Samsung to Launch Dual Blu-ray HD DVD Player 156
narramissic writes "File this one under 'if you can't beat em, join em.' Samsung, one of the main backers of the Blu-ray Disc format, Friday said it plans to release an optical disc player this year that will play both Blu-ray Disc and the rival HD DVD format. With the announcement, Samsung becomes the second company to shift from a single-format stance (LG launched a dual player in North America earlier this year.) 'Our main concern is with the consumer and not a particular technology,' said Samsung spokesman Kwak Bumjoon."
MMMhm... (Score:1)
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Re:MMMhm... (Score:4, Insightful)
1) Create two competing technonologies that are equally sufficient but incompatible.
2) Stifle standardization
3) market more expensive devices that handle both, as both a marketing advantage, a manufacturing skill advantage,
4) and to inflate costs, assuming profit margin is proportional to gross, and the number of units sold is the same.
5) profit!
there is no ?????
A very interesting side effect is that MS can no longer dictate platform specs. This is remarkably new phenomena and worth watching.
Finally Could the slash dot filter PLEASE stop people from writing M$ instead of MS. (;_;)
Re:MMMhm... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Anyway, I can see the benefit to the hybrid player. Why sell two products when you can just have one? Less costs = more profits
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Actually, yes. Most DVDs these days are movies, and most movies are dual layer (or double sided with 4.7Gigs). In either case they use more than a total of
Also, what about that annoying pause when DVDs change layers? This is something that will be done away with on HD discs. i.e. a good feature. So there are a few bones with the new formats. Just not enough (yet) to make anyone want to switch.
But here's a question for everyone: Spielberg has ye
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"...a total of
It didn't like the less than and equals signs.
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Which is precisely the problem. Too much upfront cost.
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warning: The above content may test positive for sarcasm and/or could be a failed attempt at humor and as such should be taken with a pound of salt.
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DVD+ vs. DVD- (Score:1)
the pro-and con of overloading drives (Score:2)
But what does happen is that it takes longer and longer for the gorram computer to mo
Re:the pro-and con of overloading drives (Score:5, Informative)
But what does happen is that it takes longer and longer for the gorram computer to mount the cd/dvd. This is especially noticable when one inserts a damaged CD into a drive. the computer grunts and groans freaking for ever trying to decide it it is looking at a CD, and CD-R, D DVD-r, and DVD+R, a DVD. And each of these seems to have some different time consuming error protocol that involves trying to spin the thing at different speeds. Now they are going to be adding not one but two more protocols. And I imagine it won't be long before we have HDDVD-R and HDDVD+R and so on thrown on top of this.
This is NOT an issue with the drive (well a drive that is in good working order). A mounting problem is an issue with your OS. When you insert a disc into the drive the drive should go into what is called the "ready state" relatively quickly because all the drive does is basically tries to see if it can access the disc (it looks for a TOC among other things). When you insert a damaged disc the reason the computer grunts and groans is because the disc is damaged and it may be having trouble getting TOC information etc from the disc. The reason it is spinning up and down a whole bunch of different times is most likely because your OS is attempting to mount the disc and is trying to look for a file system on the disc and is having a lot of trouble doing so.
If you have an external case for a CD/DVD drive then a simple way to see that the problems you are seeing are the OS's fault is the next time you have a disc that exhibits the problems you mentioned above is to shut down the machine and then re-insert the disc into the drive. Most likely the light will blink a few times and the drive might spin up a little more than normal but the drive should stop trying to access the disc in much less time that when the computer was running.
As far as more formats coming out "adding more protocols" that is not really the case. Other than having to add different hardware the rest of how the drive acts should remain the same. The only way a drive is able to tell what kind of disc is inserted is by looking at what is called a profile number which is recorded at the factory on the disc and each type of disc has a different one. For example 0x9 is CD-R, 0xa is CD-RW, 0x11 is DVD-R, 0x1b is DVD+R, 0x2b is DVD+R DL, 0x51 is HD DVD-R and on and on. It really is not that much more overhead and sure a few more things might be added to the MMC standard but the drives functionality is nearly identical.
it's going to take minutes when you shove in that Bad CD before your computer lets you eject it.
