The High-Def DVD Format War Is Over

With just days before the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG has pretty much guaranteed that their representatives be swamped. They've announced that they'll be releasing a combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player in early 2007, ending the should-I/shouldn't-I conundrum that has plagued the two formats since even before they were introduced. I rather expect that Toshiba, RCA, Sony and Samsung are now bracing for a sudden nosedive in their HD DVD and Blu-ray players.

LG first made noises about such a player back in March, and companies like Ricoh and NEC have developed components to facilitate just such a device, but only Ricoh has, to date, actually announced such a player (it's due in Q4 of this year).

I'll be part of the wild-eyed mob trying to get answers from the besieged LG reps in a few days. I'll be posting more details here as I get them.