Toshiba and LG have already indicated their plans to wow us at CES, and now the first company to release a Blu-ray player -- Samsung -- has announced it will display the first second generation player next week at CES. The new player is expected to cost 20 percent less than its predecessor (the BD-P1000, pictured above), but contain more interactive functions. We hope that means this will be the first non-PlayStation 3 device to support BD Live features, although we'll have to wait and see. As far as joining LG with a hybrid player like the one it had announced and then denied last year, the company currently has "no plans" to do so, but could if the market remains divided. Other products we can expect to see next week include even larger versions of Samsung's Slim DLP HDTVs, and an all new line of plasmas going all the way up to 80 inches.

So check it: intrepid optical media journo Bill Hunt -- the same man who told us with some confidence that 50GB Blu-ray discs would definitely NOT work on currently-configured BD-P1000 players -- is now reporting that dual-layer movies WILL actually play on the Samsung machine, no firmware update required. Hunt was at an unnamed Hollywood studio the other day before a taping of Attack of the Show when he had the privilege of watching one of the first production 50GB discs playing in an unmodified P1000, even observing the seamless switch from one layer to the next. According to Hunt, the previous compatibility problems were restricted to BD-R discs only -- media that was being used to test authoring -- and that the final production BD-ROMs should work just fine on your existing hardware. In all honesty we're kind of disappointed at this revelation, as were just about to snatch up an HD DVD player, and now once again we're hopelessly torn between the two formats. Bah, maybe we'll just cave in and settle for whatever low-res fare we can dredge up on Unbox and iTunes.

Much like Pioneer, Samsung is still bumming us out by not whipping up a combo Blu-ray and HD DVD player. But good ol' Sammy is announcing its first Blu-ray player, the BD-P1000, to be released in Europe in October 2006, with price estimates reaching €1,400. It's due to go head-to-head with Toshiba's HD-E1 and HD-XE1, which ares due to come out the following month. Guys, can't we bury this hatchet already and just settle this war? It's obvious that building a hybrid player is entirely possible, and to motivate you to get on it we're officially going to sulk and go on hunger strike. Go on, try us.

Most new technologies have some teething problems as the early kinks are worked out, but it seems like the Blu-ray camp is experiencing more than its fair share of growing pains -- first the delays, then news that the supposed format-savior PS3 might price itself right out of the market, and finally the revelation that first-gen BD-P1000's were shipping with a picture-degrading chip. Well now it appears that there's even more bad news for Sony's pride and joy, as The Digital Bits' Bill Hunt is confirming what many people already suspected after reading their P1000 manuals: the $1,000 player, as currently configured, will be unable to support movies on upcoming 50GB discs. Hunt cites multiple anonymous industry sources in reporting that Samsung is still having problems getting 50GB discs to work on its machines -- production titles weren't even available to test before the players launched -- and that both Sony and Pioneer are experiencing the same issues with their upcoming products. Luckily for current P1000 owners, it seems that this incompatibility is of the type that will eventually be solved by a firmware upgrade, but until that time, movie studios have been forced to delay longer titles like Lawrence of Arabia and Black Hawk Down -- no doubt frustrating some consumers. With so much on the line here, it's clear that this issue will be resolved sooner or later; however, with the HD DVD camp already offering cheaper (and more) hardware, a larger media selection, and garnering better initial reviews than Blu-ray, it's not clear how much time is left before the so-called format war begins leaning decidedly in HD DVD's favor.

[Via HDBeat]

If you shelled out over $1,000 for Samsung's BD-P1000 Blu-ray player only to discover that the picture quality wasn't as impressive as you'd expected, fear not: it looks like a faulty-but-fixable chip may be responsible for the sub-par video. After noticing a "softness" in each of the titles he viewed with the P1000 -- especially compared to the performance of Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player -- Perfect Vision editor Scott Wilkinson initiated a chain of events that has culminated with Samsung VP Jim Sanduski confirming that there is indeed a hardware problem with the initial rollout. Apparently, the machines have been leaving the factory with the Genesis scaler chip's noise-reduction circuit enabled, and after comparing a repaired unit to one out of the box, Wilkinson agrees that the fix does indeed result in a sharper picture. Future P1000's will be shipping with noise-reduction disabled, and luckily for current owners, Samsung will be releasing a firmware update that you can download, burn to disc, and pop into your player. So the lesson we've learned here is: early-adopters beware, because even though this problem has a relatively easy solution, next time you may not be so lucky.

