If you have a Samsung BD-UP5000, life is not all that bad! Yes, your player won’t be seeing many HD-DVDs anymore but you now can upgrade your player to profile 1.1 with the new firmware v1.3 Samsung released. Even though you bought a Combo player compatible with Blu-ray profile 1.0, you can upgrade it to profile 1.1 (BonusView). The firmware was released 2 days ago and it is available!

This is a list of changes you will get with the new firmware:

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1. Upgrades current BD-UP5000 to profile 1.1
2. Upgrades BD-UP5000 with HD audio bit-stream output function.
3. Updates User interface based on BD profile 1.1
4. Improves playback compatibility in some movies

Click here to get the BD-UP5000 v1.3 firmware!

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Popularity: 54% [?]

Samsung and LG will no longer produce players that are capable of playing both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Discs as of this fall. This move will help both companies to cut costs.

Here is what they have to say about this piece of news:

“Surely, it is a very tough decision for us to halt the production of the combos, however, we will stop manufacturing the Super Blu series from the second half of this year,” said a spokesman from LG Electronics.

“Since February this year, we have no longer been producing combo players that support the playback of HD-DVD and Blu-ray high-definition discs,” a spokesperson from Samsung Electronics told The Korea Times, Monday.

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So basically if you have HD-DVD discs, you are now on your own if something happens to your current player. Once the players that are available on the market now are gone, you can kiss HD-DVD bye bye…You see? That’s what you get for choosing a format that has no future!

You can find combo players here as long as inventory lasts. After that - Try E-Bay!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Samsung has exposed a few more details on the previously announced Blu-ray player. This will be the company’s fourth generation player which keeps getting pushed back, at first it was supposed to hit the market in April, then in May and now June… The drive is 1080p-capable, and has an HDMI 1.3 output with CEC support, allowing control through home theater systems. Also present on the unit are an upconverter chip — which scales to maximum resolutions. It will include Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD High resolution (scheduled to available later this year via firmware update). From the picture it will have a slick look.

The BD-P1500 is only loaded with BD profile 1.1 firmware, but is said to be ready for BD-Live. That means that, at first, it will not support web-enabled features included on certain discs. However, it will carry an Ethernet port for a possible 2.0 firmware upgrade.

Specs

Playable Media

• BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-R(V mode only), DVD-RW (V/VR mode), Audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW

Video

• Blu-ray playback at content native HD resolution of 1080p/1080i/720p
• 1080p 24 Fs / 60 Fs
• Selectable DVD upconversion (720p/1080i/1080p)

Audio

• 2.1 channel output
• Coaxial and optical digital audio outputs
• Dolby® Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD,

Features

• HDMI 1.3 digital interface (1080p/1080i/720p)
• MPEG2, VC-1, H.264, HD JPEG decoding
• BD Java
• HDMI, Component Video, S-Video outputs
• HDMI CEC
• Ethernet port

Via: BusinessWire

Popularity: 12% [?]

Samsung BD-UP5000 is a duo HD player, which means it plays both Blu-ray as well as HD-DVD discs. This is a great solution for those who made the mistake of buying the wrong format before the war was over and now are stuck with HD-DVD movies! Not many duo players were released and I am sure pretty soon they will be discontinued. So if you are one of those people stuck with HD-DVD, I would suggest to get moving and buying one (Only if you don’t plan on throwing your defunct discs as Frisbees out of the window of course!). Warning: Make sure you read all the specs thoroughly as this player won’t play BD-E or BD-RE. Also make sure to read more about the player because from my research it needs a firmware update to work properly.

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Compatibility

• Playback Media BD-ROM, HD DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R
• Playback Formats MPEG2, VC-1, H.264, HD JPEG decoding

Specs

• A/V Quality DVD Upconversion- Selectable DVD upconversion via HQV
• Dolby Dital Decoder
• Dolby Digital Plus Decoder
• DTS HD Decoder
• Dolby True HD Decoder
• HDMI CEC
• 1 Composite Video Output
• 1 Component Video Output
• 1 S-Video Outputs
• HDMI Output 1.3
• 1 Optical Digital Audio Output
• 1 Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs

Popularity: 14% [?]