Digital Trends

CE company announces a month delay in the U.S. launch of the BD-P1000 while compatibility testing is completed.

Samsung Electronics today offically pushed back the U.S. release date of their Blu-ray Disc player from May 23 to June 25 in order to "complete compatibility testing with several Blu-Ray test discs that will become available in late April from product manufacturers and content providers".

Samsung said the hardware development for the BD-P1000 is already complete and units will begin being produced once the compatibility testing is complete. The consumer electronics company anticipates still being the first company to launch a Blu-ray Disc player on a national level and added "they will continue to introduce products only when a high quality level has been assured".

Also announced by Samsung were two new features for the player. These include 1080p output via HDMI for Blu-Ray software titles that are digitally mastered in 1920 x 1080 resolution and up to 1080p up-conversion of conventional DVDs through the HDMI digital interface as well as an upgrade of 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 so that the native high definition resolution contained in 3MP or larger digital still pictures can be enjoyed on a high definition television.

Samsung added that these upgrades will not impact the $999 price of the BD-P1000. This company is not the first to run into Blu-ray related production delays — Sony delayed the launch of their PlayStation 3 until November because of delays related to finalizing technical agreements surrounding copy protection technology for the next generation optical disc format.