Register Hardware

Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/07/11/samsung_400euro_blu-ray/

Samsung to launch '€400' Blu-ray/HD DVD player next month

By Tony Smith
Published Wednesday 11th July 2007 10:42 GMT

Samsung will launch its promised dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc player (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/13/samsung_readies_dual-format_hd_player/) in Europe next month, the company has said, and industry insiders are already claiming the machine could be priced at just €400 ($548/£271).

Samsung apparently revealed its plan to launch the player, the BD-UP5000, at a recent preview event for the upcoming IFA consumer electronics show, which kicks off in Berlin at the end of August. Nothing was said about pricing - the €400 comes from Taiwanese moles cited (http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20070710PD216.html) by DigiTimes without addressing how Taiwanese sources might know what local pricing decisions the European wing of a South Korean company has made.

Samsung executives first hinted they were pondering a dual-format player back in the Autumn of 2005, but the company quickly acted to stress its total support for Blu-ray Disc. The rumour was revived last year after the first signs LG might be planning to produce such a machine (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/06/lg_blu-ray_hd-dvd_plans/) surfaced in March 2006. The following June, Samsung staff were once again being quoted as claiming the company was considering a dual-format player (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/06/21/samung_ponders_dual-format_hd_player/).

Samsung has become increasingly willing to throw its weight behind HD DVD as well as Blu-ray of late, most notably by announcing last month a latptop with an integrated HD DVD drive (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/02/sams_hd-dvd_laptop_launch/).

The BD-UP5000 is said to offer full support for the two optical disc formats' interactivity technologies, HDi and BD Java. That lifts the machine above the dual-format player announced by LG (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/07/lg_unveils_multi-blue/) in January: it will only handle Blu-ray interactivity - HD DVD playback is limited to the movies themselves.