LG Unveils Super-Multi Drive

LG Electronics jumpstarted the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) a day early with a press conference that included a demonstration of the company's highly anticipated Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD combo player that is scheduled to arrive in retail stores in March.

The price? Only $1,199 (£620), roughly double the price of conventional next-generation DVD players.


LG's New BH100 Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD Player

The BH100's disc reading system incorporates two laser diodes - one for regular DVD discs and one for HD DVD/BD media. LG mentioned that an optional third laser could be added in order to support CD audio discs although this third pickup won't be included in the BH100 at launch.

In addition to dual lasers, the BH100's laser pickup system utilizes separate lenses for BD media and DVD/HD DVD media respectively. With all of this lens and laser shuffling, LG is claiming the BH100 will offer 25 second load times for BD movies and 30 second load times for HD DVD movies. Judging by LG's live demonstration of a HD DVD/BD disc swap with the BH100, this estimate appeared to be accurate.

The BH100 fully supports the features of the BD format including Blu-ray Disc Java, allowing for full use of interactive and other features that may be included with a BD movie. Unfortunately, the BH100's HD DVD interactive feature support is non-existent as the format's iHD technology is not supported. While the BH100 appeared to play HD DVD movies just fine, popup menus appeared quite generic as the on-screen chapter selection lacked the thumbnail images seen on other HD DVD players.

The BH100 A/V connection options include an HDMI v1.2 port as well as component video output. An Ethernet port was present on the BH100 players demonstrated at the LG conference. Audio outputs in addition to HDMI include digital optical (Toslink) and 5.1 analog. LG confirmed that the BH100 will support 1080-line output resolution at 24p, 30p, and 60i refresh rates.

The player's support of the HDMI v1.2 specification instead of the more recent v1.3 specification means the BH100 won't be able to pass raw Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD audio streams to a compatible receiver. Also, the BH100 lacks an RS-232 port or 12V triggers for use with advanced home theater control systems.

The all-black BH100 features illuminated touch sensor buttons complete with sound effects, on the top of the player providing easy access to basic playback controls. The uncluttered face of the BH100 features a single drive tray door, illuminated information display, and an illuminated LG logo.

LG also demonstrated the GGW-H10N Super Multi Blue Drive ($1,199) that will bring multi-HD disc support to the PC. Available in March, the GGW-H10N will be capable of reading or writing to Blu-ray, DVD, and CD media. HD DVD media will be read-only with the GGW-H10N. For BD media, the GGW-H10N will support dual-layer 50GB discs with recording speeds up to 4x - about 23-24 minutes to burn a full single layer BD-R disc (25GB).