The price becomes doubly insulting when you look at the limitations imposed to bring the cost down to even those ridiculous levels. The player version can't actually handle audio CDs at all, and only offers a limited set of the interactive features provided by HD DVD.

Under the circumstances, calling this a hybrid is a massive, massive stretch. It's a partial hybrid at best, a messy integration at worst.

The drive version does fix both those defects, admittedly, allowing audio CDs and full HD DVD interactivity. But in order to achieve that, you end up paying the same price as for the standalone player, which defies all normal pricing conventions.

The launch also served as a useful reminder that hi-def isn't always better. During the presentation, LG boasted that Blu-ray disc loading times on its new player were a world's best 25 seconds.

That's not a record to be proud of in an industry where millisecond measurements are the norm. I'm not at all convinced that anyone should pay that amount of money to wait that long for a movie, no matter how nice the image quality is. Better to wait until it's both faster and cheaper.

Analysts have pronounced themselves skeptical of the impact a hybrid player might have. A cheaper player, with a full feature set, might help end the DVD wars, but the Super Multi Blue doesn't fit the bill.
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