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Video Gear<br />
Blu-ray and HD DVD Players<br />
The hi-def format war rages on. Strap on your battle helmet, pick up your<br />
shield, and choose your weapon carefully. —R.B.<br />
EDITORS’<br />
PICK<br />
LG BH100 Super Blu<br />
$999 • lge.com<br />
In the fight over formats, the BH100 is Switzerland: Rather than<br />
take sides, this hybrid player spins both ways—though not quite<br />
as well as most dedicated models. With HD DVD titles, for instance,<br />
it delivers only basic playback features, and it locked up during our<br />
screening of The Bourne Identity. For this kind of scratch, you could<br />
buy separate Blu-ray and HD DVD players plus a library of movies.<br />
WIRED Movies look and sound stellar, regardless of format.<br />
Spiffy touch-sensitive controls. Quick to load and navigate discs.<br />
TIRED Weak backlight makes it fairly useless in the dark.<br />
Doesn’t play audio CDs.<br />
Samsung BD-P1200<br />
$600 • samsung.com<br />
Samsung’s BD-P1200 Blu-ray player delivers what a second-gen<br />
offering should—more features for less money. $600 is still mighty<br />
steep for stand-alone Blu-ray playback, but this machine deftly<br />
upconverts standard-def DVDs for viewing on your HDTV and offers<br />
impressive bookmark features.<br />
WIRED Sleek design. Stunning image quality. Ethernet jack for easy<br />
firmware updates. Upconverting breathes new life into conventional<br />
DVDs. Remote’s main buttons glow in the dark.<br />
TIRED High cost will keep it out of most home theaters. Takes 20<br />
seconds to load discs. Lacks Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio support.<br />
Sony BDP-S300<br />
$500 • sonystyle.com<br />
Like other Blu-ray players we’ve seen, this one definitely makes your<br />
HDTV sing: Images pop, colors dazzle, details emerge brilliantly. But<br />
Sony charges way too much for it—the same money could buy you a<br />
Blu-ray-equipped PlayStation 3—and leaves out too many desirable<br />
features. While we’re loving Blu-ray, we’re just barely liking this player.<br />
WIRED Convenient top-mounted Eject button. Upconverts standarddef<br />
DVDs to 1080p and makes them look terrific.<br />
TIRED Painfully slow to power up and load interactive disc features.<br />
No Ethernet port for downloading firmware updates. Doesn’t decode<br />
Dolby TrueHD. Non-backlit remote hard to see in the dark.<br />
Toshiba HD-A20<br />
$400 • toshiba.com<br />
A slap in the face to early adopters who paid $800 for Toshiba’s<br />
first-gen HD DVD player, the HD-A20 sells for half the price and<br />
ups the output to 1080p. Looking on the bright side, the player<br />
churns out glorious color and sound from hi-def and standard DVDs<br />
alike. You’ll want to buy a different remote, though: The buttonpacked,<br />
unlit clicker really needs work.<br />
WIRED Movies look fabulous even on 1080i screens. Ethernet for<br />
firmware updates. Upconverts standard DVDs.<br />
TIRED Extremely slow to start up. 13.6-inch footprint may be too<br />
deep for your cabinet. Future of HD DVD format looks shaky.<br />
WIRED TEST<br />
0 8 7
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