Korean giant 'rescheduling introduction' to 25 June

Korean vendor Samsung said yesterday that it is rescheduling the introduction of its Blu-ray player in the US from 23 May to 25 June in order to complete compatibility testing with several Blu-Ray test discs that will become available in late April.

Samsung said that the hardware development for its BD-P1000 Blu-ray player is complete and ready for mass production in Suwon, South Korea once these compatibility tests are passed.

"We still anticipate that the BD-P1000 will be the first Blu-ray player to launch at a national level in the US," the company said.

Samsung has also added two new features to the BD-P1000 without changing the expected $999 street price.

The player will now have a native 1080p output via HDMI for Blu-ray software titles digitally mastered in 1920 x 1080 resolution and up to 1080p up-conversion of conventional DVDs through the HDMI digital interface.

Samsung has also upgraded the built-in 9-in-2 multi-memory card interface to 11-in-2 by adding support for Mini-SD and Memory Stick Pro Duo formats.

By including a memory card interface into a Blu-ray player, the native high definition resolution contained in 3MB or larger digital still pictures can be enjoyed on a high definition television, the company said.

"We will continue to introduce products only when a high quality level has been assured," Samsung said in a statement.