Samsung Blu-ray player delayed until June?

Following the early burn to be first to announce product and title, yet another next-gen optical disc player seems on the verge of fessing-up to product delay. This time it’s the Samsung BD-P1000 from the Blu-Ray camp which, according to AVSForm, will ship on June 25, not May 23 -- just a smidge before Sony’s BDP-S1 ships. This according to a reptuable forum poster supposedly from Crutchfield. It’s not clear if this is a content issue like that plaguing HD-DVD or if this is due to that not-yet-final “copyright protection” which Sony blames for the PS3 delay. In fact, we can’t verify any of this. However one thing is for sure, it wouldn’t look good for Samsung to hit their targets ahead of Sony now would it?

[Via HD Beat]

[hecatomb @ Mar 29th 2006 8:28AM]

Question... Maybe it's just the picture, but doesn't it seem a bit odd that a Blu-ray player, one that probably is pretty expensive (I admit, I have not done any research on how much this costs), is going to have a display that reminds me of the VCR I bought back in the 80's? (Or even some cheap DVD players on the market today.)

I would think that initially the manufactuers would want the WOW factor on these products to help sell them... the appearance of the player looks ok, but wouldn't an OLED display be much more "next-gen"?

Or maybe it's too early for me to be thinking... ^_^

[John Doe. @ Mar 29th 2006 8:35AM]

Does anyone really even care anymore? Its nothing more then a pissing match at this point. I mean these players are going to be so f*ing expensive that you may as well call them a niche market item. So who cares who is first, second, or even third. Only a handful of people are going to buy these initial devices anyways.
Every post that Engadget makes trying to make this out to be some photo finish race to see who comes out their product first. It isn't. When you are talking about a 6 month timeframe for BR and HD-DVD to be out there isn't any one winner. This holiday season both camps will have their players out. Nothing new there. Content will be where the battle is won or lost.

[Alex K. @ Mar 29th 2006 8:50AM]

Blu-ray whomps!
HD-DVD whomps!

Times like these make me want to have open source for hardware.

[Nogami @ Mar 29th 2006 9:05AM]

What a waste of money - I could care less about HD on DVD/Blu-Rays at this point.

Technology companies are falling all over themselves to screw consumers with format wars and intrusive DRM technologies.

And I imagine they're going to say they're surprised when both formats flop because people are just tired of the whole thing.

Aside from a few early adopters with deep pockets and little sense, nobody is interested...

[Thill @ Mar 29th 2006 9:29AM]

I'll admit that I tend to be one of those "early adopters" with technology, but the more that I read about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, the easier the choice is for me. Neither.

Between the delays, the lack of content, and the intrusion of DRM which will not allow the consumer (initially at least) to make backup copies of the material that they purchase, I am most likely going to say "no thanks" for now.. I am going to wait and see what happens between the two formats and see what alternatives come in the future..

At least in North America I just do not see people paying $500-1200 for an HD player and $20-25 for movies when they can pickup a decent progressive scan DVD player for under $50 and movies for $9-18.. In addition, most Americans do not even own an HD television, so it will take time for the price on these players to break the $100 barrier (probably five years or so)...

[Stoner @ Mar 29th 2006 9:53AM]

What they said.

I've been an early adopter of almost every new technogy since CDs (remember those?), including my very slick 1080P HDTV set. Despite that, and my inital excitement, this one is looking more and more look like something I'm going to sit out for another couple of years. Not only that, I was orignally anticipating purchasing a second 1080P display and Media Center PC to at the same time, it's starting to look like they'll all wait a wee bit longer.

The CE manufacturers are really scr*ewing themselves over with this debacle.

[Princess Zelda @ Mar 29th 2006 10:17AM]

One problem I have with buying an High Definition player is content and it's the same reason I haven't bought a HD TV yet. What am I going to watch? I can't think of a really good new movie I want to see in HD. I have a few older movies but nothing worth buying a HD TV and a new player. I believe the movie industry has to start making better quality content to sell these HD TV's and players. There's no reason to buy HD equipment untill there's content to watch.

