Samsung certainly has been quite busy recently with the high definition player market. The company is reportedly planning to release a new dual format player (BD-UP5000) in Europe by the end of August. At the same time, Samsung is working to finish a third generation Blu-ray player in the form of the BD-P1400 which will be showcased at the 2007 IFA consumer electronics conference to be held in Berlin on August 31st.

The dual format BD-UP5000 will support both Blu-ray and HD DVD media formats as well as HDi and BD-Java interactive technologies. This translates into a player that will fully support both platforms - unlike the LG dual format player which fully supports Blu-ray while only supporting movie playback for HD DVD. Samsung is reportedly saying that the BD-UP5000 will come out in Europe at the end of August. Some rumors have the machine priced at €400 ($548/£271) which is insanely inexpensive relative to other players in the market.

Meanwhile, Samsung is also working on a new third generation Blu-ray player called the Samsung BD-P1400. The unit is expected to have the following features:

• Dolby Digital Plus support
• Dolby TrueHD support
• DTS-HD support
• Built-in Ethernet port

Here’s an interesting thought. If Samsung plans to ship the BD-P1400 after October 31st of this year, the player will have to support several new features not found in current Blu-ray players today because of a new mandate from the Blu-ray Disc Association. One of these features would be picture-in-picture support which basically means having a secondary video stream be played at the same time the main feature film is played.

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