[Via HDBeat]

Being an early-adopter is risky business -- especially when the product in question costs $1,000 and is embroiled in a so-called format war -- so the opinions of experienced reviewers are key in helping folks to decide whether or not to take the Blu-ray plunge, and whether Samsung's BD-P1000 is the machine to do it with. Luckily PCMag has a thorough write-up which not only discusses the merits and detriments of the player itself, but looks at the format as a whole to determine what type of consumer would actually benefit from next-gen optical devices in the first place. The review basically boils down to this: if you have a high definition TV larger than 42-inches, then you'll definitely notice a difference between Blu-ray and standard or upscaled DVDs, and the Samsung does a good job delivering the picture quality that Blu-ray is capable of. However, this particular reviewer also feels that Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player -- at half the price -- has a slight edge in the picture department, although the P1000's uncompressed audio and ease-of-setup are judged to be superior. Ultimately the decision comes down to personal preferences, so you'll probably want to give both devices a thorough going-over at the store (even if you're buying online); as for us, we're just hoping that Ricoh gets that dual format laser out the door poste haste, so we never have to make a choice at all.

[Via Digital Media Thoughts]

Get 'em while they're hot! After delaying their release for hardware, Sony Pictures just dropped their first batch of hot-n-juicy Blu-ray flicks just in time for Samsung's BD-P1000 launch on June 25th. Titles rightly include action and SciFi faves such as The Fifth Element, House of Flying Daggers, XXX, and The Terminator among others, as well as 50 First Dates for your softer, Sandler side. A quick check on Amazon shows these titles shipping now for about $20 bills. So if you were lucky enough to grab one of those Sammy's early then make us proud -- put your order in, kick back, and let that slow suit of sallow take hold.

Life sure is good in The Man Room. First these guys got a hold of Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player before almost anyone else, and now they've also managed to score a Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray unit a full six days before the official release, capturing the entire unboxing process for us to enjoy. Since the first Blu-ray titles won't go on sale until tomorrow, initial impressions are limited to the player's design, menu layout, and upscaling abilities, with the HD-A1's output used as a reference point in the latter category. The good news here is that the 500 extra bucks you'll have to spend to pick up the Samsung do indeed give you a few initial advantages over the Tosh, such as the snazzier packaging (big deal), more attractive case, and perhaps most importantly, significantly faster startup and load times. On the downside, the HD-A1 showed slightly better upconverting abilities than the Blu-ray model, and The Man Room also experienced a rather unnerving shrinking and flickering of the menus when connecting to a 1080i projector. As for us, we're gonna wait until some reviews start showing up online before we decide to either shell out the cash or wait for the Sony, the Pioneer, or maybe even the PS3 to come out. Keep reading to check out the remote and a shot of the main menu...

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.

We know you're getting antsy for that irresistably shiny new Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player, and if you just can't seem to shake the jitters then here, fine, sate your appetite. Samsung posted the user manual for the P1000 on their site, in its entirety, uncut and totally uncensored. So far as we can tell there's really nothing much in there we didn't already know about the thing, but who are we to protest technology ogling in the privacy of your own home? Free country, man. [Warning: PDF link]

[Thanks, Craig]

Well, it's officially late May, meaning it's not at all surprising that the Samsung BD-P1000, which was delayed until late June, is starting to show up online for pre-order. We obviously don't yet have any hard ship dates from Sammy themselves, but if you were ready and rearin' to plunk down your $999.99 out of spite for your friends who've already had their Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player (which goes for $500 or less online), get out your wallet, son, it's time to do this.

[Via I4U]

Looks like Toshiba isn't the only company with last-minute jitters about the market for next-gen optical disc players. Samsung has now confirmed rumors that the company's BD-P1000, its first consumer Blu-ray disc player, will be delayed from its original ship date of May 23 to sometime in late June. According to Samsung, the $999 player is being delayed due to "testing" needs, though we certainly can't rule out the possibility that at least one of the "tests" the company is planning will be a check of the amount of BD media in the marketplace by the launch date. Samsung still says its player will be the first Blu-ray unit to hit the US market, though Sony's BDP-S1 is currently scheduled for a July ship, so Samsung had better hope the tests are finished on time.

[Thanks, Jim]