Samsung to support both formats!

[teamerickson]

SAMSUNG Electronics to Release Duo Hd Player

Seoul, Korea – April 13, 2007 : Samsung Electronics Co., LTD., a leader in consumer electronics and digital media technologies, and the first company to introduce a Blu-ray disc player will introduce a dual format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player in time for the holidays.

Samsung’s Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. With the Duo HD consumers can enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage. The new Duo HD joins Samsung’s next generation DVD line-up which includes Samsung’s second generation Blu-ray player available at retail this month. Together, these two models offer the consumer a strong line of High-Definition players to match Samsung’s award winning, and best selling, line of HDTVs.

"We welcome Samsung's Duo HD player as another solution in the marketplace that will help reduce consumer confusion and buyer hesitancy towards HD media," said Ron Sanders, President of Warner Home Video. "This is an innovative product that can move us closer to mainstream consumer adoption of HD technologies."

“We are very pleased to announce the upcoming release of our Duo HD player. Consumers are hungry for more HD content but are currently confused about competing formats. Samsung’s Duo HD player will allow consumers access to every HD movie title available regardless of the authoring format. Samsung is committed to making life simpler through technology and will market next generation DVD products which will satisfy the consumer and market requirement. This is a big win for the consumer.

As a member of the DVD Forum and contributor to the DVD Industry, we recognize that both HD-DVD and BD formats have merits. As such, we have decided to market a dual format player. Samsung is flexible to market a stand-alone HD-DVD player whenever consumers demand it. Our main concern is not technology but consumer choice” said Dongsoo Jun, Executive Vice President of the Digital AV Division at Samsung Electronics.

About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2006 parent company sales of US$63.4 billion and net income of US$8.5 billion. Employing approximately 138,000 people in 124 offices in 56 countries, the company consists of five main business areas: Digital Media, Telecommunication Network, Semiconductor, LCD, and Digital Appliance. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones, and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

 

[teamerickson]

This is being discussed in another thread but I thought this news deserves its own thread.

 

[r.jones1116]

It's very interesting that they are considering a stand alone HD DVD player if consumer demand is there. Sorry BD fanbois but HD DVD ain't s goin' nowhere!!!!

 

[CochiseGuy]

This is being discussed in another thread but I thought this news deserves its own thread.

Yep, I buried it in the "Retailers to ditch HD DVD . . . . yada yada yada thread". You're right, it's big news that one of BDA forum founding members is going format neutral, and the news deserves its own thread. :up

Yep, HD DVD is in it for the long haul.

Sony: "Curses, foiled again!" :devil:

 

[vurbano]

Someone make sure Joesp hasnt shot himself.

 

[mike123abc]

I just hope they are going to solve some of the issues like:

1. Cost a resonable amount of money $1200 like the current one way too expensive. They need this at the $500 range

2. Have a quality picture. Remember how many problems the first Samsung unit had?

3. Get the full spec on both BD and HDDVD, not skimp on one format.

IF they meet at least the last 2 and are resonable on the price, I would probably buy one. I have HDDVD now and it would be nice to have BD too.

 

[tawhite]

Someone make sure Joesp hasnt shot himself.

No kidding! He'll be on here soon to spew forth the official Sony line.

 

[teamerickson]

No kidding! He'll be on here soon to spew forth the official Sony line.

Spew is right!

 

[JoeSp]

You Guys!!! I'm hurt!!! My gun has no bullets (it is actually a water pistol) and Sony refuses to send me any payolla (they made me pay for my PS3) !!! And now all the wife can say is I guess you want a new HDTV (and yes I do a big 1080p one). And you guys don't love me (like I need any more attention- I handle all the customer complaints for my company - and that includes from the manufactures). Well, I do have something to say on the subject (put on your flame resistant glasses now). :devil:

If you liked Samsung's BD product you will love their HD-DVD product!! Samsung took it on the chin last year ( and deservidly so) for putting out a defective player. Sony did not help with their lousy first BD discs (they are doing alot better now thank you) so Samsung ended up being the goat for those first three BD months. :river

