Major consumer electronics producer Samsung Electronics unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show its new Blu-ray disc player, which will succeed the currently sold one already this quarter. Besides being more technologically advanced, the BD-P1200 has lower recommended price compared to the initial cost of its predecessor, the BD-P1000.

Samsung said that one of the BD-P1200 player’s key new features is its Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) processor, which provides higher quality 1080i to 1080p HD de-interlacing. Additionally, Samsung’s BD-P1200 Blu-ray disc player features HDMI 1.3 interconnection with 7.1-channel audio support. Another feature promoted by Samsung is the so-called Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC) technology, which enables a single remote control unit to operate the BD player, TV and other A/V products from Samsung.

For a lot of consumers the most important characteristic of the BD-P1200 player will be its price, which is expected to be $799. The previous model – BD-P1000 – was sold for $999 initially and while right now it can be purchased for much lower amount of money, reduced recommended price for the BD-P1200 is a sign that the Blu-ray technology becomes more friendly to consumers.

Samsung expects that the BD-P1200 player will help the company stay a step ahead of the cutting-edge optical media industry, after introducing the first Blu-ray disc player (model: BD-P1000) to the U.S. market in June 2006.

Samsung will start to ship its BD-P1200 in March, 2007.