View Full Version : Samsung Blu-Ray User Report
Roughneck1
22-06-2006, 12:08 PM
We have just taken delivery of our first batch of Samsung Blu-Ray Players and this is what i have found so far with first tests.
At the moment i am just testing with standard dvd's - Blu-Ray's from tomorrow.
The unit is lighter and not as well built as either Toshiba HD players.
The finish of this player is the same as a black PSP, Piano black type finish.
The player will not play PAL or anyother region apart from 1 or 0.
The Auto sense of HDMI imput is great, not having this caught me out with the Tosh HD player.
The player will not play HD discs (worth a try) - it kicks them out first and then states cannot play disc.
Boot up of this player for standard DVD's is on par with regular DVD players, way quicker than the Toshiba, so is power down and eject etc etc, i just wish the Toshiba HD one was as quick.
When inserting a disc you get alittle "bar block" counter going from left to right on the Samsung logo screen, which is great as you know when it gets to the right hand side your disc will start playing (around 5 seconds if that).
Same basic HDMI lead is provided with the player as comes with HD players, although you do get gold phono leads etc too.
Build quality of the Toshiba HD i personally think is alot better.
Sticker on the front of the player stating "Java powered"
- Will post more tomorrow when i have Blu-Ray titles to check.
Matt Horne
22-06-2006, 12:14 PM
Sticker on the front of the player stating "Java powered"
Whatever next :)
Uruloke
22-06-2006, 12:57 PM
Cool, looking forward to your first impressions for some Blu-Ray discs.
inzaman
22-06-2006, 12:59 PM
looking forward to your first impressions for some Blu-Ray discs.
Me too :)
Whatever next
:grin:
shand754
22-06-2006, 2:44 PM
Yep cheers Craig, keep us posted buddy:)
Roughneck1
23-06-2006, 11:58 AM
OK flooded with Blu-Ray Discs now, which are also available for next day delivery... back cover shots will be up this afternoon on our site.
Tried Underworld Evolution Blu-Ray and WOW !!!!
First off if you press stop during the movie it remembers and starts where you stop, like a regular DVD player not from the start like HD players!!
This is a HUGE plus for me personally...
Also the second HUGE plus is that you can actually change channel when the movie is playing and it does not break the HDMI handshake, the movie carries on playing - again this is a huge + for peeps with Plasma TV's over HD players.
Picture quailty is awesome! Also the way the menus come up is another great thing.
I will scan in some flyers that come with the discs and post on here for you to see, all about the Blu-Wizard features..!
Roughneck1
23-06-2006, 12:14 PM
Here is the info on Blu-Wizard
pinkprobegt
23-06-2006, 12:28 PM
Great impressions post :D I'm really having trouble holding back buying this stuff...must give it another 6 months...must give it another 6 months.....
Just another report, Digital Bits initially didn't like it but have since found the HDMI output on their player seems to be rather crap compared to component, I don't know if you found the same?
Roughneck1
23-06-2006, 12:33 PM
Great impressions post :D I'm really having trouble holding back buying this stuff...must give it another 6 months...must give it another 6 months.....
Just another report, Digital Bits initially didn't like it but have since found the HDMI output on their player seems to be rather crap compared to component, I don't know if you found the same?
Will test this later today. Will also report on all the different disc version of Blu-Ray as 3 different types!
Also these players do not have an Ethernet connection on them so no firmware upgrades, unless done via software which means this player i would say is far more likley to be "hacked" region wise...
pinkprobegt
23-06-2006, 12:46 PM
Looking forward to it :D
ChrisAllenFiz
23-06-2006, 3:21 PM
Most reviews of Blu-Ray on the avsforums say that the picture quality is well behind that of Hd-DVD, so I`m suprised you think it is so good.
Considering it`s twice the price, I`d say its well worth holding off on Blu Ray for now
Roughneck1
23-06-2006, 3:57 PM
Most reviews of Blu-Ray on the avsforums say that the picture quality is well behind that of Hd-DVD, so I`m suprised you think it is so good.
Considering it`s twice the price, I`d say its well worth holding off on Blu Ray for now
I have only tried Underworld 2 at the moment.
Will try other back catalog titles over the weekend.
shand754
23-06-2006, 7:08 PM
Watching this thread with interest :)
Roughneck1
23-06-2006, 9:12 PM
Okay more playing... must admit some of the discs so far released have no extra's.. hummmm
Anyhow one issue is the sound format Blu-Ray seems to be using.
