The High Definition era started in earnest in the UK with the release of the UK's first Blu-ray disc player, the Samsung BD-P1000. It lets consumers take full advantage of their high-definition displays, playing content at native 720p, 1080i or 1080p video resolutions. It offers full 1080p output via HDMI for the highest available resolution and up-conversion capabilities for improving the picture of standard DVDs.

The HDMI output gives an uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface on a single cable, allowing users to easily connect the Blu-ray disc player to their existing home televisions. It will also decode standard multi-channel audio. Supported audio formats include 192KHz LPCM, Dolby digital & Dolby Digital Plus, MPEG 2, DTS and MP3.

Additional features of the BD-P1000 include a memory card reader supporting Compact Flash, XD Picture card, Micro Drive, SD, MMC & RS-MMC, Memory stick and Memory stick duo, pop-up and always-on menu options; a full colour high-definition animated button; and improved bitmap and text subtitles.

Connectivity includes CVBS Output, S-Video Output, component output, HDMI and both digital and analogue audio outputs.

The increased storage capacity of Blu-ray discs allows the Samsung BD player to offer 25 GB of content on a single-sided disc (50 GB per dual layer) - nearly six times the capacity of traditional DVDs and enough space for two hours of high-definition movies or recorded content. Remember though that this is a Player and NOT a Recorder, they are likely to follow next year. Expect to pay around £600 or less in the UK.

Check here for New and Used BD P1000s .

Samsung BD-P1000

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