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Samsung considering dual-format BluRay/HD optical drive

By Justin Mann

On June 21, 2006, 11:26 AM

While dual-standard optical drives have become somewhat of a norm in the past, the differences between the standards of BluRay and HD, combined with the bitterness between the supporters of each, have confused many manufacturers as to whom to support. Rather than play along with “our way or the highway”, companies like Samsung are supporting both standards, and as such have said they are considering a dual-format player. Though they don't support HD, they still want to give consumers the option:

"We don't have a plan to make an HD DVD-only player but are considering a universal player," the spokesman said, DigitalWorld Tokyo reports. "We are preparing HD DVD now and if we launch a universal player it will be the end of this year or early next year."
The amount of frustration and anger that vendors selling and pushing single formats would cause to the end user would probably outweigh any increase in sales or marketshare, and other companies have also mentioned they will release dual-format drives rather than play a game. Though Samsung definitely has a lot to gain with pushing BluRay, they don't want to alienate consumers. So for those looking to buy $1000 BluRay only players, it may be worth waiting for the next set of drives to come out.

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  1. June 21, 2006 1:25 PM
    DragonMaster said:
    Samsung is very likely going to release an other universal drive, they already did so by releasing DVD-Audio and SACD players. (Pioneer also released DVD-A & SACD so they're probably going to release HD-DVD & BluRay players too. I think Pioneer is both in the BluRay and HD-DVD camp anyways.)
    Reply
  2. June 21, 2006 2:14 PM
    canadian said:
    If they release this universal drive, they are going to have a huge sales boost. I would buy this, as long as it is under $200
    Reply
  3. June 21, 2006 2:40 PM
    DragonMaster said:
    This time, yes, but not a lot of people actually bothered about DVD-Audio and SACD (Both sound pretty good btw)
    Reply

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