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Samsung announces work on universal Blu-ray/HD DVD player
Posted by Seán Byrne on 22 June 2006 - 00:43 - Source: CIO

With the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD going full steam ahead, Samsung is one company that is preparing ahead to avoid landing on the wrong side of the battle. Rather than take the risk of sticking with one side, according to an assistant manager in Samsung's home-platform product planning division, they are now working on a drive that handles both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Samsung's Blu-ray BD-P1000 will go on sale as planned in the US on June 25th, Korea in August, Europe and Australia in October and worldwide by the year end. Should HD DVD turn out as successful as the Blu-ray format, Samsung will consider introducing a universal Blu-ray + HD DVD player, which could be made available anywhere between the end of this year and early next year. However, Samsung has announced that they do not plan on developing a HD DVD only player.

While introducing a universal player would eliminate the risk of landing up with a losing battle, it would also benefit the consumers as not all the movie studios have agreed to make their movies available on both formats. For example, regardless of which format the customer chooses, they will not be able to play movies released exclusively on the competing format, at least unless a time comes when all the studios make their movies available on both formats. A universal player would solve this issue, since the user would not need to worry about checking if the movie is available in their player's format.

Samsung is already working on a drive that handles both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, said Kim Du-Hyon, an assistant manager in Samsung’s home-platform product planning division, in a briefing with reporters at the company’s headquarters in Suwon, South Korea.

"We don’t have a plan to make an HD DVD-only player but are considering a universal player," he said. "We are preparing HD DVD [support] now, and if we launch a universal player, it will be the end of this year or early next year."

Kim underlined Samsung’s belief that Blu-ray Disc will beat HD DVD in the commercial marketplace, but said Samsung will consider a universal player should HD DVD prove as successful as Blu-ray Disc.

It looks if universal players do reach the market, then it will likely be the companies who plan on sticking to one camp only who will actually lose out, since consumers would likely go for a universal player instead of taking the risk of going for one that handles only Blu-ray or HD DVD. LG Electronics have already announced plans to make drives that handle both formats, so it looks like this will be the way forward, much like how virtually all DVD-writer manufacturers produce drives capable of writing to both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW.

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wifeB8

Funny how this has surfaced up again during the BR fiasco that we are seeing. Unfortunately, as much sense as this makes at present it will not be allowed to happen. Could it be that Sammy is getting back at Sony for hanging them out to dry like they did with the crappy BR encoded launch titles they came out with?
I wouldn’t get my hopes up. This was brought up several months ago and it was made clear that the BR consortium would not license its technology for a dual player.

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Caldwell - "It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies"

HD Sparklez

Heh - Sometimes I hate to say "I told you so" to those other nay-sayers... but sometimes I just gotta love it!

DVdude

Samsung Mulls Dual Blu-ray/HD DVD Player

Company will consider launching the movie player later this year, exec says.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Samsung Electronics will consider later this year if it will launch a high-definition movie player compatible with both the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats, it says.

Samsung is a supporter of the Blu-ray Disc format and its first player just went on sale in the U.S. The BD-P1000 is the first consumer Blu-ray Disc player from any manufacturer and its launch will kick off full competition between the rival formats. Toshiba, which is the main backer of the HD DVD format, started player sales in March.

There are only a few technical differences between the formats but they're big enough to make them mutually incompatible. That's a headache for consumers because most Hollywood studios have initially committed to releasing movies on one or the other disc format but not both.

Samsung is already working on a drive that handles both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, said Kim Du-Hyon, an assistant manager in Samsung's home-platform product planning division, in a briefing with reporters at the company's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea.

"We don't have a plan to make an HD DVD-only player but are considering a universal player," he said. "We are preparing HD DVD [support] now and if we launch a universal player it will be the end of this year or early next year."

Kim underlined Samsung's belief that Blu-ray Disc will beat HD DVD in the commercial marketplace but said Samsung will consider a universal player should HD DVD prove as successful as Blu-ray Disc.

Similar Plans

Samsung is not alone in working on drives that support both formats, according to industry sources.

While LG Electronics has publicly declared its plans to make drives for both formats, many of the leading Blu-ray Disc backers are also members of the DVD Forum and so have access to HD DVD technology and specifications.

In addition some companies on each side of the battle have optical disc production joint-ventures. Samsung is partnered with Toshiba in Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology and Sony and NEC, which back Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD respectively, formed Sony NEC Optiarc in April this year.

Samsung's BD-P1000 will go on sale in the U.S. from June 25 for $1000. It will hit Korea in August, Australia, and Europe in October and be available worldwide by the end of the year, Samsung said.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,126193,00.asp

AdminJoe

Price ???? =)

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