[Mr_Sukebe]

Here's a question for you chaps.
I have a Sammy BD player, which upsamples and IMO was a good deal better than the old Pioneer I had on SD-DVDs.
Whilst BD is a great idea, I'm more than a little unhappy at the lack of releases onto the market, and find myself buying SD-DVDs at a ratio of probably 5:1 against BD purchases.

As such, makes me wonder whether I'd be better off with a better DVD player, and then simply ignore the HD formats.

So, who here has recently compared a BD player with latest firmwares against say a Pioneer 989 or similar? Any thoughts on how they differ?

If there's not much in it, I might aswell keep the Sammy as it does at least have some future proofing in it, but if say a 989 is a LOT better, that might make me think twice.

[Ekko Star]

If you've already got a BD player then it's probably not worth forking out £750 for a SD player right now.

Is a dedicated top end SD player better than a HD/SD player ? Depends on the player really because some of the HD players do a good job of SD playback now. I still prefer a top end SD machine for SD material though, but as i say it depends on the machine.

If I was you I would probably think it wise to just see how things pan out for the time being and hold onto your Samsung BD.

[Mr_Sukebe]

Originally Posted by Ekko Star

I still prefer a top end SD machine for SD material though, but as i say it depends on the machine.

Which BD and SD-DVD players have you compared?
I simply don't know how good a job my firmware updated BD player will do when compared to a dedicated unit when they're both playing SD-DVDs.

If they're close, as you say, would be pointless spending a lot of dosh, that could be better used elsewhere (e.g. on a new projector screen).

[TommyVecetti]

Do you have the first samsung BD player? I read that upscaling standard DVDs wasn't one of it's strong points. If you want the best out of standard DVDs consider something that has silicon optix HQV technology inside. Like the Denon players or I believe the flagship HD-DVD player also has this chip. Although presumably you want multi-region so the latter is out.

[Mr_Sukebe]

Originally Posted by TommyVecetti

Do you have the first samsung BD player? I read that upscaling standard DVDs wasn't one of it's strong points. If you want the best out of standard DVDs consider something that has silicon optix HQV technology inside. Like the Denon players or I believe the flagship HD-DVD player also has this chip. Although presumably you want multi-region so the latter is out.

TV>
I've read that virtually every BD player on the market has received firmware upgrades which have supposedly improved SD-DVD performance. Hence why in my query, I've put the condition about "recent" comparisons.
I know that initial SD playback was supposedly not that great, so I'd like to know where we stand right now. For all I know, the BD players have a reasonable amount of horsepower and can do a really good job?

[TommyVecetti]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sukebe

TV>
I've read that virtually every BD player on the market has received firmware upgrades which have supposedly improved SD-DVD performance. Hence why in my query, I've put the condition about "recent" comparisons.
I know that initial SD playback was supposedly not that great, so I'd like to know where we stand right now.

Good luck searching for that comparison. I don't know any sites that compare this sort of thing against each other.

[Ekko Star]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sukebe

Which BD and SD-DVD players have you compared?

Just some of the ones that I have include Denon 3910, Pioneer 989, Pioneer 868, Pioneer 668, Pioneer 757, Toshiba SD9000/900/9500, Onkyo 939.

The BD players the Samsung BD1000, Toshiba HDE1, Toshiba A1 and the PS3.

Result depends a lot on machine and display and a lot of other influencing factors as whether you are wanting to upscale or not.

My feeling is that a good SD machine is still better at handling SD material than an all singing HD one at the moment.

I'm sure this will change going forwards with newer players and improved firmware. Others may have differing opinions.

However, your question revolves around £750 worth of improvement. That's a tall order nowadays.

[Timbo21]

The Toshiba XE1 is meant to be a pretty damn good SD DVD player, since it's got the Reon chip (somewhere along the lines of the Denon 2930 from what I hear).

You can get one for under £500, I believe, and you will be able to play some HD material! If you could keep the Sammy and have an XE1 you'll probably be a happy man.

T.

[Ekko Star]

I guess with that combo you will have all the bases HD/BD & SD covered but I get the impression that the OP wants to ditch the Sammy for a SD player ?

[TommyVecetti]

Originally Posted by Timbo21

The Toshiba XE1 is meant to be a pretty damn good SD DVD player, since it's got the Reon chip (somewhere along the lines of the Denon 2930 from what I hear).

You can get one for under £500, I believe, and you will be able to play some HD material! If you could keep the Sammy and have an XE1 you'll probably be a happy man.

T.

You can't make it multi-region for DVDs though can you? I'm sure that's one drawback preventing people from buying this.

[Nic Rhodes]

The best modern DVD players are the Toshiba XE1, PS3, Denon 3930, Arcam 139....they are all perform much better than our Samsung 1000 which is unforunately beaten by many players even 'modest' players. The latest firmwares on these players have improved things no end, particularly the PS3and XE1 however but the gains on the 1000 are modest at best [1200 is great by all accounts but I haven't seen it. I think a region A Samsung 1200 and a region 2 Toshiba XE1 may be a killer combo]. Beware region coding on DVD however as this may be the 'limiting' step depending on your DVD discs regions.