By default these players are set up for PCM, discs by default seem to be configured to start playing PCM 5.1 Uncompressed sound (whatever the heck that is), you can also select standard 5.1 Surround.
All i know is to get 5.1 out of my amp i have to change PCM to Bitstream but then i get an error message everytime a disc loads stating HDMI sound format unsupported.
Anyone shed any light on what all this nonsense is?
Also picture quality now is not blowing me away like the Tosh HD for some reason, still to early to tell but if you pay twice the money for something almost you expect to see vast differences from the off in my book!
More to report over the weekend...
Verdict so far - release of HD format is a farce...
shand754
23-06-2006, 9:20 PM
That HDMI Audio message sounds just like the one you get on Samsung's standard DVD upscaling HDMI players that you can only get rid off by switching screen messages of in the menus.
Bottom line is if you can switch off the message and the sound through your amp is okay then its probably just a quirk in the player.
Agree 100% on the last point I am so tempted to give up on HD for now and just enjoy standard DVD.
Also picture quality now is not blowing me away like the Tosh HD for some reason, still to early to tell but if you pay twice the money for something almost you expect to see vast differences from the off in my book!Craig, I haven't seen any BDs (or HD-DVDs!) palying yet, but from what I gather, that's because the BD movies have been filtered.
Supposedly, Microsoft are getting video gurus like Stacey Spears to supervise the video transfers for any movies using the VC-1 codec. That's why I switched to HD-DVD and abandoned all my Blu-Ray plans - that sort of attention to detail impresses me.
Thanks for the speedy delivery on the player by the way - I just hope Serenity ships soon! :thumbsup:
danvitale
24-06-2006, 11:01 AM
There will always be a difference between picture quality due to the single layer mpeg2 based initial titles.
Once BR-DVD players use duel layer discs, VC3 and HDMI 1.3 with the lossless HD audio formats they'll get better.
You only have to remember that initial DVDs were flippers with limited bitrate per side and without DTS some 8 years ago.
jon smith
24-06-2006, 11:17 AM
A very interesting read this Craig, nice to see some feedback coming through from UK users.
The thing that bugs me is that Blu-Ray may end up being as good as HD DVD. I think HD DVD has surprised a lot of people - the software is excellent, it's just the player that lets things down.
I can understand why people originally favoured Blu Ray, I just can't understand why people still support it for what it might be in the future. Yes, we may get 50GB discs, we may see better codecs, we may see price drops and after all that it may be as good as the HD DVD discs we already have.
I bought an HD-DVD (from Movietyme) and was seriously considering a BluRay player until I read the first user reviews over on avs. Be interesting to see what the Warner releases are like when they turn up.
hunts1uk
24-06-2006, 11:35 AM
Verdict so far - release of HD format is a farce...
Oh thats good to know.:confused:
Roughneck1
24-06-2006, 11:56 AM
Oh thats good to know.:confused:
TBH that should not come as a suprise if you have following this forum and others around the web.
plain and simple myself and many other people think it was rushed to the marketplace to quickly hence lack of players to buy and software.
On the HD side of things now its settling down, time will tell.
Roughneck1
24-06-2006, 11:57 AM
You only have to remember that initial DVDs were flippers with limited bitrate per side and without DTS some 8 years ago.
Yep good point.
ChrisAllenFiz
24-06-2006, 1:31 PM
This time though there is competition. Videophiles are unhappy with Blu-Ray and sticking with the alternative. All it takes is one Studio to break ranks and we could see a flood
Evil Engineer
24-06-2006, 1:57 PM
TBH that should not come as a suprise if you have following this forum and others around the web.
plain and simple myself and many other people think it was rushed to the marketplace to quickly hence lack of players to buy and software.
On the HD side of things now its settling down, time will tell.
Agreed that everything has been rushed to market. But with both sides desperate to steal a march on the other guy that's only to be expected.
And the mad clamour to declare a winner after two months, or two days with Bluray, on these forums and over on AVS doesn't help in this regard either.
So far we are only witnessing the intial skirmishes. The first major engagement doesn't happen until Christmas.
It's also worth remembering that perceived or actual "technical superiority" at any stage of this battle doesn't guarantee victory.
Uruloke
24-06-2006, 2:43 PM
This time though there is competition. Videophiles are unhappy with Blu-Ray and sticking with the alternative. All it takes is one Studio to break ranks and we could see a flood
To be honest I think all it will take is a rumour that one studio is breaking rank and you'll see a flood.
