AfterDawn: News

Samsung will offer dual-HD player in July?

The rumors about a possible Samsung HD DVD / Blu-ray hybrid player have been around for a long time and have been squashed by the company itself, then revived in more hints and clues. LG did introduce a hybrid player at CES in January, although it's lesser compatibility with HD DVD's HDi makes its high price tag much less attractive.

According to a Stor-Age.com article, Samsung plans to introduce their BD-UP5000 "Duo HD Player" in July this year, to rival the player of LG. A rough translation of the article reveals that the player supports Blu-ray and HD DVD playback and fully supports their interactive content (BD-Java and HDi).



It also features HDMI 1.3, 1080/24p output for Blu-ray titles and DVD-Video upscaling via DCDi processing. The next question would obviously be about the player's price tag, which unfortunately was not mentioned. However, a rough translation says that, "Samsung is looking at a 10 percent price differential over the single-format Blu-ray players", which would probably set the price between $799-$999.

If true, this indeed will be a real challenge for LG's hybrid player.

Sources:
Home Theater Blog
Stor-Age.com

Written by: James Delahunty @ 9 Apr 2007 18:29

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• 13 comments

• vinny13

  What's the point of having a Blu-ray player AND a HD-DVD player?

  9.4.2007 19:07 #1

• Spenman91

  Quote:What's the point of having a Blu-ray player AND a HD-DVD player? Uhhhh.....being able to play both of the new HD formats without having to buy both players, and being able to play both movies that are only on HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

  9.4.2007 19:41 #2

• webe123

  You can KEEP the PLAYERS! I am only interested in the burners for a PC and media when they finally get resonable in price.

  9.4.2007 21:14 #3

• cascadeuk

  Quote:[quote]What's the point of having a Blu-ray player AND a HD-DVD player? Uhhhh.....being able to play both of the new HD formats without having to buy both players, and being able to play both movies that are only on HD-DVD or Blu-ray.[/quote]
  What he said, hahahaha.
  
  Seriously, i would consider this player if i didn't have a 360 and PS3. i love movies and to have so much more choice is a good thing. Let them keep fighting over which is the best, just aslong as they continue to produce the discs i don't care

  10.4.2007 01:34 #4

• ZippyDSM

  I hope they manage to get the dual players to offer basic input and outputs with slight up conversion to Hdef that would be worth spending 400$ on.
  
  cascadeuk
  well if they can get one to do up conversion from a imput it might "help" the fickle 360/wii do better with Hdef output :3

  10.4.2007 03:29 #5

• cashman91

  only delaying the inevitable

  10.4.2007 07:02 #6

• Mr-Movies

  Ya, I want a HD Player/Burner with composite out, that makes sense. Why buy HD movies if you’re not going to watch them in Progressive scan? Besides at $30 to $40 each they are way too expensive right now just wait till they are affordable. And the player would really be cheap by adding a down converter. Sorry Zippy I like you but here we don't see eye-to-eye. I know your wanting to get by cheap and not buy a HDTV but a 32" isn't very expensive these days, around $600 for a LCD Flat panel.
  
  Wally World has the NEW Liteon for $529 which isn't to bad, prices are dropping.
  
  Lite-On Serial ATA 2X Blu-ray Disc Triple Writer, LH-2B1S
  http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.d...000000003129160
  
  LiteOn:
  http://us.liteonit.com/us/index.php?opti...d=57&Itemid=191

  10.4.2007 09:51 #7

• webe123

  Originally posted by Mr-Movies:Ya, I want a HD Player/Burner with composite out, that makes sense. Why buy HD movies if you’re not going to watch them in Progressive scan? Besides at $30 to $40 each they are way too expensive right now just wait till they are affordable. And the player would really be cheap by adding a down converter. Sorry Zippy I like you but here we don't see eye-to-eye. I know your wanting to get by cheap and not buy a HDTV but a 32" isn't very expensive these days, around $600 for a LCD Flat panel.
  
  Wally World has the NEW Liteon for $529 which isn't to bad, prices are dropping.$529.00 is still crazy money for a Blu Ray ONLY writer....I am waiting for the dual format writers to come and then to finally get reasonable in price.
  
  That way it does not matter WHO wins the format war in high definition.

  10.4.2007 19:48 #8

• Steve83

  Hmmmm... $600 for a burner, $10ea for blanks, another $500 for a settop player (or $1500 for dual-format).
  
  
  Lemme think about this for a few weeks - I'll stick with DVD.

  13.4.2007 15:14 #9

• Mr-Movies

  I saw BD-R's somewhere for $3ea which isn't bad some places still want $2-$3 for DL's and they've been around way too long to still cost that much.
  
  Prices are dropping much faster this time around then they did when DVD's came about, with their -R/+R battle. Maybe companies are learning a lesson here, at least some of them.

  16.4.2007 09:32 #10

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Mr-Movies:I saw BD-R's somewhere for $3ea which isn't bad some places still want $2-$3 for DL's and they've been around way too long to still cost that much.
  
  Prices are dropping much faster this time around then they did when DVD's came about, with their -R/+R battle. Maybe companies are learning a lesson here, at least some of them.true true but tis still going to be 3-6 years before it matures enough for most consumers to use.

  16.4.2007 09:47 #11

• Jimathome

  Guys' let me look into my cristal ball and predict that within one year all the companies will follow LG, they will all offer HD-DVD and Blu-Ray combo players and for PC combo burners just like they did a few years ago with the - + wars over which standard would prevail. Who the hell would want to buy a player/burner that would only allow you to play half of your favorate movies/games etc... and people vote with their wallet, they have to bring down the price dramatically to make back all that R&D cash they spent, and if the players/burners remain in seperate camps and the price remains the same they will very quickly run out of peaple who can afford to buy them.

  31.7.2007 03:50 #12

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Jimathome: Guys' let me look into my cristal ball and predict that within one year all the companies will follow LG, they will all offer HD-DVD and Blu-Ray combo players and for PC combo burners just like they did a few years ago with the - + wars over which standard would prevail. Who the hell would want to buy a player/burner that would only allow you to play half of your favorate movies/games etc... and people vote with their wallet, they have to bring down the price dramatically to make back all that R&D cash they spent, and if the players/burners remain in seperate camps and the price remains the same they will very quickly run out of peaple who can afford to buy them.It seems to me if the war was "over" tomorrow they would keep their "studios" and some will jump from side to side relaseing on both formats for awhile, after 5 or so years BR would take over the space and new codecs make it the better format for the long run Hdvd has the short and even middle run covered.

  31.7.2007 11:11 #13