Samsung planning dual-format HD-DVD/Blu-ray disc player
We've already resigned ourselves to a long and pointless format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray over which next-gen optical disc gets to succeed the DVD, but at least one heavyweight says they're going to increase the peace and introduce a universal player that can handle both formats. Samsung's been mainly in the Blu-ray camp — they already introduced a Blu-ray recorder late last year (the BD-R1000) — but the head of the company's consumer electronics division threw down the other day, declaring that Samsung would, "welcome a unified standard, but if this doesn't come, which looks likely, we'll bring a unified solution to market." Doesn't sound like it'll be easy to pull off, but a universal player would definitely be good for consumers since they wouldn't have to worry about whether they'll actually be able to watch the high-def movies they're buying. It'd also put manufacturers who are firmly committed to one format or the other in a tight spot: why would you buy a Toshiba HD-DVD player or a Sony Blu-ray player when you could just get a Samsung combo player that can play both?
