Good news for those people with hundreds of dollars to spend on a next-generation DVD system, but who don't want to spend hundreds more backing a format that could become obsolete: there's now another dual-format high-def DVD player to reassure you. And it will only cost about $1,000, probably. So that's money well spent, right?

Anyway, the Samsung BD-UDP5000 should supposedly ship before Christmas here in the U.S. A price hasn't been announced, but since the LG SuperBlu BH100 costs between $1,000 and $1,200, shelling out $1,000 or so seems likely. Very little has been announced in the way of features.

We've tried to keep track of the sales of HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs, and so far Blu-ray seems to be consistently holding the lead. I'm pretty conservative by nature, however, so a hybrid format still appeals to me. Paying $1,000 for the privilege doesn't, though.

I suppose we all can dream that Hollywood would subsidize the cost of one of these babies so that we all could afford one. Sounds like the plot of a great movie. I'd cast Willem Dafoe as the kindly old studio exec. (Or is he?)

(And finally, can we come up with an accepted shorthand for these systems? "Hybrid DVD" players has a nice ring to it, and it's short; "combination next-generation high-definition DVD players" is slightly more accurate, although the combination of "next-generation" and "high-definition" is probably redundant. It's all very annoying.)