Thus far, neither Blu-ray nor HD DVD has made much of an impression on the buying public. That's because old-fashioned DVD is pretty damn good, and because whenever there's a format war, consumers duck and cover, until one side wins, or co-existence prevails. Throw in high cost and you get the predictable result: Blu-ray and HD DVD player sales are nonexistent.

But maybe, just maybe, peace will break out at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. LG, for starters, has announced a player that plays both disc types. The BH100 Super Multi Blue Player (shown above) is a single-tray player with enough tech inside to play both of these high-def movies, in glorious 1080p resolution via the HDMI 1.2 output. Suggested retail price is $1,199, coming your way by April, supposedly. Life's good, right? Sure, except for a few caveats.

First, inexplicably, LG's designers chose not to accommodate CD playback. Second, the player is more Blu-ray friendly than HD DVD. LG is a member of the Blu-ray camp, and the BH100 is a full-fledged Blu-ray player. HD DVD is kind of an add-on. The player plays HD-DVD, but cannot handle its interactive features. In the show demo, for example, it used an onboard menu instead of the typical on-disc menu, to navigate.

A final nagging problem, common to other Blu-ray players, is the glacially long time it takes to load a disc — about 25 seconds. Switching from an HD DVD disc to a Blu-ray one might take a full minute. Still, the BH100 is a huge step in the right direction. Together with hybrid offerings from other companies, this newest generation of players may finally help get Blu-ray and HD DVD off the ground. Why choose sides? — Leslie Shapiro