[Thill @ Mar 29th 2006 11:24AM]

#6. In my case, I love to watch sports. If you have ever watched a sporting event in HD, there is no comparison to standard definition. I also like to watch about 1-2 hours worth of TV a day, and most of the shows that I watch are in HD.

I also own an Xbox360 which plays video games in HD. But it sounds like you are with the majority of people out there that are happy watching movies in DVD and upgrading to an HD TV, HD player, and HD discs is too expensive for the gain in picture resolution.

In general, I think most people will find DVD quality to be "good enough" until the movie studios come to grips with a conolidated format and face DRM in a more consumer friendly manner....

[1080boy @ Mar 29th 2006 12:55PM]

I dont thing anybody needs this stupid upgrade for 500-1000 dollars. Holler at me if you agree. Upconverting dvd players are more than excellent in making your dvd's look even better. As one intelligent man said, why is Average Consumer Joe and his wife gonna save up for this when they just upgraded from vhs 2 or so years ago? HMM? or what about that thing Microsoft keeps saying about how this will be the last optical format.

iTunes is already selling video content. And even though its bad quality, in my opinion a smart upgrade from dvd would be sony and toshiba joining forces to create downloadable HD movies for maybe 15-20 dollars. And then they could make mass storage drives to hook up to your tv and computer. Or something that can stream high definition video from pc to tv. THATS smart and consumer friendly.

And dont tell me "oh what about hard drive failure, you woud lose 100's" its probably more reliable than the scratch begging hd/blu ray dvd discs theyre bringing us, and you wont misplace your entire hard drive. Plus you keep a lot of important information on your computer's hard drive right? right.

Dvd recorders are already getting smart about this idea i have. Listen up corporations, the consumers are boycotting you. Most comments i have read for about the past month have been like "oh i dont care for hd dvd" or "blu ray is useless" or something like that.

iTunes is successful because they sell music you can listen to whenever you want as many times as you want. Radio is losing popularity for this reason. Car manufacturers make bigger deals about ipod adapters than cd players (duh). Be smart or lose money, im the consumer and i dont like you.

Please holler at me engadget readers if you agree. I insist.

[arn @ Mar 29th 2006 6:34PM]

so, do all blu-ray players have the slanted buttons or is it just a design fad.

[arn @ Mar 29th 2006 6:39PM]

so, do all blu-ray players have the slanted buttons or is it just a design fad.

[c.Lake @ Mar 29th 2006 9:32PM]

Wow! For the first time in history, we're all on the same page in this post. Everybody agrees, I never thought THAT would happen?

@ John Doe - #1 and Nogami - #4 -- Your right, nobody cares! This whole thing is retarded and a total waste of money, time and worry.

@ Princess Zelda - #7 -- There's tons of stuff to watch in HD, besides sports. However, they're only on 4 channels to choose from on cable. (INHD1 & 2 don't count, because they are the same channel) There's Movies, concerts, Science stuff, and beautiful hour-long shows about scenery. Ok, maybe there isn't TONs of stuff. It's nice, but not enough to run out and buy a HDTV for a couple thousand.

@ 1080boy - #9 -- Holla!!

[JLL @ Mar 30th 2006 3:42AM]

#1: The trend these days seems to be an 80's look. Take a look at Panasonic's products and Pioneer's new recorders.

[fc3 @ Mar 30th 2006 8:29AM]

A thousand dollars or two isn't all that much money. For a lot of people like me, that's just an afternoon's work. The real issue is when will there be units to buy and software worth watching? I've seen no software announced that either my wife or myself would care to see. Actually much of the announced titles aren't even things that I could tolerate watching. So much junk from hollyweird!

DRM? Non-issue. Put the disk in and it plays. That's good enough. It is all that I want and probably all that the average consumer wants. I already have a business. Making and distributing someone else's IP is a waste of my time.