The move gives owners of the Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray disc players access to more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes from the Netflix Web site.

The player will be Sony’s first Blu-ray product to offer any type of streaming option.

Instantly streaming content from Netflix to the TV set via the new Blu-ray player must rely on a typical wired broadband connection and a queue-based user interface maintained by subs, which have long been the trademark attributes of Netflix.

The updated players will access Netflix’s current library of about 12,000 titles.

Sharp said it would introduce a Blu-ray Disc player with recording capabilities that will first be released in Japan next month.

Samsung Electronics America's first Blu-ray disc players have been shipped to U.S. retailers for availability starting this Sunday, June 25. Samsung's player ( model BD-P1000 ) for the next-gen disc format means that both high-def DVD formats will start to go head-to-head in the marketplace by next week. Sony Pictur

The company knows that it doesn't have enough Blu-ray discs to distribute as quickly as possible to requests.

LG Electronics says it plans to ramp up the first dual-format Blu-ray Disc/HD-DVD player for the United Kingdom in May.