You hit the nail on the head with this one without even knowing it. It is your COMPUTER ie the OS or some other software trying to access the disc that is locked up and has probably issued a command to lock the tray so that you cannot eject the disc by pressing the eject button on the drive.
Please stop blaming drives when it really is not the drives fault.
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However I guess the reason why the lockup period for a bad DVD is noticably longer is simply because the DVD is b
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With a CD you have 2352 bytes per sector to work with and it depends on the recording mode as to how much of the sector is dedicated to ECC. You
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10 LET M$ = "Microsoft" (Score:4, Funny)
Then how can we paste classic BASIC code?
Use of the "M$" moniker on Slashdot often appears to refer to Microsoft's legacy as a developer of BASIC interpreters.
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10 LET M$ = "Microsoft"
20 PRINT M$;" put too much DRM in Windows Vista. ";
30 GOTO 20
40 END
Level II basic indeed.
As for BR vs. HD? The sooner the suits embrace Kwak's philosophy, the sooner their sales will pick up. With RIAA's power on the wane, we'll find that the savvier companies will drop their tired ol' line faster than a red-hot vibrator.
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That would be a bad strategy. Supporting both formats is only be feasable if it can be done with minimal impact on the final cost of the product compared to devices that can only play one format or the other. Well, i'm sure some peole would buy them, but I don't think it would be a market dominating strategy.
If *I* were in the market for an HD player, I'd first be looking at which one format
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-matthew
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Explain to me how it is a loss for Microsoft when a major league player in consumer electronics breaks with Sony to enter the HD-DVD market.
Unlike LG's currently released "Super Multi Blue" player, Samsung's deck will have full support for HD DVD's much-touted Interactive Features. LG's player, by comparison, gave the impression of a Blu-ray deck with HD DVD playback include
Re:MMMhm... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Who cares anyway? technology for technolgy's sa (Score:2, Insightful)
It's as good as anyone really needs until prices comes down, then everyone will use HD, and pretty soon, everyone will find ridiculous watching anything in SD.
Re:Who cares anyway? technology for technolgy's sa (Score:2)
I thought about the same ... until I got an HD TV. And a digital amp. And, in my experience, the HD cable TV outstrips the DVD video. And the DVD video makes me cringe to watch SD cable. (The DVD audio, however, blows the HD audio away, but I think that's my HD PVR which isn't giving me digital audio, while my DVD player does give me digital audio.)
I'll be trying to convince the CFO to get a next-gen DVD player (Blue-Ray or HD, depending on who "wins") as soon as they become reasonable in price.
I can see where this is going. Seen it before. (Score:1)
Congrats, Sony. It's not that easy to repeat history. Every. Single. Time.
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Fixed.
Rob
Re:I can see where this is going. Seen it before. (Score:5, Funny)
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Personally, I'm rooting for BluRay. It's the more ambitious format, and two years from now, if HD-DVD wins, we're going to be wishing for those bigger disks, especially for computer drives. I'm not buying anything yet, though, even with my new HDTV.
The dual format players are n
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On the other hand, Samsung has come out and said that if consumers want an HD DVD standalone, that they'll make it. Onkyo and Meridian have also said that they will have HD DVD players and there's a Chinese company that said they'll have a cheap one ($200?) by the end of the year.
As for storage -- you really think there's that big of a difference between 15G and 25G, when drives are coming out to be 750
Cost... (Score:2)
hmmm.
I still don't think that $399 is affordable enough, at least not for me. I didn't have a DVD player until they were around the $100 mark. The other thing I've noticed is that the Blu-Ray players are still expensive - or at least more expensive than the HD-DVD.
So what gives on the pricing? Average joes will not like to p
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I believe you answered your own questions earlier in your post when you said:
I didn't have a DVD player until they were around the $100 mark.
By saying that you obviously acknowledged that over time the technology price dropped and it became more common-place, there was more competition, etc.Re: (Score:2)
What's more, I heard they make all the internal components out of solid gold! That's crazy: I don't need gold transistor chips. Why don't they make them out of silicon like usual?
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The other thing I've noticed is that the Blu-Ray players are still expensive - or at least more expensive than the HD-DVD.
One word: Sony. You see, Sony is basically telling their partners to not sell BD players below the price of the PS3, because they still have this twisted hope/dream that it will help them sell PS3s, but when HD-DVD players are selling for less than the PS3, this logic is twisted in backwards. Sony is literally stunting their own progress here.
