CES 2008: Samsung to put 'emphasis' on Blu-ray

Anthony Marbella, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung has said in a press statement that the company plans to put "emphasis" on Blu-ray while continuing to support "all formats."

"We'll support all formats, but with the news from Warner Bros we will put an emphasis on Blu-ray. We will make what consumers want," he added.

This latest news could mean the discontinuation of the company's line of dual format players, the latest of which, the BD-U5500 was just announced yesterday.

When he was asked whether consumers wanted and preferred Blu-ray over HD DVD, Marbella responded, "Yes, especially with the shift in content to come."

The BD-U5500 will play both formats, offer HDMI 1.3 connection, be profile 1.1 compliant, an ethernet connection, and the latest BD-Java and HD DVD interactivity available. The player also offers support for audio decoding of 7.1-Ch PCM, DTS-HD High resolution and Master audio, as well as Dolby TrueHD Bistream.

Source:
Pocketlint

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Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 8 Jan 2008 18:29

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11 comments

hughjars

LMAO

The idea that the consumer is getting what they want in this obvious stitch-up is hilarious.

If the market were genuinely free & the consumer to be given the choice of what they really wanted then the movie studios would have been format neutral & published on both formats and let the customer decide from the start.

(and HD DVD would have won this last year, easily)

The consumer has simply lost out to big businesses deciding what was it's own best interests, once again.

The only good bit in this is that thanks to a deeply divided and evolving market it's highly likely Blu-ray cannot simply replace DVD.

The irony might well be that now that downloading and satellite/cable DVR/PVRs HD TV boxes are around the consumer does decide......to continue to ignore Blu-ray discs.

8.1.2008 18:43 #1

vinny13

Originally posted by hughjars: LMAO

The idea that the consumer is getting what they want in this obvious stitch-up is hilarious.

If the market were genuinely free & the consumer to be given the choice of what they really wanted then the movie studios would have been format neutral & published on both formats and let the customer decide from the start.

(and HD DVD would have won this last year, easily)

The consumer has simply lost out to big businesses deciding what was it's own best interests, once again.

The only good bit in this is that thanks to a deeply divided and evolving market it's highly likely Blu-ray cannot simply replace DVD.

The irony might well be that now that downloading and satellite/cable DVR/PVRs HD TV boxes are around the consumer does decide......to continue to ignore Blu-ray discs.Oh well HD-DVD didn't win so no one cares about what could of happened(well, nobody has one yet but Blu-Ray looks like it's taking over anyways). The consumer made it's choice, the more expensive choice, which is new but oh well it ended up being Blu-Ray. On the news they just had a report on which to buy. They said HD-DVD if you are on a really tight budget but then they went on talking about the 5 to 2 bud studio support for Blu-Ray, so they said overall to get a Blu-Ray player because of the better support and they also mentioned that even though they are more expensive they always have promotions like the 5 movies for free campaign and special discounts and rebates going on.

So there you have it. The everyday consumer prefers Blu-Ray, or at least the people on Global News.

Anyways, I think this is good news because this could also mean cheaper players in development.

8.1.2008 19:04 #2

NexGen76

Quote:The BD-U5500 will play both formats, offer HDMI 1.3 connection, be Profile 1.1 compliant, an ethernet connection, and the latest BD-Java and HD DVD interactivity available. The player also offers support for audio decoding of 7.1-Ch PCM, DTS-HD High Resolution and Master audio, as well as Dolby TrueHD Bistream.Good to see that consumers that didn't see this coming are still going to have value in there HD-DVD movies collection they bought, so its not a total waste.Best of both worlds is good for everyone.

8.1.2008 20:01 #3

red2tango

hughjars that was the most sarcastic cyber laugh ever.nobody cares what could've happened because the consumer made a choice.i went to my local bestbuy today and the salespeople seemed really informed.an older person asked about a movie if the hi-def version will play on a dvd player.the salesperson told them to get a bluray player because it has more movie studio support.the old man bought one (i think it was samsung).bluray=victory.

8.1.2008 22:45 #4

mspurloc

I, too, find this statement infuriating:

"We'll support all formats, but with the news from Warner Bros we will put an emphasis on Blu-ray. We will make what consumers want," he added.

