Samsung’s First Blu-ray/HD DVD Player Launches December 03, 2007

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We’ve been hearing about players that will handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD movie formats for some time now but I’m happy to report that Samsung’s first effort will launch next month in the US for $800 (c. £400). It's a few months later than originally expected but it will still probably sell out quickly.

The BD-UP5000 is now listed on Amazon’s US site for delivery on January 15 but there is also a listing for the player here on Amazon's UK site, to pre-order for £485 – although no delivery date is given.

LG was first out of the blocks earlier in the year with its phenomenally expensive LG BH100, which failed to fully support all of the HD DVD interactive features. Its new and improved dual-format player, the BH 200, is expected to hit the US in the next month or so for around £400.

The Samsung BD-UP500 supports the interactive technologies of both formats, namely HD DVD’s HDi and Blu-ray’s BD Java, so all those funky extras on movies should play fine. The other key features include:

Blu-ray and HD DVD playback at content native HD resolution of 1080p/1080i/720p
HQV video upconversion processing (720p/1080i/1080p)
1080p 24fps playback on Blu-ray and HD DVD
Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD Master Audio support
HDMI version 1.3, Component Video, S-Video and Composite video outputs

With any luck UK shoppers will be able to stop worrying about which format will win in a few months time – as long as they don’t mind spending the guts of £500.-Martin Lynch

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