Samsung to Release HD DVD/Blu-ray Combo Player

[Nick]

Samsung's Duo HD player, model BD-UP5000, will fully support both HD-DVD
and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java.

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/news/2007/04/samsung_to_rele.php

[sansha]

what the heck does it mean "in time for the holidays"? What holidays? Do they mean december 2007?

[4DThinker]

No mention of price. I Think they're on the right track, though. Why force consumers to pick a standard when technology can let all the standards live gracefully side-by-side. Blu-Ray Disks don't take up any more shelf space than HD-DVDs do. Make me a player that can both play every disk format (including all the CD and DVD formats) and RECORD on all possible formats, then make sure it can be upgraded over the internet to potentially play any other blu light or red light format that comes down the pike, then price it at $499ish. I'll buy three.

[BobbySteelz]

Yeah this will probably be a late november/early dec. release. It's a great idea though. Can't wait to see what the price is...and whether it actually works.

[sansha]

Pricing the HD-A2 at $299 puts it in the realm of what a videophile is willing to pay for an HD dvd player, but people are still put off by the competing formats. If they price a combo player under 500, preferably 399$ people would be more likely to jump on the bandwagon. As it is, they are losing HD and blu ray DVD sales from people like me, who are willing to pay a reasonable price for a combo player, but not 1100$ and who don't want two machines, one of which may lose the format wars. My 1080p upscaling DVD player does a good job on my 1080p TV for less than $100 bucks, and from across the room, I'm not sure I could really tell the difference from that and an HD or blu ray disc.

[Larry G]

I've always been leary of 'combination' products. I guess I worry that the 'combo' can't be as good as the individual pieces and yet have comparable pricing. I'm probably not explaining myself very good. Here's an example. I bought a VCR/DVD player combo several years ago priced in the mid $100's. About the same price that one could get each of individual pieces at. I thought "Wow what deal". The thing lasted about 2 months. About the same time I purchased a DVD player for another room for about the same price. Its still working fine.
I guess I think corners need to be cut to produce a 'combo' product with a comparable price tag as individual components. IMHO anyway.

[Drew2k]

I am so wary of purchasing either BluRay or HD-DVD players and the discs, because I don't know how this is going to shake out. I really would love to see this combo unit on the marked TODAY ...

[DCSholtis]

So would I but Im going to soon take a gamble and purchase a BluRay player as I really think in the end they will come out the winners eventually.

[cavihitts]

Looks like this may be on a lot of X-mas lists

[NickD]

Sign me up for a dual player, that is the way to go. I don't personally see why either format has to win, I am sure they could coexist for many years until the next great format comes out and we start this all over again. It might not be the greatest example but look at cd's and dvd's. I thought dvd's were supposed to replace cd's due to the increased capacity and better longevity. Every piece of electronic machinery that I own that plays one can play the other. My computer, 360, dvd and PS3 all can play both cd's and dvd's. Why not have a player that can play all of the above for a reasonable price!

[Ray_Clum]

A good friend of mine at church works for a company that does high end home theater installations here in Indy (think CEO's, pro-athletes, etc.) - Premier Custom Audio & Video (www.premiercustomav.com). He said that in a month or so, the SuperBlue from LG will be coming out with a $200 MIR. That means that the players are dropping to $799 after rebate...

[machavez00]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multime...710231023.html

Samsung’s Duo HD Universal Player to Cost €400.($550 US)
Samsung’s Blu-ray/HD DVD Player Gets the Price

Category: Multimedia

by Anton Shilov

[ 07/10/2007 | 11:11 PM ]

Samsung Electronics at IFA (Internationale Funhausstellung) conference in
Germany revealed that its first hybrid blue laser-based video player will be relatively affordable and will become available in the fourth quarter of the year.

Samsung’s Duo HD BD-UP5000 will be initially available in Europe and will cost approximately €400 ($550), which is considerably below the cost of LG’s BH100 player that also can playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, reports Digi-Times web-site. It is not exactly clear in which countries the novelty will be available and whether its launch will be supported by widespread availability of Blu-ray or HD DVD movies in Europe.
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