Dual Format Player Coming from Samsung

Samsung Electronics announced today that they will be releasing a dual format HD player in time for the holidays. The player, currently called the BD-UP5000, will support both format with full BD-Java compatibility for Blu-ray and full HDi compatibility for HD DVD. While this is not the first dual format player on the market, it is the first official one. The LG dual format player was released soon after CES this year, but was not technically compliant with HD DVD spec, as it did not support HDi. Some of you will recall that this is not the first time Samsung has announced a dual format player. Last year, Samsung had talked about releasing a dual format player, only to scrap the idea a few months later. No price or specific launch date has been given to the BD-UP5000 at this time, but with their current BD-P1200 Blu-ray player costing $800US, the new dual format player is expected to cost significantly more. Samsung released the first Blu-ray player on the market with their BD-P1000, and more recently their second generation BD-P1200. The BD-UP5000 will be their third HD player on the market.