Score a minor victory of sorts for the HD DVD camp. Samsung has announced that they will be supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Up until this announcement, Samsung had been strictly supporting the Blu-ray format and not the HD DVD format. The company expects to introduce a dual format system similar to the LG Electronics dual format player in stores by the holiday season.

This announcement might level the playing field a little bit more for HD DVD. Up until now, Toshiba was the only company to manufacture HD DVD players. Samsung, Sony, Philips and Panasonic all manufacture Blu-ray players. On the content side, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Walt Disney Pictures, and Sony Pictures exclusively support Blu-ray while Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Paramount Pictures supports HD DVD. However, keep in mind that Warner Brothers and Paramount also support the Blu-ray format. Clearly Blu-ray enjoys the content and hardware lead at this time and with sales favoring Blu-ray, one wonders whether HD DVD can survive. However with Samsung joining the HD DVD camp and with the possibility for low cost HD DVD players on the horizon, things could finally start looking up for the HD DVD platform.

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