Samsung Ships the First Blu-Ray Player

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1977327,00.asp

Samsung Ships the First Blu-Ray Player
06.15.06
By Dan Costa

The format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has finally reached consumers,
now that Samsung is shipping the BD-P1000 Blu-Ray player to retailers.
The BD-P1000 ($999.99 list), will go on sale June 25th, making it the
first Blu-Ray player to hit the market. Until now, the only
high-definition video player shoppers could buy has been the Toshiba
HD-A1, which has been in short supply.

The BD-P1000 is twice the price of the HD-A1, but Jim Sanduski, senior
vice president of marketing for Samsung's Audio and Video Products Group,
says that won't hurt sales. "Dealer demand is really strong," Sanduski
says. "Yes, we are double the price of HD-DVD, but we are confident
people will buy as many as we can build."

The Samsung BD-P1000 supports full 1080p playback, something the first
generation of HD-DVD players do not. The BD-P1000 also up-converts
conventional DVDs to 1080p to improve video quality. The player comes
with HDMI, Component, S-video, and composite outputs. Samsung has also
included a 10-in-2 multi-memory-card interface for viewing digital images
directly from flash cards.

There will be just 10 Blu-Ray titles available when the BD-P100 ships,
including 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying
Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz, Resident Evil Apocalypse, and
xXx. Sanduski says by the end of year the number of titles will swell to
as many as 200.

This is one area where Blu-Ray could have a potential advantage over
HD-DVD. "Eighty-four percent of all the movies released last year were
made by studios that have announced support for Blu-Ray," according to
Sanduski. "That is a huge strike against HD-DVD." To be fair, some
studios plan to release movies on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

Samsung's BD-P1000 release comes as other Blu-Ray manufactures have
pushed back their launch dates. Both Sony and Pioneer initially planned
to offer Blu-Ray players in June, but have pushed their U.S. launch dates
to August and September, respectively.

Movies on Blu-Ray discs will sell for about $30, according to Sanduski.
He compares that to the healthy premium people paid over VHS when DVDs
first came out. HD-DVD titles currently sell for about $20.

Sanduski says that the Blu-Ray prices will come down quickly once other
manufacturers bring their players to market. "There are nine
manufacturers building Blu-Ray devices," according to Sanduski. "There is
only one building HD-DVD drives: Toshiba."

The BD-P1000 will be sold at more than 200 retail locations, including
Best Buy, Tweeter, and Circuit City.
--
"I have not yet begun to defile myself."

Now playing: "Uriah Heep - Why ('Look At Yourself' out-take)"

Tarkus

Tarkus wrote:
> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1977327,00.asp
>
> Samsung Ships the First Blu-Ray Player
> 06.15.06
> By Dan Costa
>
> The format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has finally reached consumers,
> now that Samsung is shipping the BD-P1000 Blu-Ray player to retailers.
> The BD-P1000 ($999.99 list), will go on sale June 25th, making it the
> first Blu-Ray player to hit the market. Until now, the only
> high-definition video player shoppers could buy has been the Toshiba
> HD-A1, which has been in short supply.
>
> The BD-P1000 is twice the price of the HD-A1, but Jim Sanduski, senior
> vice president of marketing for Samsung's Audio and Video Products Group,
> says that won't hurt sales. "Dealer demand is really strong," Sanduski
> says. "Yes, we are double the price of HD-DVD, but we are confident
> people will buy as many as we can build."
>
> The Samsung BD-P1000 supports full 1080p playback, something the first
> generation of HD-DVD players do not. The BD-P1000 also up-converts
> conventional DVDs to 1080p to improve video quality. The player comes
> with HDMI, Component, S-video, and composite outputs. Samsung has also
> included a 10-in-2 multi-memory-card interface for viewing digital images
> directly from flash cards.
>
> There will be just 10 Blu-Ray titles available when the BD-P100 ships,
> including 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying
> Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz, Resident Evil Apocalypse, and
> xXx. Sanduski says by the end of year the number of titles will swell to
> as many as 200.
>
> This is one area where Blu-Ray could have a potential advantage over
> HD-DVD. "Eighty-four percent of all the movies released last year were
> made by studios that have announced support for Blu-Ray," according to
> Sanduski. "That is a huge strike against HD-DVD." To be fair, some
> studios plan to release movies on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.
>
> Samsung's BD-P1000 release comes as other Blu-Ray manufactures have
> pushed back their launch dates. Both Sony and Pioneer initially planned
> to offer Blu-Ray players in June, but have pushed their U.S. launch dates
> to August and September, respectively.
>
> Movies on Blu-Ray discs will sell for about $30, according to Sanduski.
> He compares that to the healthy premium people paid over VHS when DVDs
> first came out. HD-DVD titles currently sell for about $20.
>
> Sanduski says that the Blu-Ray prices will come down quickly once other
> manufacturers bring their players to market. "There are nine
> manufacturers building Blu-Ray devices," according to Sanduski. "There is
> only one building HD-DVD drives: Toshiba."
>
> The BD-P1000 will be sold at more than 200 retail locations, including
> Best Buy, Tweeter, and Circuit City.
> --
> "I have not yet begun to defile myself."
>
> Now playing: "Uriah Heep - Why ('Look At Yourself' out-take)"

