to follow suit with a hybrid player, and seeing how much LG is investing in this idea, manufacturers and standards committees alike should take notice and think about how much they want to continue investing in this ongoing format war.

Read more: Arstechnica