Samsung, the first to launch a Blu-ray player to in US has confirmed that it will also become the first to launch a Blu-ray player to the Australian market, with its BD-P1000 set to become available in the final quarter of this year.  For those who are not familiar with this player, it offers a resolution of up to 1080p, doubles up as a DVD up-scaling player and will play existing CDs and DVDs through the use of its dual-lens single pickup technology.  Like the US model and many higher end DVD players, it will also play DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-RAM media and features a memory card reader. 

It is unclear at this time what the retail price will be or where it will be distributed to.  On the other hand, it is also unclear what Blu-ray titles will become the first to coincide with the player's launch.  Just recently, Sony announced its first Blu-ray writer targeted at the Australian market, however according to a recent report, the drive will lack the ability to play commercial movies on Blu-ray due to copy protection issues.  So far, the HD DVD camp has yet to launch a standalone HD DVD player in Australia.  Even though Toshiba already has a Qosmio laptop with a HD DVD drive available there, there are no HD DVD titles on the Australian market available at this time. 

With the recent report of Samsung shipping Blu-ray players with a faulty scaling chip, hopefully its upcoming Australian launch will have this issue plugged.  Assuming no standalone HD DVD player launches in Australia in the meantime, Samsung will have both the advantage of having a head start as well as launching in time for the all important holiday season.  However, with no clear sign of a winner in the US and some consumers holding off both formats for now, it will be interesting to see whether consumers will quickly grab the first Blu-ray players to hit the market or just hold off for the HD DVD launch and wait to see what others are going for.

Source: The Age