Digital Trends

What if you threw a format war and nobody came? Samsung is apparently considering making an HD player compatible with both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Electronics giant Samsung, currently the only maker with a Blu-ray movie player actually one the U.S. market, will decide later this year whether it wants to launch a movie player compatible with both Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition disk formats.

At a briefing with reporters in Suwon, South Korea, assistant manager of Samsung's home platform products division Kim Du-Hyon said the company is already working on a drive which can handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD, although Samsung doesn't have any plans to release a player exclusively for HD DVD content. Kim did re-iterate Samsung's position as a staunch Blu-ray supporter, predicting Blu-ray will ultimately defeat HD DVD in the marketplace.

Samsung doesn't seem to be alone in considering supporting both HD formats in a single player: LG Electronics has publicly stated it plans to make drives which support both formats. However, no information is available on what such devices might cost in the market place, or whether licensing fees or manufacturing costs will make consumer prices prohibitive—announced Blu-ray players are already priced at a premium in comparison to HD DVD systems. Also, many drive manufacturers are members of both the Blu-ray and HD DVD forums or share manufacturing facilities with partners on the other side of the fence. Samsung is partnered wth HD DVD leader Toshiba in a storage technology company, and Blu-ray king Sony partnered with NEC in a joint venture Optiarc just a few months ago, specifically to engage in optical disc operations.