It was not entirely their fault so I cannot fault them for looking to provide themselves another income flow. I just hope that they do this combo player right and price it right because as we all know the LG dual format player was a dud (did not support iHD) and priced out of most of our hands ($1100 -- for a LG - who are they kidding)! And while I have never been a fan of their DVD players - Samsung that is (they crushed both blacks and whites) their TVs are hot!!! So, maybe after their BD fiasco they will pay more attention and actually deliver a product actually worthy of the Samsung name (but don't bet your house on it).

 

[dnyce]

Dual format players only help Blu Ray. Maybe I missed something but doesn't Blu Ray have majority of the studio support thus will have the more "popular" exclusives.

Imagine that HD DVD's looked 100 times better than Blu Ray that means nothing when someone wants to buy Pirates, Spiderman or any of the other exclusive in HD. They'll only have one choice.

It will be looked at as a very expensive Blu Ray player that plays HD DVD's.

 

[CochiseGuy]

Dual format players only help Blu Ray. Maybe I missed something but doesn't Blu Ray have majority of the studio support thus will have the more "popular" exclusives.

You know, I've seen so many posts like this, and ones claiming Blu-ray's "overwhelming studio support", it's past time to debunk that myth. I know you don't like to be bothered with "online articles" with facts to support one's claims in posts, but JoeSp posted in the "Blu-Ray 7 to 3 over HD-DVD for 2007?" thread a very good link to Sony's "Executive Summary" report using Nielson's Videscan reports of Blu-ray/HD DVD sales through March 18. If you dig through all the pages & figures, there's some very interesting results.

Page 11 has the Released Title Shares". Through March 18, a total of 287 titles have been released in High Def. 190 (66.2%) of those can be played on a Blu-ray player. 161 (56.1%) of those can be played on an HD DVD player. Not exactly "overwhelming" studio support.

But, OK, you spoke about "popular exclusives". For me, "popular" means sales results. Page 9 has the sales figures Year-to-Date by studio & by format.

The #1 studio in High Def disk sales? Warner Brothers, with a 27.7% market share, releasing in both formats.

# 2 is Sony with a 21.8% Market Share, releasing in Blu-ray only.

#3 is Universal with a 11.1% share, releasing in HD DVD only.

#4 is Paramount (9.7%), releasing in both formats.

If you add up all the studios' market share of sales, 61% of all high def sales can be played on an HD DVD player. Yes, 81% can be played on a Blu-ray player. But I'd hardly call the "overwhelming studio support".
Even less "overwhelming" when you consider you can get an HD DVD player for $199 if you own an Xbox, or $299 if you want a standalone player. Wanna be able to play those 81%? Your least expensive option is a $600 game machine that can also play Blu-ray movies. Or, if you want a standalone player, the Sony and Philips Blu-ray players can be had for around $800.

Imagine that HD DVD's looked 100 times better than Blu Ray that means nothing when someone wants to buy Pirates, Spiderman or any of the other exclusive in HD. They'll only have one choice.

Only "one choice" is never a good deal for consumers. If we had only one choice for satellite or cable programming, I suppose we would all be really impressed at HD Lite.

Competition from HD DVD is making Blu-ray improve faster than it would on its own, and (hopefully) driving down Blu-ray player costs. Heck, when & if Blu-ray players get down to $299 AND there is still a lot of Blu-ray only movies out there, I might buy one. BUT -

It will be looked at as a very expensive Blu Ray player that plays HD DVD's.

Joe 6 Pack is not going to buy this expensive Samsung combo player. But if Joe sees & understands that both formats are going to stick around, he might start nibbling on those $299 HD DVD players. If he wants Pirate movies for the kids, HD DVD players are some of the best upconverting players, so he can save a few bucks & buy the standard DVD. The kids will probably never know the difference, and they'll have something they can play on the $59 DVD player in their room. Or buy "Happy Feet" on HD DVD, one of the best animated movies around. It's a combo, so the kids can play the DVD side in their room. Nope, no "X" or Spider men, but he likes comic book movies, he can buy Superman and Batman on HD DVD.

