Assorted Afflatuses

In truth, I never thought the war would begin. Certainly, Sony and Toshiba had developed rival, incompatible high-definition discs. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, respectively. But consumer electronics manufacturers offset that threat by assuring the public they would produce hybrid devices capable of playing both formats.

Obviously, I was wrong. As quickly as consumer electronics manufacturers had promised to produce hybrid players, they withdrew their offers. Consumers, typically, bore the brunt of the moves. They could either wait — depriving their big new flat-screen televisions of content — or they could invest thousands of dollars in one technology and hope to live.

Then, early this morning, I thought I saw a ray of hope. LG, in the pre-CES announcement blitz, had finally unveiled their hybrid movie player, which could read both of the competing formats. Once again, however, I met only disappointment. According to engadget, the LG BH "Big Hoax" 100 will cost a mind-numbing $1200. Only imbeciles or people suffering from chordophobia would ever pay $1200 for a hybrid player, as you could buy separate Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD players for less than $1200.

LG will either fail to meet expectations or make the player more inexpensive, unless they have a marketing campaign imbibed with a quantity of cleverness never before seen. Otherwise, even the most facile consumer will notice the deficit of thought in LG's pricing.