Blu-ray movie discs and player to debut in US May 23

February 28, 2006

Over at PC World, we can read a new launch date for both Blu-ray movies and a corresponding player. This time, Samsung says that they will be offering their first player in late May.

The Blu-ray Disc high-definition optical disc format will launch in the U.S. on May 23 when the first player and movies become available, backers of the format said this week.

Samsung Electronics will be first out of the gate with a Blu-ray Disc player. Its BD-P1000, which was first shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, will be available from May 23 at Best Buy, Circuit City, and specialist retailers, the company said in a statement.

No price for the player was given. At CES Samsung said it plans to sell the machine for around $1000, but the original launch date was slated for April.

This new launch date for blue laser products was caused by the delay during closed door talks regarding the content protection system for the discs. Although the discussions are not complete, an interim agreement was forged last week, allowing manufacturers to finalize products, opening the door to the roll out of blue laser products. The report went on to say that soon after the Samsung launch, Sony and Pioneer will also launch their hardware and Sony will even offer a Vaio personal computer with Blu-ray Disc drive. Details were not given on these statements however.

The first Sony titles to be released were listed as: 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse, and XXX. You can see a larger listing of future film releases and also read the story in it's entirety at the source, by following this link to PC World.

Special thanks to mrdataNY used our news submit to tell us about this story as well.

Source: PC World