Samsung Announces Another Multi-Format Player

The march toward inevitable multi-format compatibility continues. LG was first out of the gate with a player that could handle both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs under the Super Multi Blue rubric, and Ricoh announced they'd have a similar player out in time for the holidays this year. Now Samsung has gone ahead and said they will do the same, releasing their player under the Duo HD moniker. (It looks like they turned around from last year's turnaround.) The BD-UP5000 will also debut in time for the holidays, and will support the competing formats' interactive technologies like HDi and CD-Java -- something that's lacking in the Super Multi Blue player.

Whatever; it's all good news so far as I'm concerned, but I have to take exception to a statement by Dongsoo Jun, executive VP of the Digital AV Division at Samsung Electronics: "Consumers are hungry for more HD content but are currently confused about competing formats." The first point is debatable, but the second? Dude, we're not confused: we just don't want to take a chance and end up with the Betamax of disc formats. Maybe if you guys could have compromised earlier and come out with a single format, we'd have been a bit more willing to buy into this high-definition DVD thing.