Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player delayed (again)?

In what may turn out to be yet another crushing blow to HD-hungry consumers, it looks like Samsung could be joining Sony, Pioneer, and, um, itself, in playing the Vista-like Blu-ray delay game that continues to amuse and frustrate us. As of right now, the facts are these: UK tech site Pocket-Lint sent an email to Bite Communications, Samsung's British PR firm, in order to confirm what we all thought was the BD-P1000's June 25th release date; instead of a confirmation, however, Pocket-Lint received a surprising reply stating that "unfortunately, the release of the Blu-ray has been delayed until September." Before you start freaking out, though, keep in mind that at this point details are still very thin -- we can't even be certain if this supposed delay applies to the US launch, or only affects our friends over in Great Britain. As you'd expect, we have our crack team of low-paid interns furiously dialing every Samsung representative we can find a number for, and you'll be the first to know when we can finally pin someone down on a solid release date, so stay tuned.

Update: Whew, good news (well, for us Americans at least). Samsung has confirmed that the US launch is still "on schedule," although Bite was right on the money about the UK delay, so as usual, Brits are gonna have to wait a little longer to get a hot new product.

[zombieflanders @ Jun 13th 2006 12:02PM]

Maybe they've delayed it in the UK, but multiple news and rumor sources have stated shipments are already on their way to US stores.

[Baumann @ Jun 13th 2006 12:10PM]

So, clues pointing to the death of Blu-ray:

1. Sony's backing it.
2. It's more expensive
3. HD-DVD is already out
4. HD-DVD is a more consumer friendly name (you know what you're getting)
5. Every single Blu-ray player is getting delayed
6. HD-DVD is region free.
7. The only two compelling reasons for Blu-ray are:

a. Sony PS3 - but noone's gonna buy a PS3, because the only way you could afford one is if you sold your children, and if you sold your children, you wouldn't need a PS3.

b. Storage - It's got more storage then HD-DVD, but storing that much data on media that is as volatile as a CD isn't a viable long term option.

[Ben Hobbs @ Jun 13th 2006 12:13PM]

Why has it been delayed?, they cant make the blu-ray drive fit inro the Samsung player that 3 times the size of the PS3?

HAs anyone actually seen a blu-ray film being played on any sort of Blu-ray drive yet?

[Andir @ Jun 13th 2006 12:37PM]

"HAs anyone actually seen a blu-ray film being played on any sort of Blu-ray drive yet?"

Yes, but some blog site looking for hits broadcast that it was fake even though they screwed up and reported on the wrong laptop.

"4. HD-DVD is a more consumer friendly name (you know what you're getting)"
I'd argue to say that people will think that HD-DVD is still old technology and Blu-Ray is the next generation by looking at the name alone. I have seen all kinds of commercials for Blu-Ray movies recently and none for HD-DVD, so this points me to believe that Blu-Ray will be better marketed even though it's not "on the market" yet. I've not seen any kind of advertising for HD-DVD. Nor have I seen any mention of region codes, but I could care less truthfully. I have yet to buy a Japanese DVD...

[Jason Schloer @ Jun 13th 2006 12:48PM]

Is anyone here planning on buying a bluray player at all? I can't think of a single time I've been watching a DVD and thought it would be worth it to spend another grand on a player to make this look better. I'm really not overly excited with this next generation of video technology.....maybe I'm getting old....

[Civuck @ Jun 13th 2006 12:54PM]

This seems to be confirmed according to this:

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news.php?newsId=3626

[Scabies @ Jun 13th 2006 12:57PM]

re:Andir

How old is the Ipod?
($)20 says that if Apple released an iPod-HD, flocks, nay, DROVES of people would buy one, a percentage being previous iPod owners, another percentage popping their iCherry in so doing.

Now, xxxxxx company makes a product that stores more songs, plays higher quality video/divx/rips with a longer battery life under a new name, will they replace the iPod everyone knows?
Have they yet?

[Jason @ Jun 13th 2006 1:41PM]

The problem with compairing launch pricing of these new HD formats to that of CDs and DVDs is just a bad idea... The discs just hold more information... in the case of HD-DVD the tech is mostly the same just more refined... that is why we have HD-DVD already... The step up from the 480p coming from standard DVD to 720p or 1080p doesn't warrant the extra cost... even for an early adopter. There were MANY more advantages to DVD and CDs when they first hit the market... REAL advantages over the previous media... that is not the case with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray... there is just a bump up in quality.

Blu-Ray is trying to 'redesign' the optical storage medium when it really doesn't need to be. There is PLENTY of room on both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray to hold a high-def movie... why do you need to buy into the Blu-Ray redesign when it isn't required? Why pay twice as much for the format when it does the same thing?

My bets are with HD-DVD in this round... the naming is PERFECT... it really is just an HD version of DVD... so is Blu-Ray... do we call HDTVs AmberCubes or something like that?? NO Because all they really are is TVs that display a higher resolution...

You cannot make ALL THE HIGHEST tech stuff the standard... people, normal people determine what the standard is... when normal people go to buy a new DVD player they will buy what they want... the cheapest DVD player that will play their high-def movies... and that is going to be HD-DVD. Oh and studios will start to migrate... it is only a matter of time before they start to realize that HD-DVD is a reality and to date there are still problems with Blu-Ray.

[Paddy C @ Jun 13th 2006 2:06PM]

At this point I have a hard time believing that HD-DVD will win out. Last I saw only a very few HD-DVD players had even been sold (worldwide) and the PS3 launch is fast approaching. Sony expects to have 2 million ready for launch, another 2 million by Christmas (if memory serves me) and 2 million shortly after.

