Hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD player coming, format war to continue

Korean consumer electronics giant LG has decided to go ahead and manufacture a hybrid player capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. This follows months of indecision, where LG committed to building a hybrid player and subsequently changed its mind.
LG will likely be the first to market with a hybrid player, as Samsung, the only other consumer electronics manufacturer to openly consider a hybrid player, has decided to take a wait-and-see approach. Samsung will only ship a hybrid player if HD DVD turns out to be as popular as Blu-ray.
Companies heavily invested in the next-generation optical format hope that the presence of dual-format discs and players capable of playing both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs will spur adoption of the new technology by consumers. But does this mean that it's "game over" when it comes to battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD that has only just begun?
Hybrid players such as LG's may help with a small segment of undecided buyers, but the majority of consumers will sit on the sidelines for the next few years. Prices on the new players are high, and the hybrid players are expected to be even more costly, which is another factor in Samsung's decision to play wait-and-see with its own hybrid player.
The biggest factor is that the majority of people just aren't early adopters. Keep in mind that it was only in the third quarter of 2006 that DVD player ownership overtook VCR ownership for the first time—a decade after the first DVD players were introduced. The end result will still be Blu-ray and HD DVD battling it out on the bleeding edge with the small number of early adopters while everybody else is content to sit home and watch old school DVDs.
LG's new hybrid player—which will be able to play Warner Brothers' hybrid discs—will be on display at next week's Consumer Electronics Show, and we'll stop by their booth to have a look at it.