Do I have proof this is entirely Sony's fault? No, but you cannot show me any real reason for the big price difference in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. They both use esse
Re:Cost... (Score:4, Interesting)
More like actual fact [reghardware.co.uk].
"The BDA cites a survey in conducted by talking to 10,000 US PS3 owners. It claims more than 80 per cent plan to buy movies on BD. A slightly smaller percentage, just over 75 per cent, said they plan to use their console as their prime device for watching movies."
Though that proves the converse of what you said (that the PS3 is helping them sell BluRay movies), it's hard to believe that none of those PS3 owners bought one at least in part because it could play BluRay movies.
Rob
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You nee
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Do realize, however, there are other advantages besides better video associated with HD-DVD and BluRay. Unfortunately, to amplify the superior audio, you'll have to either use analogue jacks or HDMI. Lower priced players will probably cut out the analogue outputs. The new formats also have better menuing systems than DVD-- but this too can be eliminated. The LG combo player, for instanc
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I paid something around $1600 for my first VHS VCR (but hey, it could record audio separately. Used that about once.)
I paid around $600 for my first CD player (but hey, it had subcode ouput! Which I never used and I think only one disc ever took advantage of).
I paid about $200 for my first DVD player (which could read and output NTSC or PAL, and I've actually used that a couple of times).
I'm getting cheaper in my old age, I may not bother with an HD/BD player until I can g
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I don't know where people keep getting this bogus "DVD players cost $1000 at launch" crap, but that is simply not true. The first DVD players came out in Spring 1997 and ranged in price from $500 upwards. I know that because I bought a Toshiba SD2006 that spring for $500. By the Fall, they had dipped to $400 (for the SD2006 and its clone, the Phillips 400AT--among others).
In other words, DVD prices (for both players and discs) were comparable to today's HD-DVD prices at
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Buying a consumer good, especially an electronic device, is not an investment. An investment is when you put your money into something that bears interest, pays a dividend, or appreciates in some other manner. DVD players do not appreciate. They depreciate at an alarming rate, as do most other consumer goods.
There's nothing wrong with buying a BluRay or HD-DVD player if you can afford it. Don't try to rationalize spending money on something you don'
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Did I read that right? (Score:2)
No. (Score:2)
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Translation (Score:5, Funny)
"Our main concern is with guaranteeing that the consumer's money ends up in our pockets, and in ensuring that our revenue stream does not depend on a particular technology"
There, that makes more sense.
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They are in business to make money.
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Does it even matter any more? (Score:1, Troll)
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The problem with using absolute numbers is that they ignore the fact that HD-DVD movies have been out in stores for two months longer than BluRay movies, the fact that BR players are much more expensive than HD-DVD players, and the fact that the PS3 (the major component to BluRay's recent success) had been out for only four months before the cut-off date of that r
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The newer numbers demonstrate that Blu-Ray has taken the lead but HD-DVD is keeping up at a decent pace considering that it is not included in (approximately) 200,000 PS3 system that are sold in a month.
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That seems to me to be supporting my conclusion, not yours.
Rob
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Blu-Ray jumped from (essentially) 0% marketshare to nearly 50% market share after 2 months because of the release of the PS3, since then it has only gained a couple of percentage points of market share. What this means is that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have sold at very similar rates to eachother in the past couple of months.
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Quite possibly. If that happens, though, I think the established market winner will be dual formats, and neither will die off. That's the best possible course of events, isn't it?
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You could mention the DVD±R war here, I suppose, but I would argue that the differences between those two formats aren't as great as those between BR and HD-DVD. Besides, D
Whaaaaaa? (Score:2)
I expect the MPAA Enforcement Squad to soon pay them a visit to correct this dangerous and subversive kind of slander.
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No kidding! Won't someone think of the corporations????
Common Sense (Score:1)
What I'd really like to see Blueray/HD used for.. (Score:2)
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Kinda OT but... (Score:5, Funny)
Kwak Bumjoon!
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Ho Chunk [ho-chunknation.com]
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I dont care who he is or what he has to say, but he's got the coolest motherfucking name ever.
AppleTV, XBox Video Marketplace, Tivo Un-Box (Score:1)
How long do you think the market for movies on physical discs will be around?
