Format wars are seldom any good for the consumer unless you happen to pick the winning horse right from the start and the Blu-ray vs HD DVD conflict is just getting ready to go full-scale. Pretty soon the battle won’t be taking place in the boardrooms of giant faceless corporations: it will be underneath telly and generally making a mess on the carpet. Although the two technologies differ slightly (both use the same blue-violet laser but operating at different wavelengths) it might just be possible to create a player capable of reading both types of disc - something LG is now rumoured to be trying.
A combination player would have a much greater appeal as it overcomes the risk of buying a soon-to-be-defunct-format player, but I suppose the manufacturer then risks offending either Sony, Microsoft or both, which isn’t a smart idea. LG has also announced that its Blu-ray player, the BD199, has been axed because of "uncertainty in the market".
Via engadget
From: Sony to double BRAVIA LCD TV production for growing European demand