ChrisAllenFiz
24-06-2006, 3:03 PM
There are a couple of rumours that Disnay is producing HD-DVD masters. Blu-Ray really need to get thier BD50 out of the lab and onto the production line
I've still not seen anything that convinces me either format will be mainstream until the likes of PS3 are released.
richard plumb
24-06-2006, 5:03 PM
MPEG 4 AVC authoring tools are available now from panasonic
LINK (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060622/nyth096.html?.v=60)
The new Panasonic encoder and authoring system support the Blu-ray Disc Association's BD-ROM specification, and take advantage of the disc's benefits including very high data compression, interactive menus and highly-advanced copyright protection. The Panasonic MPEG-4 AVC encoder, capable of more than twice the compression of conventional MPEG-2 encoding, maintains the highest- resolution 1080p image quality of the source. The result is a stunning picture which Hollywood studio experts have reckoned comparable to the original.
MPEG 4 AVC authoring tools are available now from panasonic
LINK (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060622/nyth096.html?.v=60)
I believe that Japanese HD-DVD titles so far use AVC and appear inferior PQ wise to US HD-DVD's that use VC1. MS appear red hot on development and support for VC1 and it shows in the finished product.
AVI
richard plumb
24-06-2006, 5:44 PM
considering MS's vocal support for HDDVD, do they even have VC1 tools available for bluray?
I hope Sony's choice of MPEG2 isn't for license cost issues. Do disc publishers have to pay a separate royalty, or is it all covered in the cost of the player?
considering MS's vocal support for HDDVD, do they even have VC1 tools available for bluray?
I hope Sony's choice of MPEG2 isn't for license cost issues. Do disc publishers have to pay a separate royalty, or is it all covered in the cost of the player?
The VC1 encoder is free but MS do charge for support. I wonder how much animosity Sony has toward MS given their rivalry on a number of fronts.
AVI
richard plumb
24-06-2006, 6:49 PM
not enough to screw up a format - at least lets hope not :)
and the other studios should at least try and make sure their offerings are as good on both formats (where they support both formats!)
Nuff_HiDeff
24-06-2006, 9:02 PM
The Bluray launch has been a disaster. It's not Samsung's fault either. The releases have sucked. Mpg2 on 25 GB discs is rubbish, no surprise in retrospect.
Some BD supporters are now turning against Sony.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=690555
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=691670
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=691048
There's no good news out there for Bluray - especially when the industry pundits start saying that HD DVD is now going to win...
Roughneck1
26-06-2006, 7:50 AM
OK more playing over the weekend, finding some nice touches with this Blu-Ray player now. One being that you can stop a movie half way through, disconnect the player from the mains for say 5 mins in my case, then hook it back up again and it still remembers the point at which you stopped.
Also using (amazingly) 50 First Dates as a test disc, as the first 5 mins of this movie are great for colors, I found that the HDMI to DVI input on my projector produced great color and images compared to the Component route.
Also PCM Uncompressed 5.1 is SO much better the regular 5.1, never really had to much to do with PCM sound before but WOW now!
Blu-Ray is growing on me i must abmit but again for alot more money that HD-DVD players.. hummm.... Plus releasing discs with no extra's at all i just don't understand. Also IMHO releasing HD discs on whatever format with standard quality extra's i don't understand either...
Paying for HD - get HD all the way baby...
Uruloke
26-06-2006, 7:55 AM
Paying for HD - get HD all the way baby...
Are you saying get HD-DVD? Or are you simply saying get Hi-Def?
paulm187
26-06-2006, 8:00 AM
Is this player 1080p or 1080i?
Nuff_HiDeff
26-06-2006, 8:50 AM
Well, it's nice to know that when I need the loo, I can disconnect my BD player and hook it up to the display in the bathroom without losing my place :D
However, I'd rather have the best PQ - too bad they haven't figured this out yet.
I'm also thinking that VC1 won't help Sony much even if they DO decide to use it.
They start at a 5 Gig disadvantage and will lost another 5 Gig because of having to use L-PCM uncompressed audio - that's a 10 Gig advantage for HD DVD right out of the gate.
BD camp will have to get BD 50 working - right now it's not looking good...
bishman
26-06-2006, 9:55 AM
Are you saying get HD-DVD? Or are you simply saying get Hi-Def?
He was saying that if he's paying for a hi def disc, then all the content should be hi def. Not just the movie but also special features etc. I think the format was irrelevant as regards that comment.
Duncan Harvey
26-06-2006, 12:40 PM
yes but thats a bit like moaning about 4:3 extras on a 16:9 film, or having black and white bradcast when we pay for colour licenses.
