Bye Bye Toshiba: Samsung Ships the First Blu-Ray Player

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

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.

asj

Blu-ray uses Java and supports Linux.

I have been canvassing HD-DVD and have seen unsold players and movie
titles here in NJ. Since Toshiba is widely-held to be subsidizing the
cost of HDDVD, you gotta wonder how long a company like Toshiba (which
is much smaller than the manufacturers who are shipping Blu-ray like
Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, etc) can last


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

asj

asj wrote:
> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1977327,00.asp
>
> 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)
>
$1000 versus $500. You really think Toshiba will tank? You don't know
much
about consumers.

rander3127@gmail.com

wrote:
> asj wrote:
>> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1977327,00.asp
>>
>> 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)
>>
> $1000 versus $500. You really think Toshiba will tank? You don't
> know much
> about consumers.
Either price is way too much for me. I will wait until I can get one
for less than $300.

Mark Jones

On 6/16/2006 10:24:43 AM, wrote:

> asj wrote:
>> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1977327,00.asp
>>
>> 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)
>>
> $1000 versus $500. You really think Toshiba will tank? You don't know
> much about consumers.

Early adopters typically have more disposable income than most, and are
more willing to pay a premium for what they want. Both sides will be far
more affordable by the time this gets anywhere near mainstream.
--
"I did my duty, now I'd like to get on with my life. I'm going to
Tombstone."

Now playing: "Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush - He's Calling"

Tarkus

wrote:
> $1000 versus $500. You really think Toshiba will tank? You don't know
> much
about consumers.

considering these are targeted towards early adopters and the well-off,
and considering blu-ray has significantly greater storage, content, and
other capabilitles - uh, yes toshiba is in trouble. sales of toshiba
hddvd titles are already slow....

asj

"asj" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> 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.

And initial reports are that it's a complete piece of crap.

Joshua Zyber

On 6/16/2006 4:04:20 PM, Joshua Zyber wrote:

> "asj" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>> 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.
>
> And initial reports are that it's a complete piece of crap.

Odd, considering it just shipped, and doesn't go on sale till the 25th.
--
"Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women."

Now playing: "Bill Ward - Along The Way"

Tarkus

"Joshua Zyber" <> wrote in message
news. ..
> "asj" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>> 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.
>
> And initial reports are that it's a complete piece of crap.
>

Not true.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_BD_P...2.html?tag=nav

Alpha

"Tarkus" <> wrote in message
news:...
>> And initial reports are that it's a complete piece of crap.
>
> Odd, considering it just shipped, and doesn't go on sale till the
> 25th.

The players have been leaking out from retailers selling them early. A
number of people on AVSForum have them.

"Alpha" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Not true.
>
> http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_BD_P...2.html?tag=nav

1) When has CNET ever been a reliable source for technical reviews?
2) The writer of that article says in it that he only had the player for
3 hours and didn't do much with it.

Joshua Zyber