Universal Blu-ray/HD-DVD player: Still Not Happening

Pioneer denies plans for Combo Blu-ray/HD DVD

Hope amongst industry insiders and consumers for unification of the rival High Definition disc formats was further dashed when Pioneer distanced itself from loose talk at last week's IFA event in Berlin that they planned to produce a hybrid Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive.

This brief flurry of wishful thinking follows on the heels of other media non-events, such as last July 30th, when LG backed away from their stated intention of bringing a hybrid player to market, or the surprising announcement July 15th that Ricoh was going to offer a hybrid sometime in 2007. Ricoh's press release has been followed up over the past six weeks with a thunderous silence.

At this point, regardless of any ambitious manufacturer's desires, I don't expect to see a hybrid unit see the light of day in the short term. I was told point blank by a source at a well-regarded Japanese HiFi company that Sony is playing hardball with the licensing for Blu-ray. Representatives for the HiFi company were informed by Sony in no uncertain terms that if they pursued a hybrid Blu-ray/HD-DVD player, Sony would cancel their licence agreement to use Blu-ray technology. This company, by the way, has yet to debut an HD player. They have one of each, Blu-ray and HD-DVD ready to roll, but are patiently waiting to see which way the wind is blowing before they wade into the fray. Since right now the winds are blowing omens of consumer apathy and aversion to being on the wrong side of a format war, I think that is a sensible plan.

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