EarleD

Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

I'm ready to get a universal player and have a couple of questions. I know there are many threads on various boards about this player, but some are very long and I don't have the time to read them all.

I currently have a Toshiba A2 and am happy with it. I don't have a golden ear and really doubt I could hear the difference between the DTS sound tracks and the newer sound tracks. My receiver is a Pioneer Elite VSX-56TXi, so I have no HDMI inputs, it does perform BM on the multi-inputs (I think). I don't plan on replacing the receiver. My TV is a Hitachi 51F500 with just component and DVI inputs.

On the video side, has the firmware update for the BD-UP5000 fixed most of the discs playback issues. From what I have read some have no problems with any discs and others have many issues. It seems if you have a problem free player the picture quality is great for either format, and upconversion is fantastic.

My wife uses the HT frequently for the kids and herself so I really want a single player for ease of use, not to mention lack of HD inputs on the TV.

Any thoughts?

Earle

My long out of date site

The B-Man

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

I received this machine two days ago. Great picture quality, loading times are a little longer than I would like and we all heard about the Dolby TrueHD bug. I am running the analog 7.1 audio cables to the EXT. IN on my receiver to avoid buying a new HDMI receiver for the time being. The following are three problems with this player that are bothering me.

1) There is a problem here the crossover is fixed at 100Hz if you choose the 7.1 analog route.

2) I don't know if this is by design or a bug in the player, but I do not get any audio on my two surround back speakers while playing movies with 6.1 or 7.1 sound (ie The Condemned and X-Men The Last Stand.) It works fine when I switch to optical inputs, but doesn't work in EXT. IN Mode.

3) There is also another problem with this machine that no one has gone into detail about and this affects all users with a Dolby-Digital capable receiver. Everyone has read about the Dolby TrueHD problem with this player, but normally just playing the standard Dolby Digital track is satisfactory. But, not the case with some Blu-Ray Discs that ONLY have a Dolby TrueHD English track. The audio is only output on the FL and FR speakers.

I also own the PlayStation 3 and this does not happen. The PS3 is at least able to extract a standard DD 5.1 signal from a Dolby TrueHD track. It's times like these that I wish Blu-Ray will go back to PCM 5.1 sound which worked fine.


The following are a few of the Blu-Ray Discs that ONLY have a Dolby TrueHD English track: 30 Days of Night, Resident Evil, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2. I've not encountered an HD-DVD that ONLY has a Dolby TrueHD track luckily.

I was so close to buying either the Panasonic DMP-BD10AK or DMP-BD-30K as both have a 7.1 analog output.

Samsung better get that firmware out.

The B-Man

DaleAV

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

UPDATE:
Have my new 5000... one freeze on BD movie 'Hit Man'.
I've had a similar freezes on my XA1, not common though.
Need to see if it will do it again, maybe the disk?
Tried assorted disks, all formats (but for Hit Man did not play them all the way through).
Not a single glitch.


Can not get internet access. Don't know why. Did the latest firmware upgrade (3/10/08) by burning an ISO Image from downloaded Sammy file.

On the plus side, machine is about twice as fast loading as my old XA1. Audio I am restricted to 're-encoding' which puts it out as DTS 5.1. Sounds fine though. Picture quality is excellent!
I would give it a notch above my HD DVD player.
So far so good....
will report more... build date: 01/08

DaleAV

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

Replayed Hit Man today for a friend...no glitch. So far, inability to access the internet is the only problem.

Mark Cappelletty

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

I'd bite on this player right now if not for the TrueHD bug and the problems with SUNSHINE, one of my favorite movies from last year. I'm upgrading from an Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on and because of all the issues with this machine, I'm leaning toward the LG universal player.

DaleAV

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

I looked very close at the LG myself. The absence of analog outputs (5.1/7.1) is the main thing that excluded it from my list.
I think with the latest upgrades the Sammy will be a very good machine, even if it never attains profile 2.0.
Biggest thing against it is Samsung's reluctance to support more duo players.

DaleAV

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

Turns out the WEP setting on my ethernet wireless converter was corrupted.
I can now say the 5000 is 100%!..but it's only been 3 days...lol

Ensign Eddie

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

I must admit I have been thinking a lot about this unit since I have a sizeable collection of HD-DVDs that I have NO intention of getting rid of (or replacing with BD).

Unlike most people that I have seen comment on the 5000, I have my HD-DVD player hooked up via HDMI. I have only seen the TrueHD bug referred to in terms of analog and optical output. Does it also affect HDMI?

DaleAV

Re: Question about Samsung BD-UP5000

Yes it does. It will only output TrueHD in 2 channel, until the May (or sooner?) update.
My work around is simply to use the 're-encode' mode for converting the Dolby track to DTS for all multichannel audio. And route via optical (or digital coax).
I can't imagine listening to movies anymore in only 2 channel. Hopefully we will not have to much longer.
I am quite impressed (optimum audio aside) with the HD video performance of the 5000 over my XA1. From reviews I've read it's on par with the Toshiba A35 and maybe marginally better than the latest Panasonic BD player.
The improvement is noticeable, even on my 3 y/o RP LCD display (720p).
I don't think the up-conversion is quite as good as the Toshibas though.