Rumors of a Samsung BD-UP5000 combo player swirl again
by Darren Murph 
posted Apr 9th 2007 at 11:57AM
It's been quite some time since the gloves were thrown out in the HD DVD / Blu-ray war, and after much smack talk from both sides, we still aren't seeing a clear cut victor. The biggest winner thus far seems to be the almighty mediator, which of course, LG holds an exclusive claim to at the moment. Sure, Samsung has denied and rekindled rumors of a combo player in the past, but according to an article at Stor-Age, the BD-UP5000 might not be such a pipe dream after all. If allegations prove correct, a "Duo HD Player" could hit the market as soon as July 2007, and aside from playing nice with both formats, the player would be cosmetically similar to the BD-P1200, support both BD-Java and Advanced Navigation, handle HDMI 1.3 and the latest audio formats, and will sport DCDi processing. There's no word on pricing just yet, nor any way to tell if Sammy is really ramping up for a hybrid release or not, but we'd sure love a little summertime competition in the two-faced-player arena nonetheless.[Via HomeTheaterBlog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Big Sam @ Apr 9th 2007 1:41PM
I know it won't happen, but if they can do it for under $1000 it would be quite compelling.
signal2noise @ Apr 9th 2007 3:50PM
Combo players create a lot of problems. Here's the other side of the coin:
http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=12581
Fredster @ Apr 9th 2007 7:14PM
I acually think that this combo drive is something i would go for. I hope that Sammy will go ahead with this, as i'm excitingly waiting for the 2nd gen dual format palyers to arrive (hopefully) around 3Q.I was pro HD DVD but it seems that we won't be seeing any more studios supporting them so why not go for both? I'll def get all the movies i can i HD DVD and the rest in Blu-Ray.
talk to me in 5 years @ Apr 9th 2007 9:48PM
I would be in favor of a combo drive (especially for the PC).
I also read the link posted above. I do not agree that there are any long-term "problems" with hybrid technology or we need to worry about the "false sense of long-term security hybrid devices engender."
The simple fact is that HD and Blu-Ray are not long-term solutions for movie watching; though one or both may find a niche for computer storage. I doubt that tangible, individual, movie media will be around for many more years to come. HD-DVD and Blu Ray technology will not nearly have the lifespan of conventional DVDs. Downloadable content to a cable box, PC, Apple TV or whatever will be the format of choice in about 5-10 years for movie watching.
So, as the article says, "what happens if either HD DVD or BD eventually goes belly up?" My response would be: who cares? I'll be watching the HD files from my computer then anyway. For the most part, I'm doing that now with a little help from AnyDVD HD.