Blu-ray supporter Samsung is hedging its bets on the outcome in the war of hires formats by announcing the introduction of a dual-format HD player "in time for the holidays."

Samsung’s Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. That places the Duo HD above the dual-format player announced by LG in January which only handle Blu-ray interactivity – HD DVD playback is limited to the movies themselves.

Though first to bring a Blu-ray player to the market, Samsung has become increasingly willing to throw its weight behind HD DVD as well as Blu-ray of late, most notably by announcing last month a latptop with an integrated HD DVD drive.

"We welcome Samsung's Duo HD player as another solution in the marketplace that will help reduce consumer confusion and buyer hesitancy towards HD media," said Ron Sanders, President of Warner Home Video. "This is an innovative product that can move us closer to mainstream consumer adoption of HD technologies."

“As a member of the DVD Forum and contributor to the DVD Industry, we recognize that both HD-DVD and BD formats have merits. As such, we have decided to market a dual format player. Samsung is flexible to market a stand-alone HD-DVD player whenever consumers demand it. Our main concern is not technology but consumer choice” said Dongsoo Jun, Executive Vice President of the Digital AV Division at Samsung Electronics.

Servicing both HD format constituencies could be the safe option, however, if one goes by early results from staw polls on specialist websites.

To the question: Which HD disc format will be the standard in 5 years? 39.5% of the 1537 respondents to HDBlu.com said Blu-ray, 38.6% HD DVD, 9.3% believe both will be standards, 8.1% foresee a new technology will replace both, 4.5% reckons DVD will still be the standard.

For the 226 respondents** who answered the question: Which of the blue-laser formats has gained ground over its competitor since the start of the year? posted on the website of industry magazine One-to-One, 46.1% said HD DVD, 38.9% Blu-ray, 15% Neither.

*as of 13 March 2007, **between 31 January and 13 April 2007.

Story filed 15.04.07