BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced on Tuesday it has delayed the U.S. launch of its next-generation DVD player to late June, in order to complete testing.

    Samsung is rescheduling the launch of its Blu-ray standard disc player in the United States from May 23 to June 25, the company said in a statement. "We still anticipate that the Samsung BD-P1000 will be the first Blu-Ray player to launch at a national level in the United Sates," Samsung said.

    Japan's Toshiba Corp. last week started rolling out its HD DVD format players in Japan, becoming the first company to offer next-generation optical disc players worldwide.

    Blu-ray technology is competing with HD DVD in the USD24 billion-a-year home video market over the next DVD standard, which offers more storage capacity for high-definition movies than the current DVD format.

    Samsung, Sony, Philips, Dell and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. are in the Blu-ray camp while the HD DVD format is supported by Toshiba and NEC. Hewlett-Packard and LG Electronics Inc. are to support both standards.

    Japan's Sony Corp. plans to offer Blu-ray players in the United States in July. Enditem

(Agencies)