The high definition format war is picking up heat towards the Holidays. Samsung has just announced that they will be shipping Blu-ray players for the UK market in October. The player supports resolutions up to 1080p and comes with couple of Blu-ray titles as well. The timing is good as Sony promises to deliver some Blu-ray movie titles in mid October as well, and according to Soyn the prices will be in the "DVD cost range".

With Sky HD ready, the time is probably right for a Blu-Ray launch and Samsung believes we Brits in particular still like to own physical media rather than downloaded bytes.

"It’s not like we have broadband like Korea where you can download a movie in half an hour," said a spokesman.

The Region 2 box is called the BD-P1000, plays at resolutions up to 1080p and is backwards compatible with CD and DVD formats although Samsung reckons some players from other vendors might not be. The bundled discs are SWAT, from the big Blu-Ray content backer Sony, and Legends of Jazz.

The Inquirer