HD DVD received an unexpected ally last Friday when it announced plans to release a combo player. The Korean consumer electronics firm and manufacturer of many fine HDTVs took an early stand on Blu-ray. Samsung is part of the reason Sony’s BD format is ahead of HD DVD in the format war. The BD-P1000 was released to positive reviews as the first dedicated Blu-ray disk player. But it was priced at $999. Soon it was reduced to $899 after Sony released its PlayStation3. That’s still almost twice the cost of the competing HD DVD player by Toshiba.
Samsung says its new combo player that can playback both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs will be available by Christmas this year. Samsung has so far backed the format that is statistically ahead of the game in Blu-ray. Now it might be moving toward a trend that eventually takes over the “format war”, that trend is in dual layering and combo format support.
HD DVD Exclusive Studios
Blu-ray Exclusive Studios
- 20th Century Fox
- Disney
- Sony Pictures
- Lionsgate
Both Blu-ray and HD DVD
More manufacturers support Blu-ray:
Blu-ray Hardware
- Samsung
- Sony
- Philips
- Panasonic
- PlayStation3 (Sony) includes a built in BD-Player
HD DVD Hardware
- Toshiba
- Microsoft Xbox360 (add on HD DVD Player $199)
It’s clear these are bleak times for HD DVD’s chances to pull ahead in the format war. But the dual market seems to be gaining momentum. Samsung isn’t the only manufacturer to announce a combo player. Another Korean consumer electronics firm, LG already has one on the market.
Warner, the studio that supports both HD DVD and Blu-ray has announced a combo format HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc called “Total HD”. A Total HD disk will let you flip it over to get one or the other format.
