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.