Agence France
Sun
SEOUL — South Korea’s LG Electronics said Thursday it plans to sell the world’s first DVD player capable of playing rival high-definition DVD formats.
The dual-format player, to be released in the United States early this year, will end the “confusion and inconvenience” of competing disc formats for both content producers and consumers, the company said in a statement.
The high-definition player will play HD DVD format and rival Blu-ray format discs, the statement said.
In a replay of the VHS-Betamax battle between two types of video cassette tape in the late 1970s, the two different DVD formats have hit the market offering cinematic-quality images and interactive entertainment.
But they are incompatible, forcing consumers to choose.
Since they were introduced last year, companies have been fighting a fierce campaign to try to convince consumers that their product should become the dominant format.
Details of the new unit will be released at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, LG’s statement said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