Went to my local Wal-Mart last night and as I always do I checked their
inventory of HD-DVD players and discs. For the last 20 days they've
had 2 boxed players (none displayed) and the first spate of titles,
including one copy of Serenity (the only one I was really interested
in). At first I thought someone had bought one as their was only one
boxed player left and Serenity was gone. No such luck, found the
player hooked up to a 42 inch plasma on an end cap display, and what do
you know, the copy of Serenity was there too. Did give me a chance to
try it out though, and I wasn't really that impressed. I'm sure it
would have looked better on my set at home, which is not only a CRT,
but properly calibrated to boot.

Just reinforced my theory that Blu Ray will eventually win this war,
and the improvement is not worth paying the big $$$ until prices come
down. Looking forward to the $100 Apex Blu Ray player that Wal-Mart
will inevitably sell.

-beaumon

lorincantrell@yahoo.com

On 16 Jun 2006 03:58:24 -0700, Gave us:

>
>Tarkus wrote:
>> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1977327,00.asp
>>
>> Samsung Ships the First Blu-Ray Player
>> 06.15.06
>> By Dan Costa
>>
>> The format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has finally reached consumers,
>> now that Samsung is shipping the BD-P1000 Blu-Ray player to retailers.
>> The BD-P1000 ($999.99 list), will go on sale June 25th, making it the
>> first Blu-Ray player to hit the market. Until now, the only
>> high-definition video player shoppers could buy has been the Toshiba
>> HD-A1, which has been in short supply.
>>
>> The BD-P1000 is twice the price of the HD-A1, but Jim Sanduski, senior
>> vice president of marketing for Samsung's Audio and Video Products Group,
>> says that won't hurt sales. "Dealer demand is really strong," Sanduski
>> says. "Yes, we are double the price of HD-DVD, but we are confident
>> people will buy as many as we can build."
>>
>> The Samsung BD-P1000 supports full 1080p playback, something the first
>> generation of HD-DVD players do not. The BD-P1000 also up-converts
>> conventional DVDs to 1080p to improve video quality. The player comes
>> with HDMI, Component, S-video, and composite outputs. Samsung has also
>> included a 10-in-2 multi-memory-card interface for viewing digital images
>> directly from flash cards.
>>
>> There will be just 10 Blu-Ray titles available when the BD-P100 ships,
>> including 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying
>> Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz, Resident Evil Apocalypse, and
>> xXx. Sanduski says by the end of year the number of titles will swell to
>> as many as 200.
>>
>> This is one area where Blu-Ray could have a potential advantage over
>> HD-DVD. "Eighty-four percent of all the movies released last year were
>> made by studios that have announced support for Blu-Ray," according to
>> Sanduski. "That is a huge strike against HD-DVD." To be fair, some
>> studios plan to release movies on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.
>>
>> Samsung's BD-P1000 release comes as other Blu-Ray manufactures have
>> pushed back their launch dates. Both Sony and Pioneer initially planned
>> to offer Blu-Ray players in June, but have pushed their U.S. launch dates
>> to August and September, respectively.
>>
>> Movies on Blu-Ray discs will sell for about $30, according to Sanduski.
>> He compares that to the healthy premium people paid over VHS when DVDs
>> first came out. HD-DVD titles currently sell for about $20.
>>
>> Sanduski says that the Blu-Ray prices will come down quickly once other
>> manufacturers bring their players to market. "There are nine
>> manufacturers building Blu-Ray devices," according to Sanduski. "There is
>> only one building HD-DVD drives: Toshiba."
>>
>> The BD-P1000 will be sold at more than 200 retail locations, including
>> Best Buy, Tweeter, and Circuit City.
>> --
>> "I have not yet begun to defile myself."
>>
>> Now playing: "Uriah Heep - Why ('Look At Yourself' out-take)"
>
>Went to my local Wal-Mart last night and as I always do I checked their
>inventory of HD-DVD players and discs. For the last 20 days they've
>had 2 boxed players (none displayed) and the first spate of titles,
>including one copy of Serenity (the only one I was really interested
>in). At first I thought someone had bought one as their was only one
>boxed player left and Serenity was gone. No such luck, found the
>player hooked up to a 42 inch plasma

Plasma? Barf! You were probably standing right in front of it, and
it was likely fed via component feeds instead of the digital HDMI
interface. Double barf!

> on an end cap display, and what do
>you know, the copy of Serenity was there too. Did give me a chance to
>try it out though, and I wasn't really that impressed. I'm sure it
>would have looked better on my set at home, which is not only a CRT,
>but properly calibrated to boot.

