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 After many fits and starts, the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player will finally make it to Canadian retail shelves on June 30th.
The company’s first high definition Blu-ray player, which is expected to compete with Toshiba's next generation DVD player, was originally supposed to ship in May but was delayed primarily because of the late arrival of Blu-ray movies to play on the machine.
The Samsung BD-P1000 will play Blu-ray software titles at the highest resolution available via a native 1080p HDMI output for films digitally mastered in 1920 x 1080p. The BD-P1000 will also up-convert conventional DVD to HD resolutions through the HDMI digital interface. The BD-P1000 is backwards compatible and plays both standard DVDs and CDs in addition to supporting the following DVD formats: DVD-RAM, DVD-RW,DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD+R. Support for other HD video formats such as DivX and WMVHD is not available.
If you are looking to be an early adopter, you should be aware that as of June 30th, only 12 titles are available in the Blu-ray format and they are considerably more expensive than the same movie in DVD format. Titles currently available include: 50 First Dates, Crash, Hitch, House Of Flying Daggers, Lord of War, Saw, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Fifth Element, The Punisher, The Terminator, Ultraviolet, Underworld: Evolution, and xXx.  Samsung BD-P1000 Player retails for $1,299
In a recent check by Digital Home, we found the pricing for Blu-ray movies to be priced anywhere from 60% to 300% more than their DVD equivalent. For example, at one of Canada's biggest retailers, we found The Terminator priced at $9.99 and Crash at $16.99. Blu-ray versions of these two movies were $29.99 and $31.99 respectively.
Additionally, Samsung has included a 10-in-2 multi memory card interface that supports all the major formats including Compact Flash, Secure Digital, XD Picture Card, Memory Stick and others. By including a memory card interface into the Samsung BD-P1000, the native high definition resolution contained in 2-megapixel and larger digital still pictures can be fully rendered on a high definition television via slide show functionality built into the player.
Connectivity includes HDMI, Component, S-video and composite outputs. Supported audio formats include: Dolby Digital & Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, MP3 and 192KHz LPCM.
The BD-P1000 will be available in stores on June 30, 2006 at a suggested selling price of $1299.
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