Samsung claims its consumer Blu-ray player will be the first to hit the market when its BD-P1000 hits the shelves in the US on May 26.

The model will ship in Europe in Autumn, when agreement has been reached with content owners, Dr David Steel, Samsung’s vice president of digital media business, told a press conference at Cebit.

The US price will be about $1,000 – that of Toshiba’s rival HD player. But Blu-ray disks store 25GB on a single-layer disk as opposed to HD’s 15GB.

LG Electronics demonstrated a Blu-ray player yesterday but did not announce a release date.

Dr Steel said Blu-ray was supported by 80 per cent of the entertainment industry and most vendors.

The BDP1000 supports 720p or 1,080i video resolutions and offers 1,080p output via an HDMI digital interface. It also plays standard DVDs and CDs.

Samsung says it will release a Blu-ray burner later this year.

Panasonic said later that it will launch its first Blu-ray player globally in Autumn.