Both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD deliver fantastic picture and sound, and their onscreen menus and interactive features are light-years ahead of what you get on plain ol' DVD. So if you're considering these high-def formats, I highly recommend getting both!

Of course, until now, that has pretty much required getting two separate players to take advantage of the full complement of disc releases. LG first attempted a solution earlier this year with its Super Multi Blue BH100, a Blu-ray deck that could also play HD DVDs. But as we found out in our April 2007 test report, that player had serious shortcomings, such as an inability to display HD DVD menus, no support for that format's HDi interactive features (something that the DVD Forum requires for players that carry the HD DVD logo), limited support for high-res audio formats, and no CD playback. LG plans to introduce the Super Blu BH200 — a full-featured dual-format player — by the time you read this (see New Products). But Samsung has beaten LG to the punch by loaning us a preproduction sample of its own BD-UP5000 Duo HD player for a sneak peek, in advance of it hitting stores in late December.

The BD-UP5000 has a formidable list of features, starting with dual-format playback that includes full HDi capabilities as well as BD-Java interactivity for Blu-ray. (Samsung says the player will be BD Profile 1.1-ready and will become compliant with this new standard pending a firmware upgrade to be issued by February.) You get onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD lossless audio (and the ability to output a DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream for outboard decoding, also pending a firmware revision), optional 1080p/24 video output (the default is 1080p/60), and Silicon Optix HQV upconversion (via the Reon chip) for standard DVDs. It's a sleek-looking piece, too, with an uncluttered gloss-black faceplate. Aside from the power and disc-tray-open/close buttons, the only other controls to be found here are those for play, stop, fast-forward/reverse, and chapter skip.

The Duo's back panel includes HDMI and component-video outputs along with composite- and S-video. Both coaxial and optical digital audio connections are present, and there's also a 7-channel analog output. This will come in handy if you want to use the player's built-in decoder to convey lossless Dolby soundtracks, or if your receiver lacks HDMI switching. And there's an Ethernet port on the back panel to hook up to a home network for firmware upgrades (a regular occurrence with both HD DVD and Blu-ray players) and for taking advantage of interactive features on discs.

The remote control is Samsung's standard wand for players and TVs: long and narrow, with glow-in-the-dark buttons for the transport controls. But the rest of the buttons are relatively small and tightly packed, making them difficult to find in a dark room.

The Short Form

Price $999 / samsung.com / 800-726-7864

Snapshot

Though not without its quirks, this preproduction Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD player reveals strong potential.

Plus

•Consistently sharp pictures from HD DVD, Blu-ray, and DVD discs •Smooth, mostly glitch-free operation •Supports both HDi and BD-Java interactivity •Eliminates need for two separate high-def disc players

Minus

•Audio in our prototype still a work in progress •Some issues with 1080p/24 video output in our early sample

Key Features

•1080p/24/60 high-def output •Silicon Optix HQV video upconversion •Onboard Dolby TrueHD decoding •HDi and BD-Java interactivity •Outputs: HDMI 1.3; component-, composite-, and S-video; coaxial and optical digital audio; 7-channel analog and stereo audio; Ethernet port

During testing, I first connected the Samsung via HDMI to an Anthem AVM50 preamp/processor, and then afterward directly via HDMI to a 1080p-rez TV. I also ran cables from the player's analog audio output to the Anthem's 6-channel analog input. Video output was set at 1080p/60, although I confirmed the player's ability to output a 1080p/24 signal.

The player gives you three output choices in the Audio setup menu: PCM, Bitstream (re-encode), and Bitstream (audiophile). The difference between those last two is that, when re-encode is selected, audio effects like menu-button sounds get mixed into the player's audio output. A Speaker Setup submenu for the analog output lets you choose small or large options for front, center, surround, and surround back speakers, as well as switch the LFE output on or off, but there's no option for speaker distance/delay.

The player's Display Setup menu lets you set video-output resolution to 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p, and configure the 1080p output for direct 24-frames-per-second playback if you choose. In the HDMI Setup menu, you'll find additional options to turn on Anynet (HDMI-CEC, a feature for controlling multiple HDMI-linked devices via one remote) and to switch on the player's variable Sharpness and DVD Noise Reduction settings. Enabling a Sharpness control on a player is a definite no-no, and the Samsung's DVD noise reduction tended to blur picture details at both high and low settings (at least in this preproduction piece), so I left both off.

Performance
With almost any prototype of a sophisticated player, you're going to encounter glitches that you won't likely find in final store samples — and this early Duo was no exception. Among its apparent quirks was a significant lip-sync delay when using the internal audio decoder to output multichannel PCM via HDMI or when using the multichannel analog output; in both cases, there was also a clicking sound that accompanied the audio. (Fortunately, the Duo unit worked fine when playing back a Dolby Digital/DTS bitstream from the coax output.)

In addition, this prototype had trouble playing some Sony Blu-ray titles, which would black out about a minute into playback and remain that way until I unplugged the player's power and rebooted it. There was trouble, too, with some of the newer 20th Century Fox Blu-ray Discs like 28 Weeks Later. (A firmware upgrade for Samsung's BD-P1200 and BD-P1000 Blu-ray players has corrected that problem, but it hadn't been implemented yet in my sample.) Finally, I noted significant "jaggy" artifacts on one of my reference Blu-ray titles, Paramount's Mission: Impossible III, when the player was feeding its 1080p/24 output into the 24p-friendly Pioneer PDP-5010FD plasma TV I used for testing — a problem that went away when I swapped in Samsung's BD-P1200 player. Needless to say, Samsung was still busy finalizing its firmware for the Duo at our deadline, and we'd be surprised to see any of these obvious problems appearing in final production.

When it was up and running, though, the BD-UP5000 showed some solid potential. Video quality was very good: Since the Samsung includes Silicon Optix HQV processing, I was hardly surprised to see the player ace the complete lineup of tests found on that company's DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray test discs — benchmarks that we reviewers use to help gauge performance on disc players and displays. Picture detail with high-def discs in both formats was excellent, and the same held true for DVDs.

From a usability standpoint, our sample of the Duo functioned smoothly, switching between various disc formats in an effortless, transparent manner. Boot-up time from initially pressing the Power button to seeing a Samsung logo appear onscreen was 35 seconds — not bad compared with other high-def disc players. And you can load discs almost immediately, which is a nice convenience. The time to get to the beloved FBI Warning screen varied from disc to disc, but in most cases it was quicker than the player's initial boot-up period.

The Duo provides ultra-smooth 2x and 4x scanning for DVD playback. Fast-forward/reverse scanning on both HD DVD and Blu-ray, while not bad, actually seemed choppy in comparison. As with standalone HD DVD machines, pressing Stop and then Play at any time during HD DVD playback means you have to first go through the disc's initial startup menu and seek out the last scene to resume play. In contrast, pressing Stop and then Play with both Blu-ray discs and regular DVDs whisks you directly to the point where you dashed off to answer the doorbell. The player also proved capable of spinning CDs — thank you, Samsung!

Bottom Line
My time spent previewing Samsung's BD-UP5000 Duo HD player left me hungry for more: Based alone on its video performance with both high-def disc formats and DVDs, this machine holds amazing promise. Assuming that the company sorts out the glitches we found in our preproduction sample, it could have a real winner on its hands. At $999, the Duo isn't cheap. But the prospect of finally chucking your separate Blu-ray, HD DVD, and old DVD decks for this do-it-all player is one that many people will surely find irresistible.

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