Choi Gee-Sung, Samsung's consumer electronics chief, told the Financial Times Deutschland that the players will be on the market sometime next year.
“We would welcome a unified standard but if this doesn't come, which looks likely, we'll bring a unified solution to the market,” Gee-sung said. “Consumers will be too confused otherwise.”
Both technologies use blue lasers to dramatically increase storage capacity on DVDs, but the file structures embedded in the two technologies are very different. If Samsung develops a dual-format player it will require two different heads to read the discs, as well as a third head to read the current format.
“It won’t be simple,” Gee-sung admitted.
Gee-sung said Samsung is in favor of the Blu-ray technology because it provides more storage space, additional interactivity options and higher security features than HD DVD. Sony, Philips and Panasonic are also supporters of Blu-ray, as are most electronic makers. Several big players, however, including Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo, support the HD DVD technology, which they say is considerably less expensive and can play on existing DVD players.
Producers of DVDs have avoided developing discs on either standard until the format issue is resolved, and even the porn industry is having trouble choosing a favorite. Large producers of adult DVDs tend to pick Blu-ray because of its capacity, while smaller producers tend to choose the cheaper HD DVD format. But seeing as the industry releases over 11,000 DVD titles a year, there’s no doubt adult film producers will be players in the final decision, much as they were during the heyday of home video machines.
Earlier this year at the Adult Entertainment Expo, Jackie Ramos of adult producer Wicked Pictures said his company was just waiting to see what happens.
“We're kind of riding it out a little further to see where the trend goes,” Ramos said. “[But] Blu-ray technology sounds pretty attractive.”