Samsung presents the BD-P1000, or how they call it, "the ultimate viewing experience" and "the future of high-definition content". Apart from decoding format, Americans already have essentially the same box, although Samsung put a neat spin on this by saying that this lag means the "firmware issues have been ironed out" for the UK launch. With Sky HD ready, the time is probably right for a Blu-Ray launch and Samsung believes Brits in particular still like to own physical media rather than downloaded bytes, says an Inquirer reporter who was present at the launch.

"It's not like we have broadband like Korea where you can download a movie in half an hour," said a spokesman. And I wonder if he's serious, because last night I've downloaded a movie in 2 minutes and my connection is not even close to be good compared with those from UK.

The "Region 2" box plays at resolutions up to 1080p and is backwards compatible with CD and DVD formats, although Samsung reckons some players from other vendors might not be. The bundled discs are SWAT, from the big Blu-Ray content backer Sony, and Legends of Jazz. Sony also plans to have a bunch of Blu-Ray movies as of 16 October, at prices it says will be in the DVD cost range. Sony also announced that it would introduce a Blu-ray Disc (BD) recorder in Japan by the year's end. "The BD recorder is one of the products Sony is gearing up for a rapid transition from standard definition to high definition resolution products. HD products will account for 80 percent of video product sales next year", said Tsugie Miyashita, president of Sony Marketing, Japan.

As ever, there's the catch. Street price will be about £1,000 and higher although this should soften by about £100 come Christmas. Panasonic should provide some competition within a few weeks and more Samsung boxes with extra home-theatre rigs will be available next year.


At these prices, the Korean giant acknowledged that the box will sell in thousands rather than real volumes this year in the UK but you can expect all good retailers, and some pretty bad ones too, to start displaying Blu-Ray goods very soon, said the same reporter.