Samsung: Dual-Format Player Shipping Now

[Iron Man]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Shipping/1240

Retail price has dropped to $799

What effect do you think it will have on the format war?

[The Guardian]

That's the same price as the LG that's already out isn't it?

My guess is, not much effect.

[yspkrk]

I think it's too expensive to give much effect on the format war.
Btw, I expect samsung will soon release profile 1.1 version of BD player; UP5000 is 1.1 player.

[ESUNintel]

I work retail, and have had many customers ask for the Samsung player or the LG Super Blu; however, the price scares them away. Many rather wait a bit, or at our store we do a great job at showing them how Blu is better than HD-DVD, so many end up buying a stand alone Blu player or PS3.

I don't think this player will have much of na effect on the format war.

[tron3]

Let's not look at this through blu-colored glasses. Sure, the price is scary. I see minimal adoption being a neutral unit. But if BD takes over in 2008 it doesn't become obsolete. It becomes a crossover technology for red to come to blu.

I am more interested in seeing the reviews on this dual player. That says volumes about the success or decline of a product.

[Spankey]

I will NOT pay anything more than $98 for anything that plays HD-DVD. That is the market price they set. That is the market price I will pay. Oh...and 12 HD-DVD's would need to be included...

[yspkrk]

Originally Posted by tron3

It becomes a crossover technology for red to come to blu.

Good point! I like the word "crossover" as I like crossover music.

[Zaphod]

You paying $799 for something that you will not use part of after next year...buy a DMP-BD30K instead.

These dual format players are not needed and I would hope people would stop buying them so the market disappears for them and thus does the player.

[WickyWoo]

For $800 they can buy an A3 and BD-30 and still have money left over

Waste of money

Unfortunately Samsung insists on making money on these things, weirdos

[mystiksuicide]

Originally Posted by Spankey

I will NOT pay anything more than $98 for anything that plays HD-DVD. That is the market price they set. That is the market price I will pay. Oh...and 12 HD-DVD's would need to be included...

That's $97 dollars more than I would pay for a dud machine.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I just don't see the point when you can go out and easily get both a Blu-Ray and HD-DVD player for around $600 total, or even less.

While it is ideal to have one machine playing all of the movies that someone owns, I personally don't think it's worth an extra $200+ just to make it happen. I can just put the players side by side or one on top of the other.

So I have to move over a few inches and place a particular disc in a different tray than another to watch.... so what?

Unless someone just doesn't have enough HDMI ports to support the amount of devices they have (which even then, you could get an HDMI splitter for far less than $200), it just doesn't make much sense to me.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

For $800 they can buy an A3 and BD-30 and still have money left over

Waste of money

Unfortunately Samsung insists on making money on these things, weirdos

Very true. But, this is supposedly a Profile 1.1 capable player. And it is capable of 1080p/24 output for both formats. How much would it be for that combo?

Frankly, I'm rather p!ssed at Samsung for making it so damn enticing. Not that I'd buy it, but some people might if they were eager to get in "riskless".

Gary

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

What effect do you think it will have on the format war?

I can see three possible purchasers:

(1) HD DVD owners that want some Blu-ray titles - Positive for Blu-ray

(2) Blu-ray owners that want some HD DVD titles - Negative for Blu-ray

(3) Fence sitters that have been waiting for a riskless entry - A tie to positive for Blu-ray.

To explain (3), I figure that probably the same sort of splits we see overall will apply to (3) purchasers as well, and that merely boosts the unit sales at those 2x-3x levels, which is actually positive.

[hc666]

Seems like a bit of a deal, being 1.1 and everything. Would allow ppl to rent either format and sit back to see who wins in the end.

If this goes on sales after xmas, I think it could be a hot seller for fence sitters.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Very true. But, this is supposedly a Profile 1.1 capable player. And it is capable of 1080p/24 output for both formats. How much would it be for that combo?

Frankly, PS3 would be a much better choice, even with the 40gb model. It is updatable and upgradable. Much more so than older, out of newer spec players.

Frankly, I'm rather p!ssed at Samsung for making it so damn enticing. Not that I'd buy it, but some people might if they were eager to get in "riskless".

Gary

Given my experience with Samsung lately, I would avoid anything they make like a plague.

I first got my HDTV back in January of this year, and bought a Samsung Upscaling DVD player/recorder. The thing crapped out on me by mid-late summer.

And I have the Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-Ray player, which I received for free as an award, and while it technically works, they are lowsy at upgrading the firmware for newer discs. Even with this dual format player being of the 1.1 spec, more changes are still coming. So, I wouldn't hold my breath on the new Samsung machine being any better in that regard.

If anything, I'd be even more leary of a machine trying to combine two otherwise incompatible formats into a single unit, esspecially when it's made by a company that (IMO) doesn't seem to do so well with the players in an indiviudal format.

PS3 and a separate HD-DVD player would be the way to go.

[dakota81]

Originally Posted by Spankey

I will NOT pay anything more than $98 for anything that plays HD-DVD. That is the market price they set. That is the market price I will pay. Oh...and 12 HD-DVD's would need to be included...

It's so true. On another forum that's mainly computer hardware, I keep the format war thread in check. It's unbelievable how much they are banking their hopes of an HD DVD revival on the Venturer dropping to $99 before January. To repeat, they expect a product to drop it's regular price 50% within 1 month of release. I try to explain that's not how business works, but they don't listen. It's not even a format war argument.

I check out Best Buy and it's a $100 difference between the cheapest Blu-ray (PS3/S300/Sharp) & HD DVD players (HD-A3). Check out Amazon, the same $100 difference (HD-A3 vs. BD-P1400). Of course they correct me over there, it's not a $100 difference - I must state it correctly as a 43% difference.

[milou6]

Forgotten in the "dual player" discussion is the fact that this player will decode DTS Master Audio internally and even output it via 7.1 analog!

[DaViD Boulet]

high-cost (above $600) dual-format players only have relevence to high-end buyers who will pay more. Meridian or Denon could get away with it.

commodity-level universal players won't affect this war one bit until they costs roughly the same price as *affordable* single-format players.

[spam.curitiba]

with the rep of how bad the blu samsung players have gotten I don't know how good this would be plus wicky has a point.

[blu2]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Very true. But, this is supposedly a Profile 1.1 capable player.

It also has ethernet so could/should be BD-Live capable at some point.

Why the likes of the latest Panasonic are not more future-proofed is strange.