One of the announcements that caught my eye coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show currently under way in Las Vegas was LG Electronics' announcement of its dual-format high-definition movie player. As you may be aware, movie studios and consumer electronics manufacturers are engaged in a tiff over which high-def standard -- Blu-ray or HD DVD -- deserves to be in the world's living rooms. As a result most people have been sitting on their hands. It's not too surprising that many people would rather let moths eat the bills in their wallets than risk joining the losing team. LG hopes that its new hybrid player will change that.

The LG player incorporates a fancy new Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) chip that provides the dual functionality. The same blue laser diode is used to read both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs and a separate laser diode is used to read standard DVDs. While the LG player seems like a good idea on the surface I think it will prove about as popular as snow shoes in Florida. My two primary problems with this device are its price tag ($1,200, or about 10 times the cost of a standard DVD player) and its inability to take advantage of the special features on HD-DVD discs.

So what kind of special features are available on HD-DVD discs? They include capabilities that I would think serious movie enthusiasts -- the type of people most likely to plunk down $1,200 on a player -- would love, like having the director appear on-screen during the movie and provide commentary.

And what about that price? Is a Blu-ray/crippled HD-DVD player worth $1,200? Not to me. I could buy a Sony (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 3, which comes with a built-in Blu-ray player ($600), and a Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox 360 ($400) with the add-on and non-crippled HD-DVD player ($200) for a total price equal to the LG player. Not only could I watch any high-def movie, but I would own the two most powerful gaming consoles on the planet. Don't want gaming consoles cluttering up your living room? Then buy Toshiba's newest HD-DVD player and a Philips Blu-ray player. These can be purchased from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for slightly more than $1,000 total.

Seriously, after racking my brains there is only one advantage to the LG player that I can come up with. TVs and receivers have a limited number of inputs on the back (hard to believe if you've looked at the back of a modern receiver), so some people may not have the plugs to easily connect two new components. Nevertheless, unless the LG player hits the street at a substantially discounted price, I can't imagine that it will find its way into many living rooms.

For further Foolishness:

Amazon is a Stock Advisor recommendation. Microsoft is an Inside Value selection.

Fool contributor Dan Bloom doesn't own shares of any company mentioned in this column. He recently bought an Xbox 360 with the add-on HD-DVD drive, but hasn't yet had a chance to watch a high-definition movie.