James Delahunty
4 Apr 2006 18:28
South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced that the launch of its first Blu-ray Disc player will be delayed until June 25th, mainly to complete testing. The original date had been set for May 23rd. The BD-P1000 will cost a whopping $999. About fourteen titles are expected to be available from Sony for the launch, including Kung Fu Hustle, Stealth and Species. Prices are expected to range from $29 - $39.
Samsung expects to add support for the Memory Stick Pro Duo flash card and Mini-SD format in the extra month it has to finalize the player. The BD-P1000 will be able to upconvert standard DVD to 1080p on TVs or monitors that support High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). Toshiba Corp. released the first HD DVD player in Japan last week, ensuring that HD DVD was the first next generation format off the starting line.
Two HD DVD players will be available in the United States this month priced at $499 and $799. The format was delayed by a few weeks to ensure that some movies will actually be available when the players are launched. Titles expected to be available include Million Dollar Baby, The Phantom of the Opera and The Last Samurai, and will cost around $28.99.
Source:
Ars Technica