At what point were we given a choice in this? Hollywood is forcing it down our throats and the price of Blu Ray, now that Sony has a monopoly, is going to stay high, if not soar.

Where are all those anti-NAFTA, anti-trust, anti-big business anarchist hippies now? Strangely quiet. Familiarly cowardly.

9.1.2008 00:47 #5

ZippyDSM

Quote:Originally posted by hughjars: LMAO

The idea that the consumer is getting what they want in this obvious stitch-up is hilarious.

If the market were genuinely free & the consumer to be given the choice of what they really wanted then the movie studios would have been format neutral & published on both formats and let the customer decide from the start.

(and HD DVD would have won this last year, easily)

The consumer has simply lost out to big businesses deciding what was it's own best interests, once again.

The only good bit in this is that thanks to a deeply divided and evolving market it's highly likely Blu-ray cannot simply replace DVD.

The irony might well be that now that downloading and satellite/cable DVR/PVRs HD TV boxes are around the consumer does decide......to continue to ignore Blu-ray discs.Oh well HD-DVD didn't win so no one cares about what could of happened(well, nobody has one yet but Blu-Ray looks like it's taking over anyways). The consumer made it's choice, the more expensive choice, which is new but oh well it ended up being Blu-Ray. On the news they just had a report on which to buy. They said HD-DVD if you are on a really tight budget but then they went on talking about the 5 to 2 bud studio support for Blu-Ray, so they said overall to get a Blu-Ray player because of the better support and they also mentioned that even though they are more expensive they always have promotions like the 5 movies for free campaign and special discounts and rebates going on.

So there you have it. The everyday consumer prefers Blu-Ray, or at least the people on Global News.

Anyways, I think this is good news because this could also mean cheaper players in development.neither has blu ray.....its a good thing it will take the PS3 2 more years to replace the 360,with current BR production prices will slow publishers and devs jumping over to the PS3....

The best thing about a shift to BR players is that ti will bring lower prices to the public sooner, the more manufactures working on it the faster revisions and lower prices will come.

Also it would be quite interesting if someone made a 360 add on for the 360 for 200$.

9.1.2008 04:47 #6

goodswipe

I agree, this format war was never set at "what the consumer wants", it's all based on big companies being paid millions of dollars to support just one format. I think all the studios, to get a real idea of what is wanted, should have stayed format neutral by producing movies for several years in both formats.

9.1.2008 10:54 #7

HughFart

Originally posted by red2tango: hughjars that was the most sarcastic cyber laugh ever.nobody cares what could've happened because the consumer made a choice.i went to my local bestbuy today and the salespeople seemed really informed.an older person asked about a movie if the hi-def version will play on a dvd player.the salesperson told them to get a bluray player because it has more movie studio support.the old man bought one (i think it was samsung).bluray=victory.
Blu-ray is on the way to just being another stagnate proprietary game console format with a relatively tiny amount of standalone & PC burner activity tacked on.

9.1.2008 15:01 #8

goodswipe

lol, is that you hughie?

9.1.2008 17:20 #9

borhan9

Quote:The BD-U5500 will play both formats, offer HDMI 1.3 connection, be profile 1.1 compliant, an ethernet connection, and the latest BD-Java and HD DVD interactivity available. The player also offers support for audio decoding of 7.1-Ch PCM, DTS-HD High resolution and Master audio, as well as Dolby TrueHD Bistream.This is why i like samsung it plays both. It's called the safe bet. However blu-ray is the way it is going due to the fact that the biggest movie and tv show studio has chosen their side and this has made all other players play their hand as well. I feel sorry for Toshiba and Microsoft.

9.1.2008 22:03 #10

MrMexican

I don't get why the losing hd dvd supporters get this way hughjars just to name one.

Get over yourself the format you wanted to win lost, big time and that is the end of that. Stop with these
The irony might well be that now that downloading and satellite/cable DVR/PVRs HD TV boxes are around the consumer does decide......to continue to ignore Blu-ray discs. excuses.

Yes there great products and i actually have dvr but blue ray has more to offer than hd dvd with game, movies, and a bigger disc storage.

Yes blue ray has to much protection but that won't last , and we will be back to square one on how companies will try to protect their stuff.

Owell what can i say hd dvd supporters , you should have headed are warning, you should have chose to win but you chose to loose and now you asking why.

9.1.2008 23:57 #11

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