samsung bluray

[sokrman14]

After seeing the Samsung Bluray player, I must say I am disappointed with the picture quality on it. Would I be wrong to think that because the movies I have seen on it are older, that they are still recorded on film, and therefore might not look as good as newer movies that are recorded in digital? I want the player, but after looking at 1080p on it, I am not that impressed so far.

 

[mfabien]

After seeing the Samsung Bluray player, I must say I am disappointed with the picture quality on it. Would I be wrong to think that because the movies I have seen on it are older, that they are still recorded on film, and therefore might not look as good as newer movies that are recorded in digital? I want the player, but after looking at 1080p on it, I am not that impressed so far.

Filmed movies (analog) has much greater resolution. Film as source is not a problem. To transfer film to DVD, it must be scanned to digital. Both HD DVD and BD disc's agreements with movie producers require them to use 1080p as a resolution.

The HD DVD players use disc's with 1080p data, as mentioned before, and they should be set for an output resolution of 1080i regardless if the display is 720p, 1080i or 1080p. The encoding of these disc's is done with VC-1 encoders. The result for HD picture quality satisfies most owners.

The Samsung BD player uses presently available single layer BR disc's of 25Gb and the movie producers have been instructed to use MPEG-2 encoders (VC-1 provides 3.8:1 less compression) to have room to store the movies. Sony is having problems in finalizing the dual layer 50Gb disc's.

And then those who have a 1080p input TV may not get the raw 1080p/24fps images but a transcoded 1080p image to fit the frame per seconds which can be displayed. In another Forum, one poster states that the Samsung has a Faroudja incorporated in the player to transcode the frames per second... ?

 

[Bigsilvs]

This week at Best Buy and Circuit City all the Blu-ray movies are $25, not $35 like most people were suggesting. I was also watching The Bourne Supremacy on a HD-DVD player on the Westinghouse 42" 1080p a few weeks ago at Best Buy and I was not impressed at all either. The movie wasn't even 16:9 Widescreen to fill the whole screen... I was somewhat close to the screen though. So whats the whole story here? Are both HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies being upconverted and then burned to discs and then reconverted by the player? I had thought that a 1080p signal uses double the bandwith than a 720p signal so the picture quality is by far better.

 

[Jedi2016]

The problem with Best Buy is that they haven't a clue how to actually set any of that stuff up. They just plug the thing into the TV and push "Play".

I read a review on another site, where the customer (the guy posting) had to change the Samsung's output to 1080p, because the Best Buy guys had left it at 720p, which is apparently the default setting.

I too was somewhat disappointed.. mostly from compression artifacts, though, or what appeared to be compression artifacts. It could just as easily have been some sort of setting on the TV.. Sharpness or Edge Enhancement set too high or something. Not the first time I've seen it on in-store demo discs, though. Even their demo DVDs seem to have the same problem. HD-DVD was no better when they had it hooked up to the Westinghouse (this time they had the Blu-Ray hooked up to a Samsung 1080p TV).

I have a feeling I'll be spending half a day setting up my TV when I finally upgrade to HD. I hope they come out with a calibration disc for Blu-Ray like they have with DVD (just to make sure all the bases are covered.. I'm sure the DVD will get you a long way on it's own).

 

[Hi Ho]

I haven't had a chance to see Blu-Ray yet but I have seen HD-DVD. I must say that it was quite impressive. Those who "aren't impressed" must be seeing something different. Say, an improperly setup player or TV? From what I've read, the default 720p output from the Toshiba isn't very good.

The HD-DVD player was at Best Buy connected to a Westinghouse 1080p display via HDMI. I went into the menu and saw that the player was set to 1080i.

Now, the image produced was the most film-like, smooth, sharp, vibrant image I have ever seen on a display. It was simply phenomenal. The image was significantly better than any broadcast HD signal I have seen. I'd go as far as to say it was in a league of it's own. The difference between HD-DVD and the standard DVD setup next to it (Denon 1920, I believe, and a Samsung LCD) was very appearent. So there's not much of a difference between an upconverted DVD and HD-DVD? I have to disagree. Maybe the untrained Average Joe eye wouldn't see nor care about the difference but to me it is very obvious, especially on a larger display. I never thought I'd say it, but seeing HD-DVD in action that day almost made me want to buy one on the spot. However, seeing as I do no thave an HDTV nor the cash, I didn't. Judging by all the talk at AVS, the Toshiba player makes one hell of an upconverting DVD player too. People are comparing the upconverted output to standard DVD players costing twice as much! Even if you don't have a huge library of HD-DVD's, it appears the Toshiba player excels with standard DVD's, even if it is a bit sluggish.

I hope to stop by Best Buy and a local home theater shop tommorrow to see Blu-Ray. From what I've read, it won't be as impressive. I will wait out this format war. It is simply too early to choose sides.

I was also watching The Bourne Supremacy on a HD-DVD player on the Westinghouse 42" 1080p a few weeks ago at Best Buy and I was not impressed at all either. The movie wasn't even 16:9 Widescreen to fill the whole screen... I was somewhat close to the screen though.

Many movies are not filmed in 16:9 and therefore, will not completely fill even a widescreen TV. This is the case with standard DVD and Blu-Ray as well.

 

[mfabien]

...
I have a feeling I'll be spending half a day setting up my TV when I finally upgrade to HD. I hope they come out with a calibration disc for Blu-Ray like they have with DVD (just to make sure all the bases are covered.. I'm sure the DVD will get you a long way on it's own).

