Count Samsung among the major manufacturers designing a player that will accept both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Samsung has joined LG in committing to a dual-format player that will be shipped to the U.S. Samsung has not announced a price for the new player, however, which will be called the BD-UP5000 and will be sold before the Christmas 2007 holiday season.
“We are very pleased to announce the upcoming release of our Duo HD player,” said Dongsoo Jun, executive vice president of the Digital AV Division at Samsung Electronics, in a statement.
“Consumers are hungry for more HD content but are currently confused about competing formats,” Jun added. “Samsungs Duo HD player will allow consumers access to every HD movie title available regardless of the authoring format. Samsung is committed to making life simpler through technology and will market next generation DVD products which will satisfy the consumer and market requirement. This is a big win for the consumer.
Samsungs Duo HD player will fully support both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java, Samsung said. The companys second-generation Blu-ray player will be released this month to U.S. retailers.
Although Samsung did not announce a price for the BD-UP5000, the player will likely be pricey; LGs SuperBlu BH100 sells for just over $1,000, on up to about $1,200.