LG has announced that its hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD player LG GGC-H20N is now available in stores, in Japan. The new player can read BD-ROM at 6x, BD-ROM/R DL at 4.8x, BD-RE (DL) 2x, HD DVD-ROM (DL) 3x. It also sports DVD/CD reading capabilities; DVD-RAM 5x, DVD±R DL 4x, DVD±R 16x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+RW 8x, CD-R 40x and CD-RW 24x. The player costs about 40,000 YEN, which is about $345 USD. This particular player is also available in an external shape from Buffalo (same model name), but with an estimated price of 51,000 YEN ($440).

Samsung a world leader in Audio , Video devices announced earlier this week in a conference held in Germany the projected release of its Duo HD (high-definition) BD-UP5000 Player.
The BD-UP 5000 supports both HD DVD and BD and comes second to the LG Electronics BH100 only when it comes to the release time.
The device will be initially introduced in the European market at a price of about 400 euro (US$545) in the fourth quarter of 2007.

WESTBURY, NY - June 19th - VidaBox, a manufacturer of premium media center systems, is announcing the release of a new media center system called the MAGNUM , which will feature a full color, 12.1" motorized touch panel with support for Blu-ray, HD DVD, and CableCARD.

Some of you may have heard about Wal-Mart's plans to buy 2 million HD DVD players. Wal-Mart has recently stepped up to the plate and denied all rumors. The manufacturing company had posted what looked like an order for $300 million worth of HD DVD players, but in reality, that form is nothing more than a price-check, a figure to see how much it would cost to get that many HD DVD players. So, in short, Wal-Mart is considering getting a gazillion HD DVD players, just not from the supplier that posted an "order".

At this point, it seems like the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray high-definition media war looks a lot like a game of chess. And right now, that game of chess is locked in a stalemate. In an effort to break the stalemate in favor of HD DVD, Wal-Mart has made a cunning move. They are attempting to make HD DVD the first affordable HD medium. They have placed an order for 2 million $299 USD HD DVD players. While a noble effort on Wal-Mart's part, we won't be seeing any of these players until at least late 2008. By then, Blu-ray may have come down in price enough to win the HD media war.

Seoul, Korea - April 13, 2007 - Samsung Electronics Co., LTD., a leader in consumer electronics and digital media technologies, and the first company to introduce a Blu-ray disc player will introduce a dual format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player in time for the holidays.

Samsung's Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. With the Duo HD consumers can enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director's comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage. The new Duo HD joins Samsung's next generation DVD line-up which includes Samsung's second generation Blu-ray player available at retail this month. Together, these two models offer the consumer a strong line of High-Definition players to match Samsung's award winning, and best selling, line of HDTVs.

The AACS (Advanced Access Content System) is the standard of decrypting HD content of HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. The implementation of AACS into both HD disc formats is the target of hackers throughout the whole world and it seems the HD DVD is not that secure as it's inventors wanted it to be. Its encryption got hacked utilizing a flawed mechanism inside a special WinDVD version by members of the well known Doom9 Forums some time ago. When the company behind AACS, the AACS LA, reacted and prohibited the playback of HD DVDs using the aforementioned WinDVD version, the hackers found another way to get to the important data.
This time a hacker called 'xt5' took advantage of a common unmodified Xbox 360 HD DVD drive (Toshiba SD-S802A). He was somehow able to get a so called Volume ID out of the disc using this drive. With this Volume ID one could get access to all the neccessary keys needed to play a HD DVD movie. You won't need a software like WinDVD anymore. In order to fix this problem the AACS LA could add all external Xbox 360 HD DVD drives to their black list (Revocation List), no owner of such a drive would be able to play back a HD movie with it - except hackers of with above stated knowledge of course. Another solution would be to release a new firmware update for the Xbox HD DVDs but it would be only a matter of time until the next clever chap finds a solution for that.

Toshiba, one of the major names in HD DVD, is planning to cut the price of all three of its HD DVD players next month. The top-end HDX-A2 will fall from $1,000 to $800, the mid-range HD-A20 will fall from $600 to $500 and the low-end HD-A2 will also fall $100 from $500 to $400. These prices cuts should take place at the start of next month, with Blu-ray already set to become much cheaper once Sony releases its new player later this year. HD DVD has fallen behind in sales with the release of the PS3 which brings Blu-ray to the market at a much more competitive price.

Single and double layered HD DVD's can reach 15 and 30GB, respectively. While most experts claim this is more than enough for a 1080p movie along with a ton of goodies, Blu-ray fans have been claiming that the HD DVD is no match for the Blu-ray in terms of space. Toshiba is going to enjoy debunking that theory. They sent a three layered HD DVD to the standards overseer, in hope to get this thing patented. If they succeed in making triple-layered HD DVD's a standard, then HD DVD will officially be able to hold more data than a Blu-ray (double layer Blu-ray holds 50GB). The only problem with the triple-layer HD DVD is that it is currently not compatible with any players...but, then again, neither was Blu-ray.

Blending the latest technologies and offering unprecedented flexibility to consumers seeking the convenience of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD high-definition content, LG Electronics (LG), a leader in consumer electronics and mobile communications, today launched the groundbreaking "Super Multi Blue" Player at the 2007 International CES (Booth #8214, Central Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center).