I used the calibration DVD AVIA to calibrate my DVI TV input (using HDMI/DVI cable) with the HD-A1 Toshiba. Most HDTV's require an input calibration for a DVD player and the HD-A1 is no exception.

The AVIA disc has 480i resolution as any standard DVD. That resolution does the job to adjust Contrast, Brightness, Color, Hue and Sharpness. I doubt a calibration HD DVD disc would bring about a dramatic change of settings over a standard DVD.

Then one should try the 3 formats (Cool, Medium and Warm) for Color temperature and decide on the best. I had to change the setting myself.

Conclusion, most HDTV sets in stores connected to a DVD player have not been calibrated for the DVD player. And many stores demonstrating an HD DVD or the Samsung BD player have little knowledge about how to set the players. Therefore, if you wish to buy an HD player I would recommend:

- To visit Forums with discussion threads on both players and from that make a choice
- Buy one of the players from a store which has a no question asked 30 day return policy (some have 90 days).

As for the thought that it takes a 1080p TV input to get the best out of 1080p data, that has not been demonstrated to date with the BD player and the present 1080p HDTV's. So, it would be wise not to make this a priority but if you do, you should wait a good year to get a player and a TV which will deal with 1080p and 24fps (movies) without transcoding to 1080p 30 fps or 60 fps. In the meantime, 1080i output player resolution is best, in the opinion of many posters of Forums who have both players.

Finally, those looking to buy a 1080p display HDTV should understand that most do not accept a 1080p input or do so only when connected to a computer. Others that accept 1080p may have to transcode in such a way that a sync problems takes place between Video and Audio (can be corrected if one has an a/v with HDMI input/output and sync adjustment ability exits). Like all things in life, you get your money's worth. If you are ready to pay good money, you can get a good 1080p display or projector.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

..... I was also watching The Bourne Supremacy on a HD-DVD player on the Westinghouse 42" 1080p a few weeks ago at Best Buy and I was not impressed at all either. The movie wasn't even 16:9 Widescreen to fill the whole screen... I was somewhat close to the screen though. So whats the whole story here? .....

They were probably playing a Fullscreen SD DVD in the HD-DVD player. There are countless threads on every other A/V&movie website giving hundreds of peoples first-hand experiences with Best Buy doing anything and everything to push BR over HDDVD.

 

[Hi Ho]

I saw Blu-Ray today. Compared to HD-DVD, Blu-Ray did not impress, especially for double the price.

HD-DVD displayed the best HD picture I have ever seen. Blu-Ray looked fuzzy and had some rather prominent macroblocking at times. Blu-Ray didn't look terrible but it certainly didn't compare to the amazing picture produced by HD-DVD.

One VERY obvious thing is that the big box stores like Best Buy and Circuit City are pushing HD-DVD aside and putting Blu-Ray into the spotlight. Best Buy used to have a very nice HD-DVD display with a Westinghouse 1080p display. Today, when I went in, that was replaced with Blu-Ray and it's fuzzy picture (comparitavely). Where was HD-DVD? In a corner, with no prominent signs. The player was not running, just sitting on an inconspicuous shelf. What was sitting next to the player? Blu-Ray promotional material. What did Circuit City have for HD-DVD? Absolutely nothing! They don't carry it at all! They had Blu-Ray setup with a very loud sound system that one could hear at the other end of the store. The way things are shaping up, Average Joe will think something like this: "Blu-Ray? Oh that's that awsome new HD DVD format and it's the best out there.... HD-DVD? What's that?...."

The fact that Blu-Ray is being pushed into the spotlight really annoys me. People here probably already know I don't like Sony. I don't want Sony to be in control of the next generation of DVD. Toshiba has an excellent product for half the price with discs that cost much less to produce and a next generation codec that is much more efficient. Now why aren't more studios and companies supporting it?

 

[sokrman14]

What i actually ended up hearing was that the older movies arent actually in 1080p, although they can be played in 1080p. The samsung has a demo disc which looked flawless, but the movie i saw in the store wasn't. The clips on the demo disc looked good when it was clips of newer movies. My guess is that you just have to wait for the newer movies, that actually have all of the info of a 1080p movie on the disc, versus a 720p or 1080i movie, being scaled to 1080p. If you look at the front of the blu ray movies, one says experience HD, the newer movies say something like "see real 1080p, blah blah blah" So maybe what i heard is true.

 

[Nomo]

The fact that Blu-Ray is being pushed into the spotlight really annoys me. People here probably already know I don't like Sony. I don't want Sony to be in control of the next generation of DVD. Toshiba has an excellent product for half the price with discs that cost much less to produce and a next generation codec that is much more efficient. Now why aren't more studios and companies supporting it?

Almost sounds like the VHS/Betamax war, Only this time, from Sony's viewpoint, in reverse. By that I mean "How to make an inferior product succeed". Perhaps they did learn a thing or to from their earlier failures.
Either way. It concretes my position; I'll be sitting this one out for a long time.
I'm growing increasingly doubtful that either one of these format will ever succeed in gaining any meaningful market share.

 

[Rob Babcock]

BRD was rushed to market before it was ready. Bear in mind that the current gen of BR discs uses the same encoder that regular CDs use. It's sufficient for most stuff but scenes that are difficult to encode look bad. Very shortly the new encoder will be rolled out and you'll see what BRD is really capable of.

 

[simpleHT]

I'm growing increasingly doubtful that either one of these format will ever succeed in gaining any meaningful market share.

I believe it will succeed, but only one, the cheaper one. I am for one will sit on the fence for a while until the price of the players comes down, and there are plenty of source selection, the way I did when DVD first came out.