The DVD (HD, Blu, or Pink with spots) is bound to share the same fate as the CD eventually.
It doesn't help that a $70 upconverting DVD player makes enough improvement, that most casual viewers consider it "HD".
The real question is, when am I going to be able to use (either) technology in my PC?
I mean, reading/writing 25+ gig discs, *cheaply*?
IMO that's the real format war. The marketplace has shown a remarka
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The DVD (HD, Blu, or Pink with spots) is bound to share the same fate as the CD eventually.
Did the CD just die and I missed the memo? Seems to me that buying music on CDs is still the best way due to the quality and compatibility.
Compatibility is a huge problem. If I go buy or rent a DVD I can use it on any TV I have a dvd player on. I can also bring it over to a friend's house and play it on their TV. If I buy a movie off of iTunes or off of the Xbox Marketplace then I'm going to have a real bitch of a time bringing it over to a friend's place.
There is still a pretty clear reason fo
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and i would say that is a trend that will continue, based on the last 10 years.
*shrug*
Customers are the main concern (Score:2)
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I don't forsee the demise of the CD as soon as some people seem to.
Frankly, I won't be buying any music online till they can sell it to me in lossless formats without any DRM. Until then, the only way I can get music in a lossless format, is to buy the CD.
Even with that, I'd like to back up my online purchase to a disc....not to mention, there are tons of car players out there that play CD's..not that many doing
HDCP? (Score:2)
How is that? Are you talking about the Image Constraint Token [wikipedia.org]?
The way I understand it, the movie studios have "promised" not to use that against us for a few more years yet. Not that I believe that promise, but if any discs were already out that make use of it, there would have already been a huge outcry here on slashdot about it.
The XBox 360 can play HD-DVD movies through the add-on drive, and it doesn't ev
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Too late (Score:1)
Consumer the main concern? (Score:1)
Wow, so it's not going to have any DRM bullshit either? Oh, wait, they said consumer, not customer, so they're still treating us as automatons.
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Speaking of Microsoft... (Score:1)
Bette
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Never mind the fact that Microsoft releasing a hybrid player would be like Sony doing the same thing--a 360 with a dual-player addon would cost more than a PS3, and it still wouldn't be able to pla
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Except that BluRay includes Java support. I really think Microsoft wants that dead.
It's the Porn, Stupid (Score:2, Interesting)
Hostile to porn? Game over man, game over. The entirety of technology is to create a more efficient distribution network for porn. Printing press, telephones, moving pictures, home video, CD ROM, and the greatest porn distribution system ever created: the Internets (who's impact won't be outdone until direct-to-brain technolo
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I wish... (Score:2)
I have been wanting to replace my TV for 2 years now. I haven't yet, because what I have will play my old dvds fine, and I'm not going to buy two different players, and maintain two different formats of nextgen dvds. Sure, the dual-format players resolve this to some degree, and it's about time this happened, but realistically...
I'll tell you what I
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It's basically the Prisoner's Dilemma. They'd all benefit if they worked together, but that raises the possibility of backstabbing, which would be worse than simply losing a format war. Therefore, they pre-emptively attack each other instead. Another thing to note is that not everyone is hurting themselves with this; whoever wins the format war wil
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Rob
So... (Score:2)
Also, you will be unable to close the door to your entertainment center, unless you want it and everything around to melt.
Typically slanted reporting in TFA (Score:2)
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smart Koreans (Score:2)
Let's look at the companies that developed Blu-Ray and HD-DVD and are fighting a format war, trying to get their own format to win. Blu-Ray was developed by Sony. HD-DVD was developed by Toshiba and NEC. All three of these companies are Japanese.
Now let's look at the companies that have announced they are going to be format-agnostic, sell dual-format players, and sidestep the format war. According to the summary, LG already introduced such a product, and Samsung has announced plans to release one as
Re:Poor Liddle Zonk, Still Fighting For A Dead For (Score:2)
Neither one has won or lost. They are in the market and someone is buying them. Consumers have said they do not want to pick a format and now we see this. I personally would rather use blueray. I don't care about the video end of things, but I think more about backup media and other practical PC uses down the road.
I've never seen an argument about which one is better for open source use in the future.
PC vendors have not pushed either format like they d
Is this enforceable? (natural law) (Score:2)