Samsung's HD DVD / Blu-Ray combo player, just in case

First it was on, then off, and now wouldn't you know it, Samsung's dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray player might see the light of your home theater after all. Too true, at least according to Digital World Tokyo who caught up with Kim Du-Hyon, the assistant (to the assistant?) manager in Samsung's home-platform product planning division, who said that Sammy is already working on a dual-format, "universal" drive which could launch by the end of the year if HD DVD is as successful as Blu-ray Disc. Hmm, big-ass assumptions aside, it's not really a surprise to find a consumer electronics powerhouse with R&D capital to burn hedging their next-gen, optical disc format bets, especially since Samsung is already in bed with Toshiba (the big mama of HD DVD) on a storage technology joint-venture. And you know Samsung execs are just itchin' for another "world's first" placard. Still, the timing of such a statement couldn't be worse with Samsung's fledgling BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player just days away from US launch signaling the first shot across the bow of the already entrenched HD DVD camp. Now someone please get Sim Hong Woo on the horn to teach those Samsung execs middle-managers how to talk some smack and declare war properly on the competition. Sheez.

[Via HD Beat]