Samsung confirms Blu-ray Disc player range reduced

Samsung has finally spoken up over rumours it may drop the BD-P2400 Blu-ray Disc player from its range, confirming that the machine will no longer make it to market.

Samsung BD-UP5000: Blu-ray and HD DVD support

The BD-P2400 was designed to sit in between the low-end Blu-ray only BD-1400 and high-end HD DVD and Blu-ray BD-UP5000, all three of which were recently unveiled at the IFA show in Berlin.

However, the South Korean giant has since confirmed that “the BD-P2400 was removed from the 2007 holiday line-up” after an assessment of its product line-up, a number of websites report.

Samsung BD-P1400: Blu-ray support only

It’ll now focus on the 5.1-channel sound BD-P1400, which doesn’t offer upscaling of standard-definition pictures, and the BD-UP5000 with 7.1-channel sound and upscaling technology.

Samsung also said its BD-UP5000 model will be Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1 ready, which comes into force on 31 October. The profile, which supersedes 1.0, requires players to have a minimum of 256MB memory and to include a secondary video decoder for picture in picture viewing. In January, the firm will also issue a firmware update for existing non-compliant models.

The BD-P1400 has gone already on sale in the UK for around £330.The BD-UP5000 will appear by December, in the US at least. However, it’s not known if the same timeframe applies to the UK, or what it’ll cost.