But Samsung had to make tradeoffs to deliver the goods: The BD-UP5000 will only start appearing in stores in "mid to late December" and it wouldn't actually play BD Profile 1.1 discs until it receives a firmware update slated for the end of January 2008. Also, to focus its attentions on this sexy $1,050 flagship, Samsung has killed off its $600 HQV-equipped BD-P2400 Blu-ray player. [Samsung]

With the format war continuing with no end in sight, the Samsung BD-UP5000 it is the logical choice for HDTV viewers that want the best performance no matter which DVD, Blu-ray or HD DVD discs they choose to view.

According to reports, the BH200 will have HDi support, 1080p output at 60Hz and 1080p upscaling of standard DVDs. It will be able to play audio CDs, and go online for bonus HD DVD content. It can also access a full complement of Blu-ray interactive features—where available—such as BD-Live, Blu-View or Picture-in-Picture.

At a similar price and feature set as Samsung's BD-UP5000 Duo HD, and now similarly bearing both the Blu-ray and HD DVD official logos, we'll be watching both of these mofos when they are available. Now tell me, why would you want a disc player that only plays one kind of HD disc? [Electronic House]

Unlike the LG, the BD-UP5000 is fully HD DVD compliant, able to play back all the interactive menus and features that are the hallmark of the format. I tested it with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and things came out flawless. Even though this was a prototype drive. Also, the drive has local storage and Ethernet, which are part of the HD DVD spec.

The UP5000 also features an HQV Reon processor, the same video scaler and deinterlacer that made the current gen Toshiba HD DVD player's images so good.

Blu-ray discs played fine, and I wish I'd brought along the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to see if the Blu-ray Java problems persisted. But I doubt that is an issue, given the fact that the bug is well known and was patched across the board last month.

Here's what you need to know about the BD-UP5000:
• HD DVD and Blu-ray playback at 1080p
• HDMI 1.3, plus VC-1, H.264, HD JPEG decoding
• Local storage and Ethernet for HD DVD features

Here's what you need to know about the HT-BD2:
• True 7.1 system with four tower speakers, a center channel and two satellite rears, plus the sub
• Full compatibility with 24P playback (provided your TV can hack it)
• HDMI 1.3 output

Front view of BD-UP5000:

Detail of BD-UP5000 disc tray with both logos:

Detail of BD-UP5000 decals on top right of unit:

Angle view of sexy HT-BD2 (7 speakers and subwoofer not pictured, but included):

SAMSUNG INTRODUCES AN EXPANDED LINE-UP OF 3RD GENERATION HIGH-DEF PLAYERS

New Line of Blu-ray Players Enlivens Home Cinema Experience with Advanced HD Audio Playback, 1080P Resolution, and 24 Movie Frames-per-second Capability

Samsung's First Dual-Format HD Player, the BD-UP5000 Duo HD Offers Support for Blu-ray and HD-DVD

New HT-BD2 Combines HD Quality Movie Viewing with Powerful Audio Performance

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., July 25, 2007 - Samsung Electronics, a market leader and award winning innovator in consumer electronics, expands its line up of high-definition optical disc players, with the launch of the BD-P1400, BD-P2400 and BD-UP5000, as well as the first HD Home Theater solution featuring Blu-ray disc (BD) playback. Now home entertainment aficionados can enjoy the closest experience to going to the movies in their own home. Building on the success of Samsung's BD-P1000 (the first Blu-ray player in the US Market) and the second-generation BD-P1200, the all-new lineup quenches consumers' thirst for not only the best video possible, but also high quality audio in a hi-definition disc player.

"Samsung is excited to introduce a new line of high-definition players that will enrich the theater experience at home," said Reid Sullivan, vice president of Digital AV marketing at Samsung Electronics. "In 2007, the market for stand-alone high def players will grow more than 6 times to over 850 thousand units. From the top-of-the-line BD-UP5000 to the entry BD-P1400 to the company's first home theater system with Blu-ray disc playback, Samsung offers a range of products at different price points to suit the growing consumer demand."

BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player
Samsung introduces its first dual-format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player, the BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player. This player is positioned as the flagship in the company's growing line of high definition players. Offering the same playback capabilities of the BD-P2400 including HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) processing, the BD-UP5000 supports both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats as well as their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. Consumers can now enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director's comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage.

