Outrageous Claim by Samsung, desperate to sell Dual players

[Elandyll]

Hi!
sorry if this has already been posted, but this literally had my eyes out of their socket:
http://imdb.com/news/sb/2008-01-10/

HD DVD Still Kicking

Despite the move by Warner Bros. into the Blu-ray high-definition video camp, Samsung said Wednesday that it still plans to go ahead with the launch of a second generation dual-format Blu-ray/HD DVD player this year. In an interview with the Gizmodo website, DongSoo Jun, head of Samsung's digital AV unit, said that while he agrees with those who say that all the major Hollywood studios will eventually adopt Blu-ray exclusively, there will nevertheless remain a market for dual-format players because of the strong foothold Microsoft and Toshiba will continue to hold in the PC market for high-definition recorders. (Microsoft's Xbox 360 also plays HD DVD disks.) Jun said he expects HD DVD to remain the choice for personal hi-def videos and Blu-ray, for professional videos.

Granted the news agency that provides this garbage to Imdb has shown its bias in the past, but if Mr DongSoo Jun has indeed said that, that is so blatantly false that it makes obvious their necessity to sell the new gen Combo players already in the kinks...

If confirmed, someone needs to remind Samsung that

1) Blu Ray has been the format of choice in 2007 by consumers
2) Which format is Hitachi producing its personal HD camcorders? Ah, yes. Blu Ray.
3) How will HD DVD be the "format of choice" for personal Hi Def, when no studio will make movies for it pretty soon?
4) I don't know of too many personal solutions to Burn HD, except Blu Ray.
Might be wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure there's more offer on PC players/burners on Blu Ray than HD DVD.
5) HD DVD is dead Jun. It's ok, let it go.
You'll still sell your $799 combo players to some disgruntled HD DVD owners who will want to play the new releases in BD.

[TauRus]

What would you expect from that guy: they invested serious money in R&D, marketing and manufacturing. They still want to sell the dual players.

[Luis_A51]

Ive heard a lot of speculation that dual-format players would last for a long time, and become the norm.

But it makes no sense. The only argument is that HDDVD made a significant "foothold".

But the truth is this: 1) If all movies are available on 1 format (this should be the case by late 2008 for bluray) then why do you need dual format? Not only will current bluray owners not need one, but new bluray owners wont either. The added cost of the player doesnt provide a single benefit.

2) bluray has shown far more potential as the burner/recorder format of choice. If the majority of people are using BD-R then who cares about hddvd media?

3) The so-called "large foothold" isnt actually large at all. How good did DVD/VHS players sell? And VHS definitely had a large foot hold. No, dual format players will exist for a few months more as HDDVD desperately try to justify their investment in HDDVD. But dual format definitely will never be common.

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

Might be wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure there's more offer on PC players/burners on Blu Ray than HD DVD.

You are not wrong. The probability of Blu-Ray winning on the PC front has always been 100% and remains that way. 15gig per layer vs. 25gig per layer made that one a no brainer a LONG time ago. Blu-Ray burners have been available for years in Japan and so has blank media. We are now moving towards the mass market volume pricing era of Blu-Ray on PC's (and Mac's).

HD DUD never even had a chance in that market. I feel bad for the consummer being forced to pay more money for a useless drive when purchasing a Toshiba notebook. HD DUD will not become DVD+R... it will simply go away completely and dual format PC drives will cease to exist next year (it is simply easier and more cost effective to mass produce Blu-Ray only drives and therefore reach lower prices MUCH faster).

[chasswen]

samcrap needs to work on supporting there existing blu-ray players. still no damn firmware updates for all there current players.
GRRRRRR

[DavePS3]

LG's still coming out with theirs too but both companies are going to see some dramatically low sales numbers on these. When Universal and Paramount make the switch, those combo players will vanish real quick if not before.

[plee]

Towing the company line, probably in a few months it will be discontinued because "we are consolidating our product lines..." type corp. statement.

[Dragonraine]

Well, i can see HD DVD people who want to move over to BD picking up dual format players. That way you can use one player to play all of your movies. Not really a bad idea if you already have red.

[PLASMA-1080P-FULLHD]

SAMSUNG, LG and HP never were TRU-BLU to begin with. They kinda show their true color recently. SAMSUNG is the official TV of the CRAP BOX 360 tell u something already

[CptGreedle]

the only reason I can see them releasing a dual platform player is to cater to the HD DVD fans that want something that will play both as they start to dip into Blu-ray.

[LynxFX]

Of course they want to sell dual format players. Why sell the consumer a single format player at full price, when you can sell them a dual format player at twice the price.

