Samsung Announces Pricing And Availability For 2009 Spring Blu-ray Line

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced availability for its Spring 2009 Blu-ray line-up, led by the flagship BD-P4600.

As the world’s slimmest and first wall-mountable Blu-ray player, the BD-P4600 offers compelling multimedia features in a sophisticated design form factor. A great gift idea for Father’s Day, the BD-P3600 provides unprecedented networking capabilities, top-notch video playback and comprehensive audio decoding for an immersive, theater-like experience. The new BD-P1600 player also provides even the most discerning viewer with superior HD performance for the best sports and entertainment viewing pleasure.

“As a leader in technology and design innovation, we are excited to provide Blu-ray players that meet consumer demand for exceptional viewing quality and accessibility to great content,” said Reid Sullivan, senior vice president of Audio/Video and Digital Imaging Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “Samsung’s Blu-ray players go beyond the box, providing the flexibility to access favorite content from the latest Blu-ray discs, on-demand services, and even networked home PCs with ease.”

All three players include BD Live™ (Profile 2.0) − interactive content enabled on select Blu-ray discs (BD-P1600 is BD Live™ ready, requires 1GB of memory) − and Bonus View (Profile 1.1) support for picture-in-picture functionality with high definition discs. They include Full HD 1080p Blu-ray playback with DVD upscaling and total HD soundtrack support. All three can also instantly stream more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes from Netflix and Pandora music services (subscriptions required), to deliver an ever-expanding library of entertainment into the living room without having to leave the house. Each player also offers standard CD playback, with support for JPEG photos, to create even more entertainment value.

BD-P4600 and BD-P3600: More Than Your Average Blu-ray Players

Samsung’s newest Blu-ray players continue the trend of stylish and décor-friendly electronics with new versions of Samsung’s Touch of Color™ (ToC™) design and touch sensitive controls. The BD-P3600’s traditional set-top form is just over two inches tall, and comes encased in deep black with charcoal grey highlights curving along the outer edges. The wall-mountable BD-P4600 is just 1.5 inches thin with a piano black design infused with ruby highlights along the outer edges. If wall-mounting is not an option, an integrated stand lets the BD-P4600 be placed on a table at a 25 degree angle.

Both the BD-P4600 and BD-P3600 can access the latest Blu-ray features either wirelessly using the included 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi dongle, or via the traditional wired Ethernet connection. And both players can access the latest BD Live™ and Bonus View Blu-ray features out of the box with the 1GB internal flash memory, leaving the two USB 2.0 ports available for wireless networking and memory expansion duties when needed. Consumers can even stream music, videos, and photos directly from a networked PC with the players, for instant playback and big-screen enjoyment in the living room.

BD-P1600: Anything But Basic

The BD-P1600 is a high-definition Blu-ray player with advanced multimedia features minus the high price tag. The BD-P1600 is Wi-Fi ready (separate purchase of a Wi-Fi USB dongle required), allowing consumers to easily access the latest Blu-ray features, content from Netflix and Pandora, upgrades, and more without the need for additional wires. The BD-P1600 also offers multi-format disc playback (BD, DVD, CD, MP3, JPEG, AVCHD) and the convenience of two USB ports.

All of Samsung’s Blu-ray players offer Full HD 1080p playback with Blu-ray discs, and crisp, detailed upconversion of standard DVDs, and feature an HDMI 1.3 output for a high quality connection to the latest HDTVs.