Samsung to launch hybrid HD DVD/Blu-ray player – the Duo HD
Still unsure if you want Blu-ray or HD DVD? Don’t want to be left with the equivalent of a Betamax gathering dust in the loft? Well, if you can afford to wait a while, Samsung could solve your dilemma with the Duo HD.
However, it’s still some time off. Although Samsung has admitted one is in the works, it isn’t launching in the US until the end of the year, so it’s 2008 for us Europeans. But it sounds like it will be worth the wait – offering movie playback of both formats, along with interactivity technologies for both – HDi and BD Java. The first player to do so.
It’s a clever move, with no format showing any real dominance on the next-generation market so far. Market monitor Nielsen VideoScan’s numbers for the week ending 18th March (the most recent figures) put BD ahead in sales of pre-recorded content in the US, with year-to-date sales of 549,730 units to HD DVD’s 249,451 discs. Since sales of each format started, around 708,600 HD DVDs and 844,000 BDs have been sold.
Personally, I think I might wait. Let’s be honest, there’s not exactly a glut of great movies on the market for either format as yet.
Via The Register
