Samsung BD-UP5000 firmware updates promised

The ultimate high-definition disc player for your HDTV isn't this HD DVD and Blu-ray combo player.

Hopes were dashed soon after Samsung's BD-UP5000 was released. The player that was supposed to do it all - didn't.

A 1080P picture quality that is second to none and upacaling thanks to its high-end HQV Reon video processing are the good.

But the quirks include a total lack of support for the high resolution audio formats. Lossless audio is half the reason for going with a high-def disc.

But Samsung claims a firmware update is coming in May that will give it the ability to stream the new audio codecs including the elusive DTS-HD Master Audio.

After chiding support - I have been granted an audience with the Office of the President, Samsung Canada.

The word is that the firmware update is still planned for May but it won't internally decode the new high def audio codecs. Instead it'll bitstream them through its HDMI 1.3 port to your receiver.

This is bad news if you have an older receiver and hoped the BD-UP5000 would output high res audio through its analog outs. This means you'll require an up-to-date receiver with HDMI 1.3a inputs that can decode the new high-res audio.

But it's too early to get any definitive statements. The info I got only last week flies in the face of other information I've found online about Samsung's intentions with its latest firmware update for the UP5000, so anything's possible.

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