That is enough of an installed user base to kill HD-DVD right there as long as the movies get into stores.

[austan @ Jun 13th 2006 2:57PM]

It's hard to beat a coalition:
WWII: Germany had 3-4 years to defend Atlantic wall
Desert Storm: Iraq had 6 months
Tape: Sony released Beta before VHS
HD-DVD: first to market with 6 months advantage

When the Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Hitachi and LG war machine gets on the battle field later this year, is Toshiba entrenched deep enough to mount a defense?

It's beter news for 3 top Consumer Electronics Companies to delay thier products then 1 CE company to release a product that needs a firmware upgrade out the door.

Delays are forgotten once the product reaches the market, but does "quality" preceptions go away?

"quality" = reports of crashes on pre-firmware HD-A1 players.

[Jason @ Jun 13th 2006 3:01PM]

Hi,

This is entirely speculation, but yesterday the consortium that decides upon the HDMI standard officially ratified it to HDMI v1.2 to support "deep color." My guess, and it seems reasonable, is the delay is for the allowance of full compliance with the newest standard.

[smudley @ Jun 13th 2006 5:19PM]

From top to bottom you fellas seem to have the bases covered so i guess ill just give a round of applause and add my 2 cents...
$.01 @Paddy c rightly remembers that ps2 was the catalyst for putting dvd in most homes
$.02 @Jason "AmberCubes" = PRICELESS

[tristanfey @ Jun 13th 2006 5:33PM]

Austan has a point, but left out who the movie studios are backing. To be honest, it is most likely going to come down to which format is more readily available for movies. If you go into a store to buy your first HD player and ask a sales rep for help they are more likely to point you to whichever player has a larger video library available to them. The following is from the Feb/Mar issue of Sound and Vision magazine:

"...Blu-ray has six of the seven major movie studios behind it: Disney, Fox, MGM, Sony, Warner Bros., and Paramount. Meanwhile, HD DVD has lost some of its luster. Longtime ally Warner Bros. — the studio that worked hardest to make the DVD a success — now supports both formats, leaving Universal the only
studio completely in the HD DVD camp."

This would seem to indicate there is going to be a much wider selection of titles in Blu-Ray format as opposed to HD-DVD. The same way that space on the media over quality of the the media was the deciding factor in the VHS/Beta wars, I think availablity of titles may be the biggest deciding factor in consumers choosing their HD player preference.

[SuicideNinja @ Jun 13th 2006 5:39PM]

One thing to bring up:

Most of the best movies are behind us. Lately, there hasn't been much for stellar Cinema. The older movies were also not recorded in HD.

Not only is there a transition to new media, but there is the transition for native HD resolutions as well. Although many a video is captured in HD now, it hasn't been for very long.

So if a consumer goes and buys a movie that is remastered/upscaled...they are not going to see the justification of all the costs behind Bluray or HD-DVD.

[tristanfey @ Jun 13th 2006 5:46PM]

**Addendum to my previous post**

Both formats may end up losing out if the HD war drags on too long. It may simply be bypassed by the HVD format. Following quote from Sound and Vision Feb 2006:

"HVD With Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD slated to hit stores in the coming months, it's amusing to think that both formats could be bested by yet another disc format: Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD). The massive potential storage capacity of HVD — one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) on a single disc — easily trumps the other two formats. That's enough to hold 80 hours of HDTV! The technology, which was invented by Japanese company Optware, uses two lasers: a green one that reads holographically encoded data on the disc's recording layer, and a red one that reads tracking information on a second layer. There aren't any products yet, but Optware has formed an "HVD alliance" with other Japanese companies to promote and standardize the technology, and backers include Toshiba. Optware predicts it will have low-cost HVD drives available as early as 2007."

[E4 @ Jun 13th 2006 7:55PM]

Yeah, I'm not making any plans to buy either at this point. The players, including the PS3, are just too expensive.

I'm totally offended that Sony believes I'll buy a PS3 and suddenly adopt Blu-Ray. They're in for a wake up call in my opinion. It's possible I may avoid the PS3, even though I'm currently a PS2 and PSP owner.

I don't see how anyone can forcast a winner at this point already. That's there's even two formats, means we've all already lost.

Me, I'm going to be content with DVD for as long as I can hold out. I've never thought the picture was a problem. I'm not having any problems with sound. I'm not complaining about the lack of special features or content. And I'm certainly not complaining about the content being too inexpensive. Thing is, these days I use Netflix to rent movies rather than buying anymore anyway.

Good luck to both formats. I wish you each well.

[mrarmageddon @ Jun 13th 2006 8:32PM]

Personally, I think - and there are quite a few articles on this - the porn industry (god bless 'em) is going to decide this format battle, and it's backing Blu-ray. Beyond that though, to me at least, Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD seems a lot less reminiscent of Betamax vs. VHS and a lot more like SACD vs. DVD-A - it's a war no one seems to be really winning and no one particularly cares. How many people actually own HDTVs? Yes, the percentage is increasing, but from I last read the number is still well below 10 percent.

[Chris McCaw @ Jun 14th 2006 1:21PM]

In another article, HD-DVD admits it has less capacity than Blu-ray saying 15G is enough. My god, they're admitting it's an inferior product. So what if Blu-ray costs a little more at first if it's the better product in the long run? Why won't people (HD-DVD supporters) open up their blind eyes to reality?!

[Greg Wagener @ Jun 14th 2006 1:46PM]

I'm telling you, Blu-ray is not ready for prime time and you can thank Intel. The HDMI connection is not up to par yet.