Now that the format war is over, some HD DVD owners are seeking out combo players as a way to keep their HD DVD collections viable while they transition to Blu-ray. If you’re in this group, then you may need to pay closer attention to pricing and availability of these models in the near future as Samsung and LG have both announced that the end is near for these machines.
In statements to The Korea Times, a Samsung spokesperson revealed that they already stopped making these units in February, and an LG representative said they’ll stop their dual-format efforts in the second half of the year.
Many months ago, people advised that purchasing a combo HD DVD and Blu-ray player would be a safe way to avoid getting stung too badly in the format war. The thinking was that you’d have a single player that could handle whichever of the disc formats eventually won, and always have the option to pick and choose the best discs in the formats that they happened to come out in.
One of the biggest problems with this approach was that buying a combo player would cost more than buying two players, one for each format. And in the beginning, the LG players only partially met the full HD DVD spec because they left out any web-enabled features.
In the last couple of months, prices on these players have come down quite a bit, and the more recent LG player model is now fully compliant with the HD DVD specifications. Except for the fact that they’re not going to be upgradeable to the latest Blu-ray spec, buying one of these machines is finally a more palatable decision.
If all you’re really looking for is a back-up machine to ensure that your HD DVD collection doesn’t go to waste, then you might want to consider the current sale at TigerDirect (who also now run CompUSA), where you can get an HD-A3 plus four movies for only $80. Two of the four movies are The Bourne Identity and 300, which already come with the player, and TigerDirect is throwing in Apollo 13 and Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.
Besides that deal, you can also find many used players on eBay and Craigslist, or perhaps an “open-box” unit at an electronics store.
- HD-A3 Player Bundle at TigerDirect.com
- Samsung BD-UP5000 Dual-format player at Amazon.com
- LG BH200 Super Blu Combo Player at Amazon.com
- Samsung, LG End Combo HD DVD Player Line at The Korea Times
May 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Which of the dual format players is the best one to consider?
May 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Has anyone got their $50 back from BestBuy yet?
May 14th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Call Best Buy if you didn’t hear from them regarding your $50. They had been calling up customers and sending cards out several weeks ago.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Yeah i talked to them a month or so ago when the news first hit and they said i was on the list, but i haven’t received my rebate yet. I’ll try calling again.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Does anyone have a dual HD DVD - Blu Ray Player???
May 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
You need to consider the prices on these dual-format machines to know if they’re worth getting into. At a high price, you’re better off getting individual players that are excellent in their own ways. At a much lower price on a combo player, it might be ok to give up a few features here and there to get that dual-format ability.
If you are considering dual-format simply to do Blu-ray, then your money will be better spent on a dedicated machine, like the $399 PS3 which is Profile 2.0 compliant. Combo players make more sense when you’re trying to preserve some HD DVD compatibility with your large collection.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I just got a whole bunch of DVDs.. and I’m planning on playing them on my PS3 but I heard that might dfry the reader quicker. Is this true or should I go for this deal?
June 9th, 2008 at 8:44 am
I’m sure that the PS3’s drive is much more reliable than the drives in the PS2 (I’m sure many of you can relate to the experience of having PS2s die untimely deaths), so it should probably be safe to use the PS3 for all sorts of discs.