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Blu-ray MIA at LG Dealers Show

Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 04:56 PM ET
Tags: Hardware, LG (all tags)

Blu-ray's hardware woes appeared to continue yesterday at LG's annual dealers show in Orlando, Florida, where a previously announced Blu-ray player for 2007 was nowhere to be found.

Addressing questions about the lack of Blu-ray products at the show, LG product development director Tim Alessi had this to say:

"We have heard and read about a lot of delays [of Blu-ray product releases]," he said. "We recognize the huge opportunity but we will provide an announcement when the time is right."

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Alessi later clarified his earlier statement. "I didn't say we weren't going to have a [Blu-ray] player. I just said we aren't going to announce it today. We are going to continue to look at all aspects of the market to come up with the best solution."

The LG Vice President's comments come on the heels of two Blu-ray player release delays in the last two weeks -- Sony's BDP-S1 Blu-ray player and Pioneer's BDP-HD1 Blu-ray player.

And while neither Sony nor Pioneer specified a reason for the delay in releasing their players, as early as this past August there were unconfirmed reports that a shortage of blue laser diodes could result in shipment delays for new players. Sony pointed to this shortage as the reason it halved and delayed launch shipments of its Blu-ray powered PlayStation 3 game console.

Asked when LG might unveil plans for their first player, Alessi indicated optimism that they would have a solution by CES in January.

See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.

Related links:
LG Dealer Show Reveals Flat Panels; Blu-ray, 100-inch LCD Absent [CEPro]
Earlier on High-Def Digest:
Pioneer Blu-ray Player Still Not Ready for Primetime (Nov 01, 2006)
Sony Delays First Blu-ray Player... Again (Oct 20, 2006)
Sony Halves U.S. PlayStation 3 Shipments; European Launch Delayed (Sep 06, 2006)
Laser Shortages to Delay New Blu-ray, HD DVD Players? (Aug 29, 2006)


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