Finally, the longer both formats are around, the more likely format exclusive studios are going to start eyeing format-neutral Warner Brother's #1 sales slot, and start releasing in both formats. Then consumers will have even more of a choice. :up

 

[JoeSp]

The fallacy in your arguement CC is that exclusive studios are going to start eyeing format-nuetral sales slot of Warner and want some of that. However, you fail to take into consideration that the big lumber jack in the room is Disney. And Disney will not put their media on something that does not have regional coding and HD-DVD current does not. To add that would make every HD-DVD player on the market obsolete and the HD-DVD camp could not survive that. Not making HD-DVD regional was a grave mistake by the HD-DVD camp. They lost Disney on that and they are not going to get Disney back.

As for using a upconverting player maybe you should explain exactly what the diferance is between a upconverting player and a high definition player. Because once you do that this idea becomes a folley. You have a 480p picture that you upconvert to 1080. This adds nothing to the picture at all. And if your 480 dvd is a poor copy then your upconvert will be equally poor. HD is 1080x1920 and no 480 picture no matter how you upconvert or what equipment you use is going to come close to a true HD movie.

As for suggesting the upconversion route you are not a true HD fan. You could not be to suggest that J6P sell his HD investment short by buying dvd and upconverting when he can have the real thing in HD. No HD fan could even suggest that this is an option. If so why buy into HD-DVD or BD at all? If you are purchasing any DVD other then BD or HD-DVD right now then you do not fully support your chosen format. I for one buy nothing if it is not in BD. I currently own 30 BD movies and have 4 more coming. I have not purchased a dvd since July of 06. As far as I am concerned dvd is dead - at least for me. If any of my associates ask about HD movies I tell them that I am in the BD camp. I also suggest they go to their local store and look at which movies they like and buy that player. Any guess what they are coming out of the store with?

 

[BobMurdoch]

Disney wants region coding, but they NEED huge inflows of money.....

I'm not buying ANY BluRay discs, and I've cut my standard def DVD purchases way back (I only buy the pixar ones now). If there are more out there like me, and their numbers take a hit, they will chase the money and switch to supporting both.....

They did it with Divx and they'll do it again here if the market goes that way and shows that HD DVD isn't going anywhere. They missed out on the first three years of the DVD launch (and left all those dollars on the table), and I hope they realize the error of their ways this time. BluRay took the software lead when HD DVD took a powder for four months by releasing little compelling content. The next 4 months are filled with solid releases (Smokin Aces, The Matrix Collection, numerous catalog releases), so I expect the numbers to reverse.

Spiderman 2.1 MIGHT give BluRay a bump, but the reviews of the extra 8 minutes have been tepid (Entertainment Weekly gave it a don't bother). Casino Royale has been a big hit, but it's influence will wane as the weeks go forward...

Meanwhile cheaper HD DVD players give the format a boost while tepid PS3 sales (including a disastrous European launch) take away the big threat that the PS3 was SUPPOSED to be....

 

[mike123abc]

Disney wants region coding, but they NEED huge inflows of money.....

Well they can release a movie on a format with a few million players available (even if most of them are game consoles) with the region coding they want, or sacrifice the region coding and releasing for a format with less than a million players. They do not need the money that bad.

Right now it is not a very profitable business selling into the HD market in either format. It is a product showcase business where they are preparing for the future. It does not hurt to have your popular movies cleaned up and transferred to HD for future sales. You might even sell enough to pay for the transfer at this time. One day the format(s) may actually take off enough to be very profitable then studios will have a large library of converted films to sell.

There is no way releasing on HDDVD will impact the Disney bottom line. They are not going to give away their product (as they view it without region coding). Releasing on HDDVD at this time would be a negative on Disney's bottom line.