With the launch of the Duo HD, Samsung stays true to its commitment to develop products that make life simpler through its breadth of innovative technologies. The Duo HD player blends the benefits of each format in a single player, offering access to hi-definition movie titles regardless of the authoring format.

HT-BD2 Home Theater Solution with Blu-ray
Consumers can now enjoy the full HD 1080p cinematic video quality of a Samsung Blu-ray disc player and Samsung's full HD 1080p TVs with an immersive audio experience that takes watching movies to a whole new level. The HT-BD2 7.1 channel HD receiver / speaker system provides rich, powerful sound. With its slick, piano black design and soft blue LED accents, the HT-BD2 augments both the audio presence and visual aesthetics of home theater to a new level. A fully powered subwoofer, accentuated by four tower, a center channel, and two satellite rear speakers, gives the HT-BD2 a rumbling 1,100 Watts of total output power to keep movie and audio fans satisfied all from a sleek and single component system that makes operating any function easy.

For a truly cinematic home theater viewing experience, the HT-BD2's Blu-ray player offers full compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback. Since most movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, the HT-BD2 will be able to playback movies in their native format, significantly reducing unwanted artifacts. Setting the player's Movie Frame (24Fs) feature to ON allows the consumer to adjust the HDMI 1.3 output to 24 frames per second for a crisp, theater-like experience. The HT-BD2 also supports 60Fs for enhanced compatibility with many of today's HDTVs.

BD-P1400 and BD-P2400 Blu-ray Players
Samsung's new BD player lineup offers full compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback. Since most movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, these new Samsung Blu-ray players will be able to playback movies in their native format, significantly reducing unwanted artifacts. Setting the player's Movie Frame (24Fs) feature to ON allows the consumer to adjust the HDMI 1.3 output to 24 frames per second for a crisp, theater-like experience. Each of these players will also support 60Fs for enhanced compatibility with many of today's HDTVs.

Not only is it important for movies to look good, but also they need to sound good. Samsung's latest BD players complete consumers' HD total home theater experience with advanced HD audio decoding. Beyond standard Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS audio playback, both the BD-P2400 and BD-P1400 work with lossless formats including, DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD for a variety of clear, full-bodied sound options. When coupled with both models' HDMI 1.3 connection, consumers can enjoy some of the purest sound available today.

The HDMI 1.3 connection also offers HDMI CEC (Anynet+) technology, allowing consumers to use a single remote control to operate the BD player, TV and other A/V products from Samsung. Additionally, each model is able to up-convert standard DVD discs to full HD 1080p resolution via the HDMI connection, bringing consumers' DVD movie collections into the next generation.

Finishing off the BD-P2400's expansive feature list, the built-in Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) processor, a powerful unit similar to those used by Hollywood production studios, enables true 1080i to 1080p HD de-interlacing for some of the best HD images possible — even from DVD formats. It is a great option to ensure full optimization of HD and SD libraries.

For those with extensive DVD collections, the BD-P2400 and BD-P1400 models include backward compatibility with standard DVD and CD formats (including DVD-ROM, DVD-+/R, DVD-+/RW, CD, CD-R and CD-RW). Playback of multimedia content in a variety of different formats is quick and easy at 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions. The "Easy Top Menu" allows consumers to change font and color of subtitles and menu titles according to their tastes, as well as the background color and menu graphics.

By doing this, the two Korean powerhouses are taking a lot of the juice away from single-format developers. I mean, come the holidays, would you rather beat up some other shopper for the last Blu-ray player or the last dual-disc player at the Best Buy?

Read on for early studio support of Samsung's bold move...

Perhaps it's no surprise to you that it was one of the format-agnostic studios, Warner Home Video, who first came forth with a pat on the back:

"We welcome Samsung's Duo HD player as another solution in the marketplace that will help reduce consumer confusion and buyer hesitancy towards HD media," said Ron Sanders, President of Warner Home Video. "This is an innovative product that can move us closer to mainstream consumer adoption of HD technologies."

SAMSUNG Electronics to Release Duo Hd Player [Samsung]