James Delahunty
9 Apr 2007 18:29
The rumors about a possible Samsung HD DVD / Blu-ray hybrid player have been around for a long time and have been squashed by the company itself, then revived in more hints and clues. LG did introduce a hybrid player at CES in January, although it's lesser compatibility with HD DVD's HDi makes its high price tag much less attractive.
According to a Stor-Age.com article, Samsung plans to introduce their BD-UP5000 "Duo HD Player" in July this year, to rival the player of LG. A rough translation of the article reveals that the player supports Blu-ray and HD DVD playback and fully supports their interactive content (BD-Java and HDi).
It also features HDMI 1.3, 1080/24p output for Blu-ray titles and DVD-Video upscaling via DCDi processing. The next question would obviously be about the player's price tag, which unfortunately was not mentioned. However, a rough translation says that, "Samsung is looking at a 10 percent price differential over the single-format Blu-ray players", which would probably set the price between $799-$999.
If true, this indeed will be a real challenge for LG's hybrid player.
Sources:
Home Theater Blog
Stor-Age.com