Samsung's Blu-ray first faces delay

By Alun Williams

Posted on 4 Apr 2006 at 13:04

Samsung is delaying the US launch of its first Blu-ray player until June. The next-gen optical disc player is now due to hit the market in the west on 25 June, rescheduled from 23 May, reports Reuters.

'We still anticipate that the Samsung BD-P1000 will be the first Blu-Ray player to launch at a national level in the United Sates,' it quotes a Samsung statement.

With Toshiba taking its rival HD DVD offering to retail stores last month, the optical format race is certainly on, with Sony expected to unveil its first mainstream Blu-ray player in July. Panasonic, meanwhile, plans to launch its Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD10, in September.

While Toshiba is launching its player at price points of $500 and $800, the Samsung machine will have a $999 street price.

The Samsung delay is attributed to the completion of testing. Difficulties faced by Blu-ray implementers in the past have involved the all-important content protection schemes of DRM. It is believed this caused the delay of Sony's PlayStation 3 games console, which is now due to appear in November. Microsoft, which backs the HD DVD format, already has the Xbox 360 on the market. Apple, by contrast, backs the Blu-ray format.

Note that one of the important factors in distinguishing Blu-ray and HD DVD - the latter's backward compatibility with existing DVD discs - has been overcome by dual-format technology within the Blu-ray players. Panasonic's offering, for example, supports DVD and CD formats, as well as other video and image formats.

The importance of the console wars and the optical disc battles, lies in the fact that both Sony and Microsoft now view the multi-fiunctional and powerful games machine that sits in the living room as a strategic launch pad for digital convergence within the home. In other words, the company that establishes dominance in this area has greater leverage when it comes to delivery and networking technologies for the display and storage of movies and music, as well as games.

Look out for PC Pro's exclusive in-depth preview of the new drive, appearing in issue 140 (on sale 18 May).