Samsung fans the HD DVD vs Blu-ray war, though it seems to be over
By Sean P. Aune
Even though the HD DVD vs Blu-ray war is seemingly over, it’s obvious there was no warning as Samsung sets to release a dual format player.
Named a CES 2008 Innovation Award Honoree, Samsung had enough success with its BD-UP5000 dual format HD player to continue the line. Set for release in the second half of 2008, consumers can keep their eyes open for the BD-UP5500.
Samsung’s second generation player will play both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, as well as the classic standard def DVDs. It will also feature HDMI 1.3 output and support Blu-ray 1.1 and the latest version of HD DVD. There is no word as to if it will support 1080P, but seeing as the 5000 model did, it’s a fairly safe assumption. As we said, release will be in the second half of the year, but no price has been announced yet.
With the announcements that Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema going Blu-ray only, dual format players such as these may be the way for HD DVD fans to make the slow switch to the other high definition format.
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Stumble It!
January 7th, 2008
The title of your article makes no sense.
January 7th, 2008
The title of your article makes no sense.
January 7th, 2008
This ‘war’ isn’t over yet. Toshiba (or someone else) could play an ace card by releasing a cheap dual format player. Consumers would buy it with confidence knowing it could play all formats. The big studios with their eyes always on profits would veer to the cheaper disc format, as it wouldn’t matter which disc was used, and at the moment this is HD DVD. Personally, I don’t think HD discs will ever surpass DVD and downloaded films seem to offer greater convenience, just like music does over CD.
January 8th, 2008
I disagree, the war is not over but about the comment above me the big studios are not all about the cheaper disc format as Blu-ray currently has a lot more of the major studios that HD-DVD does.
January 9th, 2008
Dual format players is the way to go. Also if Toshiba opens up the licensing so anyone can add hd-dvd as a standard “feature”, and priced at 99-129. Could be a great alternative to just a plain upscaling player. So instead of an upscaling Oppo unit at 149, an Oppo unit at 149, which also happens to have hd-dvd technology “built-in”, much like “HQ” technology was built into VHS. It can be a real enthusiast’s dream as there is no region coding, and you can still get movies overseas.