Presumably the player can upconvert the SD material, so why waste time money and disc space on the extras, when the main show is the thing.
I would have thought within a couple of years the extras for new films will be in HD and ditto for HD produced TV shows.
Personally speaking I'm going to sit out HD in whatever format until the Autumn 07 sales quarter. Dont think there will be sufficient critical mass until then.
pinkprobegt
26-06-2006, 1:13 PM
Use the component out!!! Having read around there are scaling problems with the HDMI output as well as colour issues. Apparently the component output is fine :)
hunts1uk
26-06-2006, 1:29 PM
OK more playing over the weekend, finding some nice touches with this Blu-Ray player now. One being that you can stop a movie half way through, disconnect the player from the mains for say 5 mins in my case, then hook it back up again and it still remembers the point at which you stopped.
Also using (amazingly) 50 First Dates as a test disc, as the first 5 mins of this movie are great for colors, I found that the HDMI to DVI input on my projector produced great color and images compared to the Component route.
Also PCM Uncompressed 5.1 is SO much better the regular 5.1, never really had to much to do with PCM sound before but WOW now!
Blu-Ray is growing on me i must abmit but again for alot more money that HD-DVD players.. hummm.... Plus releasing discs with no extra's at all i just don't understand. Also IMHO releasing HD discs on whatever format with standard quality extra's i don't understand either...
Paying for HD - get HD all the way baby...
Craig as your selling these how about sending me one so i can give an unbiased report?:grin:
The Bluray launch has been a disaster. It's not Samsung's fault either. The releases have sucked. Mpg2 on 25 GB discs is rubbish, no surprise in retrospect.
Some BD supporters are now turning against Sony.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=690555
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=691670
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=691048
There's no good news out there for Bluray - especially when the industry pundits start saying that HD DVD is now going to win...
How can you make such sweeping judgments based on a launch, for both formats, that is completely and utterly insignificant. Who do you think is talking about BR/HD-DVD, apart from a handful of people on message boards, who you have to accept, are ultra critical.
You would have thought they'd have learned by now, jumping in at launch is never wise, unless you have more money than sense, and prepared to put up with unreliable hardware and poor software support.
It's also doubly hard to make a decision on which format to choose when you have so many people with their own agendas, with discussions veering alarmingly into console fanboy land!:cool:
Most AV enthusiasts won't touch either format for at least another 12 months, unless they have a player by default with the PS3 or 360.
And when we are looking 12 months+ ahead, dual players will be available, at much cheaper prices, and this format war will fizzle out just like recordable DVD did.
Nuff_HiDeff
26-06-2006, 6:00 PM
Actually I think the reverse - it's the AV fanatics who are buying these now, rather than the rank and file consumers.
So when they look at the two and compare them, they will quite naturally be quite critical. If the picture on HD DVD had been worse than Bluray, then they would have been quick to point that out also.
And there are some pretty die-hard bluray supporters (yes, fanboys even :) ) who are being very critical also - to the point of abandoning bluray.
gandley
26-06-2006, 8:49 PM
I have just got back from the states and have seen BD in action, and IMHO its crap (well not crap but very underwelming, the demo disc going around is of better quality than actual titles). HD DVD is in front with ease. PQ quality looks like its upscaled DVD. As a blueray supporter i cany believe Sony have launch titles that are utter tat. Not 1 title troubles HD-DVD.
It is early days but at this point its pooray. As has been said Sony need to get get BD50 going and going quickly. Mpeg2 is just not good enuff, but sony do get a royalty payment for it.
Microsoft have evidently approached sony to use AVC1, bu they have turned down the offer.
seriously at this point BD is just not worth the cash and the underdog is the better product regards pic quality. Sony needs to act fast and get the encode quality up with HD-DVD.
I think it comes down to how soon BD50 can be ready and at what price.
pinkprobegt
27-06-2006, 1:00 PM
I love the way people are still basing complete format decisions on one player being available for each format!
The Samsung player has issues with HDMI, the Toshiba player is still slow even after a firmware update.
It's not suprising new technologies find it hard to get off the ground since people expect new formats to be fully matured even before they come to market.
This is exactly why I'm not buying now....I want to wait for there to be at least 5 players out on each side with better software availability too.
pinkprobegt
27-06-2006, 1:11 PM
As an update to what I just said..... http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents
From what they're seeing and versus the new Pioneer player, the Samsung isn't a very good player!