Meridian states no HD DVD player forthcoming

[dobyblue]

http://avzombie.com/blog/2007/01/10/...-announcement/

Meridian will not be releasing an HD DVD player anytime soon. So says brand spokesman John Bamford, who claims that he was surprised to read that the company had been announced as a hardware partner by the HD DVD Promotion Group during its Las Vegas CES press event.

“We’re interested in HD DVD, but we’re also interested in Blu-ray,” says Bamford. “Meridian has been helping the HD DVD group with encoding and technical issues but our involvement appears to have been blown up out of all proportion. If we were to launch an HD DVD deck it would not appear for years.”

I have sent an e-mail to Meridian asking them to confirm or deny the HD DVD Promotion Group's CES statement.

[zombieflanders]

That's the same source I read. If true, it's not looking good for the "HD DVD PRG speaks nothing but the truth" crowd.

[Blurry]

That would be disappointing if they are not going to release one soon, although in reality they are so expensive that it would not affect the market all that much.

However, I will wait for an announcement that is not a blog (not saying they are wrong, but that is hardly official).

[theefman]

The HD DVD PRG statement says

"...and well-known brands such as Meridian and Onkyo will create HD DVD
players as well..."

Either they outright lied or there is some misunderstanding on what Meridian's communication to them was on their intentions with regards to HD DVD. The truth will hopefully be known soon.

[Gnome]

Perhaps what they are saying is that they struck a deal with Meridian to start making HD-DVD players.

If I'm not mistaken it takes several years to go from development to an item that will be available to sell.

[StingerNLG]

It's very wierd. Meridian isn't denying they are providing technology for HD DVD (and BD). But somehow they got lumped in with players.

Hey, if they don't want to make a player I could never afford, that's ok with me.

[dobyblue]

Amir says that apparently Meridian will be posting a press release tomorrow on their website that will refute the blog entry and confirm they are going to release an HD DVD player.
Amir says he's friends with Bob Stuart, the chairman of Meridian Audio.

We'll wait and see on this one I guess.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

We'll wait and see on this one I guess.

Well, if Amir did say that, then it is probably true, he usually gives informed info.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Blurry

Well, if Amir did say that, then it is probably true, he usually gives informed info.

About HD DVD related items yes, about Blu-ray related topics he gives intentionally misleading information like how the 50GB Blu-ray disc would never become a reality and certainly would never be used to put movies out on.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

About HD DVD related items yes, about Blu-ray related topics he gives intentionally misleading information like how the 50GB Blu-ray disc would never become a reality and certainly would never be used to put movies out on.

He may have believed it at the time. I was also skeptical about it, especially since we were not seeing any BD 50 releases for a while after the release of the Samsung. But, BD pulled through on it.

[Aodh]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

About HD DVD related items yes, about Blu-ray related topics he gives intentionally misleading information like how the 50GB Blu-ray disc would never become a reality and certainly would never be used to put movies out on.

Failure is when you stop trying on something that is possible, but you may not know it was possible unless you succeed. I think the severe issues which were facing the BD50 production lines led most people to believe that they would give up and stop sinking more money into it before they got it to work, but they resolved the issue after over half a year. Would you consider people to be 'intentionally misleading' if they were to say we would never land a man on the moon before 1969?

[Overseer]

Meridian has issued a press release on their site clarifying their support for HD DVD. (requires pdf reader)

"...we are pleased to announce that we have now joined the HD DVD Promotional Group."

[zombieflanders]

Hmmm...no announcement of a player, but hey, at least it shows they joined the HD DVD PRG. However, Meridian is also part of the BDA.

[StingerNLG]

No announcement of a player, but they did say this:

“Meridian is a company renowned for state-of-the-art digital audio and video technology, and we are
delighted to be working with Microsoft on the development of high-end players. Meridian has for some
time been deeply involved in some of the core audio technology in HD DVD and at CES 2007 we are
pleased to announce that we have now joined the HD DVD Promotional Group.