HP Ship PCs with LG's Dual Hi-Def DVD Drives

Hewlett-Packard in the USA will begin shipping personal computers that can read both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, the two high-definition formats competing to replace DVDs.

The computers are the first to feature the LG Electronics-developed combo drive, first demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. LG's Super Multi Blue Blu-ray disc rewriter and HD DVD ROM drive can both read and write to Blu-ray, but can only read HD DVD discs.

LG is expected to make the drive available as a standalone product later this year.