Samsung Narrows Blu-ray Line

by Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 10/25/2007

Ridgefield Park, N.J. – Samsung confirmed it has dropped a planned mid-tier Blu-ray Disc player from its forthcoming next-generation line, simplifying its assortment to the BD-P1400 and BD-UP5000 players.

“Samsung assessed its product lineup and after discussions with our channel partners, decided to focus on the BD-P1400 ($499 suggested retail) and the BD-UP5000 ($999) to make its next-generation offerings more efficient,” according to a Samsung statement. “As a result, the BD-P2400 was removed from the 2007 holiday lineup.”

The BD-UP5000 Duo HD player is the company’s first dual-format high-definition disc player. It will play both Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs, in addition to standard DVDs and audio CDs.

Samsung said the Duo HD player is now scheduled to ship from Samsung factories at the end of October and will be available to consumers at retail by mid to late December.

Samsung said the Duo HD player will be BD Profile 1.1 ready, meaning it will include the necessary hardware to play BD Profile 1.1 discs.

A firmware update will be available at the end of January 2008 to allow playback of BD Profile 1.1 discs.

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has mandated all hardware launched after Oct. 31 must support BD Profile 1.1 discs including BD-Java (BD-J)-enabled picture-in-picture video playback and 256MBs of persistent memory. Players with Internet connections, which the Duo will have, are to include 1GB of persistent memory.

“Profile 1.1 discs are currently not available and compatibility must be fully tested before we can assure complete compliance to BD Profile 1.1 requirements,” Samsung said.

The BD-P1400 is currently available.