At the IFA in Berlin, LG and Samsung demonstrated their dual-format HD players capable of playing both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats.

LG was the first company to introduce a Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo player earlier this year, but, while offering interactive functionality on BD-Java, the BH100 lacked access to interactive HD-DVD features (HDi).

To address this, LG has just announced that it will introduce a new Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo player. The BH200 will not only include full access to interactive features on both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs, but will also provide selectable 1080p/24, 30 or 60 video output and Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD audio output. Also featured is a HDMI 1.3 video output, and a LAN Ethernet port for advanced internet features and firmware updates. The BH200 is expected to become available in October with a price tag of $999.

Meanwhile, Samsung's BD-UP5000 dual-format player, the first full-specs dual-format player, is compatible with both BD Java and HDi. Its features include HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) processing, support for HDMI 1.3, a 7.1 channel speaker, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC).

The Samsung dual-format player supports playback for both Blu-ray and HD-DVD at 1080p between 24 and 60fps. It is expected to be available in Q4 2007 for just over $1000.

Story filed 05.09.07