Samsung's DB-UP5000 HD DVD / Blu-ray player: $799, shipping mid-to-late December

Good news. This time, we won't be burdening you with more talk of delays to Samsung's DB-UP5000 dual format player. On the contrary, a Samsung spokesperson told Dealerscope that the much anticipated HD DVD and Blu-ray player is on target for a "mid-to-late December" launch. Better yet, the price is down from $999 to a more reasonable $799. That is, until you consider the combined cost of a $499 $399 PS3 and sub-$200 HD DVD player.

[Paris @ Dec 6th 2007 5:34AM]

Bah! Who needs a $499 PS3 and a sub-$200 HD DVD player when you can have this for $799!

[MegaZone @ Dec 6th 2007 5:35AM]

Or even a $399 40GB PS3.

[Ph4r @ Dec 6th 2007 5:54AM]

But can I do the mail-ins for movies from both camps?

[Reader @ Dec 6th 2007 6:41AM]

Yeah for that price you can pretty much get a 40gb PS3 and an xbox 360 with an HD DVD player. Those two are a hell of a lot more fun than just this thing.

[Alex @ Dec 6th 2007 12:49PM]

Imagine what would happen if the external Xbox360 HD-DVD drive works on PS3...

[Fruition @ Dec 6th 2007 6:49AM]

Well, yes, not the cheapest option for those looking to enjoy both formats, but have you guys thought of the convenience of having an all-in-one device? What about on older TV's which only have one HDMI-in?

For those looking for such convenience, they might have found it here.

[Dave @ Dec 6th 2007 7:14AM]

I think two days ago they showed a basic belkin hdmi switch for $40... still cheaper

[Cheinonen @ Dec 6th 2007 7:21AM]

This will also, thanks to the Reon chip in it, do better 1080p for HD-DVD than any player other than the $500 Toshiba HD-XA2, and do better DVD scaling than almost any Blu-Ray player out there as well. In addition, for many people like myself, the player being able to do the internal decoding of the new formats and outputting them over analog outputs lets us use our old, non-HDMI receivers and still get the new sound formats. Yeah, at first glance it seems too expensive, but a couple of it's features make it reasonable.

[BuzzyJ @ Dec 6th 2007 2:35PM]

Exactly. Try to find a receiver with a Reon chip for a reasonable amount of money. With this player, you get the best DVD scaling out there so you can 1080p straight into your TV with no addtional processing by a TV or Receiver. On the audio side, Toshiba's A35 has bitstream output but it's 1080p performance can't match Reon equipped hardware like the XA2, which is far from cheap. If you have a top notch HDTV and a huge standard def DVD collection, you'll want a Reon chip.

[cij61 @ Dec 6th 2007 7:36AM]

I don't know about the rest of the world, but there are $299 Sony blue-ray stand-alone units for sale in our Post Exchange here in Japan. Not to mention the bump down to $129 for the X360 unit. This has a way to go. Get it below $400 then call me.

[Paul Barwick @ Dec 6th 2007 9:36AM]

Yawn. Wake me up when it gets to $79.99.

[Sebastian Franck @ Dec 6th 2007 10:07AM]

It pains me to say it in this venerable forum, but there is really no question of a PS3 + XBox360 with stand-alone HD-DVD drive being a viable alternative to a one-box solution. Except that is, if you are living byself, say in a dorm. In which case there is no end to the number of boxes and cables you will go through just to save a 100$.

[Pell @ Dec 6th 2007 10:38AM]

Yea, but the HD-DVD and Bluray players from PS3 and 360 are limited with audio, they can not send true digital audio. The ps3 can send most formats over PCM but not Bitrate, so to me they can't compete with this. To me the audio is just important, but that's me!

[Aaron @ Dec 6th 2007 12:40PM]

I hope the implementation is better than the LG HB100 dual format player. With the LG player, HD-DVD special features cannot be played on the unit at all. In fact, the title menu will not even appear when playing an HD-DVD disc. You basically can only play the HD-DVD movie itself. There is no ability for interactive menus.

I wonder what Samsung has to say about that feature. Engadget?

[h0mi @ Dec 6th 2007 12:51PM]

Is this a profile 1.1 player? Isn't it supposed to be a 1.1 player?

[Michael @ Dec 6th 2007 8:15PM]

40GB PS3 ($399) + Xbox Arcade ($179) + Xbox HD-DVD player ($129) = $707

Samsung HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Player = $799

For a moviegeek who cares nothing about videogames, the Sammy is still not a bad price.
For someone who wants the ultimate videogame/movie combo, go with the PS3 and Xbox+HD-DVD attachment

[Brian @ Jan 4th 2008 9:45AM]

I bought the duo player from Best Buy 2 days ago, I took it back yesterday and got a ps3. It has many glitches and there is no current updates. I bought the new Resident Evil Blue Ray and the player will not play it, it has a much slower load time then the PS3 when loading the blue-ray menu for profile 1.1 disk. It would play War though and thats 1.1. HD-dvd is going to die out anyway and the only must have movie is Batman Begins and that will be out on Blue Ray soon! Its not worth the 749 I paid, maybe 400. Its also much bigger looking in person, Maybe next year if they slim it down and fix the bugs, and get the audio working it will be cool to have!