High-Def DVD Shakeout
The incompatible Blu-ray and HD DVD formats have left some consumers confused and others unwilling to commit to high-def DVD, for fear that their product could be a dead end in a few years. The debut of LG's $1199 dual-format player, the BH100 (out now), and a corresponding PC drive, the GGW-H10N (due in April), should help. Though it is more than twice as expensive as HD DVD players and costs $200 to $500 more than Blu-ray Disc players, the LG device ensures that no matter which format wins, users won't be left out in the cold.
Content makers are helping, too. Warner Home Video has announced a line of Total Hi Def movie discs that will contain both a Blu-ray and an HD DVD version, so users need not worry about buying the correct format. Total HD discs are due by year's end; Warner sibling studios HBO and New Line Entertainment plan to support the format.
So far, however, no dual-format recorders or burners exist. Blu-ray burners for PCs have seen an upgrade to 2X; the first is the $650 Lite-On Triple Writer LH-2B1S (available now). And Toshiba will offer the SD-H903A HD DVD write-once drive, the first HD DVD burner for a desktop PC (notebook drives were available late last year). Systems with the new Toshiba drive should be out in the spring.
Record to PC
High-def DVD recorders for the living room are still slow to come (we don't expect any until the end of the year, at the earliest), but PC-based HD recording received an important boost with the introduction of ATI's TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. The unit, which comes as either an external box or a PCI add-in card, allows you for the first time to not only receive but also record premium HD content like shows from HBO. You cannot, however, record video-on-demand or pay-per-view offerings with the ATI card. And for now, you can get the card only as part of a bundle when you buy certain new Windows Vista systems from major vendors such as Dell, Gateway, and HP.
Replay TV, which got out of the hardware business in late 2005, has finally released a $100 software product that brings its user-friendly interface to your PC, which would make viewing and recording HD on your computer much more palatable. You can try it free for 30 days. Once you purchase it, you'll have to pay an annual $20 fee for the electronic show-guide service after the first year.
So much for that goal of cutting down on TV viewing this year.
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