Philips sets launch date for Blu-ray in the UK

But it'll be a 7 month wait yet

20 March 2008 14:13 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Philips has confirmed the launch timescale for its new Blu-ray player in the UK, Pocket-lint has learned.

However Blu-ray fans looking to go Blu with Philips will have to wait another 7 months 'til October to get their hands on the yet-to-be-launched BDP7200.

And, in what might be seen as a further set back to fans of the winning HD disc format, the BDP7200 player will only sport the Blu-ray 1.1 profile.

Further dismaying punters, Philips as yet is still unsure as to whether an Ethernet port will be included to allow customers to update to the BD-Live 2.0 profile via the Internet when it becomes available.

According to industry sources the timing could be worse yet as the Blu-ray Disc Association is expected to enforce all new players to be profile 2.0 compliant around October.

The UK has yet to see a Blu-ray player from Philips - missing out on the BDP7100 - due to stock shortages around the world, according to the company.

The new BDP7200 Blu-ray player sports Full HD 1080p, multi-channel audio decoding and digital audio optical outputs.