[dogger114]

I can see this player being the choice of HD-DVD supporters comming over to Blu-ray. It would give them the option to keep thier current movies and being able to use one player for all thier needs. I'm sure that some Blu-ray supporters may pick this up if the HD-DVDs hit the bargin bin. Personally, I would not but I sure some people would especially if the price of the player was cheap enough.

[bilbravo]

Originally Posted by dogger114

I can see this player being the choice of HD-DVD supporters comming over to Blu-ray. It would give them the option to keep thier current movies and being able to use one player for all thier needs. I'm sure that some Blu-ray supporters may pick this up if the HD-DVDs hit the bargin bin. Personally, I would not but I sure some people would especially if the price of the player was cheap enough.

This is exactly why Samsung should release their players, and as the technology required to make dual players gets cheaper, this may continue. Regardless of whether HD-DVDs are still made, a large number were purchased by some people who may want to continue to watch them. This makes perfect sense as the size of the disc, etc are exactly the same.

I think the HD-DVD fans will swarm to Samsung and buy these up, and rightfully so. Rebuying the same movies (which 90% of exclusive HD-DVD titles will end up just being ported to Blu-ray, so no difference in quality) doesn't make sense.

[Green Iguana]

They will sell to people like me who do not plan on selling off their HD-DVD collections, and contrary to popular belief, the disks will not explode on May 1st.

While my XA2 is working fine, it may not be long before the stand alone HD-DVD player is a thing of the past. If so, there will be people who have switched to BR that will want to watch the HD-DVD titles they still own.

Considering the newest model they announced will have a retail price of $599, I think they will be able to sell quite a few; I would consider buying one as a back up to my current HD-DVD player.

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by Dragonraine

Well, i can see HD DVD people who want to move over to BD picking up dual format players. That way you can use one player to play all of your movies. Not really a bad idea if you already have red.

Actually, it IS (a bad idea). The faster we can erase HD DUD from existance and all memory of it having ever existed the faster both industries can move on. Besides the living rooms of DUD fanboys for stuff purchased in 2007... in 2008 there are only 3 places where HD DUD belongs:

1) A landfill
2) eBay
3) A museum

[Fozziwig]

Jun said he expects HD DVD to remain the choice for personal hi-def videos and Blu-ray, for professional videos.

So, what's a 'personal hi-def video' and what's a 'professional' video? Does he mean personal is home-made? If so, how many HD DVD camcorders are in the marketplace?

I suppose they realise that nobody will now be buying their dual format players so Samsung will say any old rubbish to try to reignite the market.

However, Just as with HD DVD, dual format is over. Samsung & LG's investment is wasted. They need to deal with that but real life will deal with it for them anyway.

[Fozziwig]

Originally Posted by dogger114

I can see this player being the choice of HD-DVD supporters comming over to Blu-ray. It would give them the option to keep thier current movies and being able to use one player for all thier needs. I'm sure that some Blu-ray supporters may pick this up if the HD-DVDs hit the bargin bin. Personally, I would not but I sure some people would especially if the price of the player was cheap enough.

Problem is that the dual format machines are just too expensive.

HD DVD owners already have some kind of HD DVD player. To get into Blu-ray all they need is a Blu-ray player.

If they want a backup HD DVD player I'm pretty sure that the die-hard HD DVD fans will be much more likely to buy up a few cheap Toshiba machines.

[Switched2BD]

Originally Posted by unreal1080p

Actually, it IS (a bad idea). The faster we can erase HD DUD from existance and all memory of it having ever existed the faster both industries can move on. Besides the living rooms of DUD fanboys for stuff purchased in 2007... in 2008 there are only 3 places where HD DUD belongs:

1) A landfill
2) eBay
3) A museum

Speaking of E-bay I noticed there are nearly 5,000 HD DVD's for sale and only 150 BD's

[PLASMA-1080P-FULLHD]

Originally Posted by unreal1080p

Actually, it IS (a bad idea). The faster we can erase HD DUD from existance and all memory of it having ever existed the faster both industries can move on. Besides the living rooms of DUD fanboys for stuff purchased in 2007... in 2008 there are only 3 places where HD DUD belongs:

1) A landfill
2) eBay
3) A museum

Exactly, The less people see HD-DEAD at store the better so they will "FORGET" sooner. It will not cause any more confusing as already has. Sounds bit cruel but they should just forget about smaller % of HD-DEAD users out there. Its their problem they made the mistakes and they should go with the market goes. if they still sit out and boycott blu-ray, I am sorry its their fault to missing out the whole HDM has to offer here. let their HDTV to look like SDTV in the years to come, I assume they already got one here. I am tired of see those TOSHIBA HD-DEAD display at BEST BUY. They should pull all those off by now.

[GoBlu08]

Who would waste the money. In like 2 weeks I bet both universal and paramount are blu and then HD DUD will be finished