One of the undoubted highlights of this year's Consumer Electronics Show ( CES ) has been the launch of the LG's BH100 Super Multi Blue Player - the world's first Blu-ray and HD DVD movie player.
The 1080p player - which goes on sale in the first week of February in the US - has been developed to end the confusion that offering two different high definition formats has brought to US consumers.
To ensure widespread compatibility with both Blu-ray and HD DVD the BH100 supports a wide range of audio and video codecs. For video these include MPEG2, VC-1 and H.264. For audio these include MPEG1/2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital , DTS and DTS-HD.
The BH100 also has a comprehensive suite of AV connections including an HDMI, component and composite video outs; digital optical and coaxial outputs for digital audio, as well as analogue surround sound outputs.
The BH100 is expected to debut for $1,199, putting it in contention with high-end Blu-ray players like the Panasonic DMP-BD10.
The DMP-BD10 is joined by an HD DVD / Blu-ray combo drive for PCs dubbed the GGW-H10N. The drive offers HD DVD and Blu-ray movie playback and has the ability to record on to the new 50GB Blu-ray discs. The drive is also capable of playing CD, DVD and HD DVD-ROMs.
