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New HDTV owner, hardware buy questions

post #1 of 5
12/24/07 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hey everybody. I'm a longtime software forum poster, but this is really my first foray into this area (both the forum and as a consumer. I just bought a Samsung LNT4069FX 40" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV and I'm seriously considering making HD-DVD/Blu-ray my next purchase.

I've read a bit about Samsung's BD-UP5000, which seems to be getting mostly positive reviews, but I didn't know if I was better off getting two individual, dedicated players. I currently own Sony's DVP-NS77H/B 1080p upscaling DVD player and HDMI 10.2 gbps cable, which does a pretty nifty job with my SD discs (which is a museum's worth). It was pretty cheap, so I figured it could hold me over until I solve my larger DVD player issues. I'm also concerned about my next player including decent upscaling, so I don't have to buy new HDMI cables everytime I get new hardware.

Does anyone have any advice? Is the BD-UP5000 the way to go? Anything I might be missing? Thanks!
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post #2 of 5
12/27/07 at 4:04pm

Re: New HDTV owner, hardware buy questions

You didn't mention what surround decoder you have or are thinking of getting.

As of right now the two Blu-ray players (yup, I'm not going HD-DVD unless I absolutely have to... and we should know more soon) to look at are the Panasonic BD30 and the PS3 (40 gig should be fine unless you want to play PS2 games and/or Super Audio CD's too).

The PS3 and Panny are both profile 1.1 and have new firmware downloads available. The PS3 internally decodes TrueHD lossless and soon DTS-MA lossless. The Panny bitstreams them to a newer surround decoder with the latest audio decoding on board.

Dan
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post #3 of 5
12/28/07 at 4:17am

Re: New HDTV owner, hardware buy questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman
You didn't mention what surround decoder you have or are thinking of getting.

As of right now the two Blu-ray players (yup, I'm not going HD-DVD unless I absolutely have to... and we should know more soon) to look at are the Panasonic BD30 and the PS3 (40 gig should be fine unless you want to play PS2 games and/or Super Audio CD's too).

The PS3 and Panny are both profile 1.1 and have new firmware downloads available. The PS3 internally decodes TrueHD lossless and soon DTS-MA lossless. The Panny bitstreams them to a newer surround decoder with the latest audio decoding on board.

Dan
Ditto//// I use my PS3 all the time. I can not say how long it will last, but ask me 2 years from now. LOL

PS/most players have mounting restrictions the PS3 does not have. You don't even see it next to my black TV vertically mounted.
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post #4 of 5
12/28/07 at 5:43am

Re: New HDTV owner, hardware buy questions

Drew,
I simply don't trust Samsung players at all. They seem to always have an issue with the newest discs out. If buying today I'd buy the Panasonic Bd30k + the Toshiba A35. This assumes you have an upgraded receiver capable of decoding the latest audio formats such as Dolby True HD, DTS HD MA and so forth.

If not then you'll have to pick your poisen and lose a feature(most likely DTS MA Decoding).

Unlike Dan, I'm not tied to one format. To me the cost of an HD player is well worth being able to watch those movies in HD than to either live without or watch them in SD. It's about the movies not the format they come on.
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post #5 of 5
12/29/07 at 8:30am
Thread Starter 

Re: New HDTV owner, hardware buy questions

Shane, unfortunately I don't have a receiver yet and I already bought the Samsung because I had to grab it before anyone was able to reply. I didn't want to have to buy additional HDMI cables for everything and I was under the impression that Samsung was going to send out firmware updates to assist with the current BD-UP5000 problems. Now I'm not entirely sure, but I'm going to call customer service myself before I go anywhere near as batty as some of the AVS people have gone.

What's your specific experience with Samsung players? Thanks!

Small update: I'm hearing more and more that the TrueHD issue is not going to get resolved anytime soon, so I'm still going to call Samsung but I may just return it and get the Toshiba A35. I only have HD-DVD titles right now anyway. How is the upscaling on the A35? The upscaling on the BD-UP5000 is really, really great, so I'm hoping they are comparable. Can anyone tell me more about the A35 in general? Thank you!

Bigger update: I spoke with a higher-tier tech supporter at Samsung, and he said the unit IS supposed to support multi-channel TrueHD and they ARE working on solving the problem. They will then issue a firmware update and the issue will be resolved. He said that if someone else in customer support ever said that it wasn't, they were wrong. I think I am going to keep this player.
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