You need to compare a regular DVD out and an HD of the same scene.

The difference on Full Metal Jacket is quite astounding. The DVD is
****, and the HD DVD is great despite the lower res mastering, and
poor print availability (and it is in the correct OAR).

With Blazing Saddles, there is no comparison. The HD DVD looks like
fine grained film right in your face! The old one looks like el
cheapo disc house did it.

>Just reinforced my theory that Blu Ray will eventually win this war,

Theory? BluRay isn't any higher resolution, and the discs as well
as the player cost MORE!

Any monkey could determine which one is the better value. Sony is
doing the same thing they did with beta to themselves. They are
shooting themselves in the head, much less the foot.

>and the improvement is not worth paying the big $$$ until prices come
>down.

You obviously didn't see the difference.

> Looking forward to the $100 Apex Blu Ray player that Wal-Mart
>will inevitably sell.

Oh yeah... the one with the **** audio processing.

The whole reason these HIGH end devices are coming out are to cater
to those of us that can afford the HIGH end gear, which would include
a player that has some nice audio DSPs in it that can pump DTS or even
THX feeds to my not so ****ing cheap Elite Series receiver.

Roy L. Fuchs

> >Tarkus wrote:
> >> Samsung Ships the First Blu-Ray Player
> >> 06.15.06
> >> By Dan Costa
> >>
> >> The format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has finally reached
consumers...

Oh, yeah... what they didn't announce is that Samsung also have a combo
hd-dvd and bluray player in development for release early next year. Talk
about loyal support for bluray. The thing that I cannot get through to
people is that bluray is not that different from hd-dvd, yet is more
expensive. The results are the same, and hd-dvd can be easily upgraded to
1080p should the need arise. Not likely here in blighty. Where did all the
dvd enthusiasts go that were around in 1997/98, at least they were sensible
and knew what they were buying.

wandrinandz

"wandrinandz" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Oh, yeah... what they didn't announce is that Samsung also have a
> combo
> hd-dvd and bluray player in development for release early next year.

Actually, Samsung dropped their plans for a combi player, citing
contractual and legal complications. Currently, LG is the only company
still pursuing plans for a combi player.

> The thing that I cannot get through to
> people is that bluray is not that different from hd-dvd, yet is more
> expensive.

This part I agree with.

Joshua Zyber

Joshua Zyber wrote:
> > The thing that I cannot get through to
> > people is that bluray is not that different from hd-dvd, yet is more
> > expensive.
>
> This part I agree with.

Uh, yeah...sure.....

Blu-ray has the ability to run applications while HD-DVD is a plain
jane (therefore Blu-ray has much better interactive capabilities), it
will have significantly more storage than HD-DVD (TDK is testing a 200
GB disc and has run a 100 GB disc), and it is backed by a lot more
studios (therefore, much more content available) and
manufacturers....uh, yeah, you buy that dodo HD-DVD now ya hear?

asj

On 17 Jun 2006 13:28:59 -0700, "asj" <> Gave us:

>Blu-ray has the ability to run applications while HD-DVD is a plain
>jane (therefore Blu-ray has much better interactive capabilities),

My player gets online extras from the LAM connection, when attached.

If a disc has interactive features, it can access them.

This includes standard DVDs.

Roy L. Fuchs

"asj" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Blu-ray has the ability to run applications

Who gives a flying crap? People who want to play computer games will do
so on their computer, not their movie player.

> it
> will have significantly more storage than HD-DVD (TDK is testing a 200
> GB disc and has run a 100 GB disc),

They can't even get 50 GB discs to work right. This argument is a red
herring anyway. Even if these theoretical 200 GB discs could be made to
work in a lab, the players themselves are limited to only dual-layer 50
GB playback.

> and it is backed by a lot more
> studios (therefore, much more content available) and
> manufacturers....

Maybe true today. Let's check back in a year, shall we?

Joshua Zyber

Joshua Zyber wrote:
> Maybe true today. Let's check back in a year, shall we?

The way things are going for HDDVD, they may not have a year

asj

On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 21:44:57 -0400, Joshua Zyber wrote:

> "asj" <> wrote:
>
> They can't even get 50 GB discs to work right. This argument is a red
> herring anyway. Even if these theoretical 200 GB discs could be made to
> work in a lab, the players themselves are limited to only dual-layer 50
> GB playback.
>
>> and it is backed by a lot more
>> studios (therefore, much more content available) and
>> manufacturers....
>
> Maybe true today. Let's check back in a year, shall we?

I'm sorry, but that statement invalidates a lot of your own arguments.
Problems producing dual-layer Blu-Ray discs? Check back in a year. The
price of Blu-Ray players? Check back in a year. The number of titles
available? Check back in a year.

Basically, any problem you have with Blu-Ray *now* is invalid because you
don't know what the situation will be like a year from now.

-Jay

Jay G.