We'll be straight with you -- we aren't surprised one iota by this one. For those keeping tabs, Samsung's slate of Blu-ray players have been plagued with issues essentially from day one, and while it has released a flurry of firmware updates over the years in an attempt to mend a variety of incompatibility issues, even its recent BD-UP5000 hybrid player is being axed early on after giving owners all sorts of fits. Apparently, one particular buyer isn't taking things lying down, and has decided to file suit against the mega-corp alleging that it has sold "defective Blu-ray players" to consumers. According to the suit, Sammy was "fully aware of the defective nature of the player [BD-P1200, in particular] at the time of manufacture and sale," and it also claims that the firm has "failed to provide a remedy consistent with the products' intended and represented uses." More specifically, the verbiage picks on the units' inability to play back select BD titles, and while some fixes have indeed been doled out, we still get the feeling many consumers have been left dissatisfied. Needless to say, this outcome should be interesting.

[Thank, Nfinity and Prey521]

Samsung's 2nd generation Blu-ray is hitting retail shelves this week, and HDGuru has the first review up. As you might expect, the next gen is both better and cheaper than the last, and Samsung's latest Blu-ray player lives up to expectations of quality using the Silicon Optix HQV Reon signal processor (that'd be the same video chip used in HD DVD's top player the XA2). The player features HDMI 1.3, as well as 24fps output, but still no Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD playback. Also new on this model is an Ethernet jack, but don't expect any additional downloadable content, this jack is only for firmware updates. The reviewer was hard pressed to see any difference in quality between this and some of the other Blu-ray players, but it did outshine the rest in the HD HQV Benchmark tests and overall speed. While Blu-ray fans are happy to have a new player at the new price point, those who know will hold off till October when the proper next generation players hit the street.

Samsung launched the first Blu-ray player, the BD-P1000, last year and is first into the breach again with its second generation player, the BD-P1200. Featuring HDMI 1.3 (with CEC to control other devices, just like some of LG's new HDTVs), and DTS audio support the player will launch in March with a price of only $799, compared to the $999 launch price of the previous version. Samsung also confirmed the unit will feature an HQV processor for clear images, but no word on if it is the same process used in Toshiba's HD-XA2, or if 1080p24 will be an available option at launch. Check our live coverage of the press conference for more information, or continue on for more pictures. From the press conference we know it also has an ethernet connection, but no mention of any BD-Live functionality, yet.