First BD titles under scrutiny: The Fifth Element and others (1 Viewer)

[Cees Alons]

It's not certain yet, that it's the BD discs that are bad.

Bill Hunt reports a possible problem with the Samsung's HDMI, while component output seems better!

That could also explain why Steven Simon said the films looked, well not, superb, perhaps, but certainly very good.


Cees

 

[Robert Crawford]

The same with me because I wasn't seeing those problems too, but I think Steve is using the HDMI converted from a DVI plug.

 

[RobertR]

Since other people are not reporting the same kind of scaling errors/jagged edges from the Samsung's HDMI output, it sounds to me like there is indeed an interfacing problem between Bill's particular projector and the Samsung, and not the Samsung HDMI output in general, so I would not consider that to be the source of the problems people are seeing with the quality of BD titles.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Ugh! I HATE that.
HDMI (digital) connection has always promise bit for bit "perfection".
(I know this is not the problem with the Sammy)
However, I have read many (to many) reviews of products where the old analog component out preformed the shiny new HDMI.
Since, a lot of us, are displeased with some the waring HD formats first releases as well, should we tie that boat anchor of a saying; "Not Ready For Prime Time", to HDMI as well?
Sad.
Well, 1.3 has been announced this month, so maybe 2Q '07, we'll finally see & hear what HDMI can do.
Sure hope so.
However, I'm not holding my breath!

 

[PeterTHX]

The PS3 is HDMI 1.3 compliant.

 

[GlennH]

But the Sony BD player, now delayed until October, still won't have HDMI 1.3, and apparently it's not something you can upgrade to via firmware. New chip sets are required. Per the latest DVDFile.com posts by Dan R.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

only the more expensive one. The one priced at HD-A1 player won't even have HDMI at all

 

[Mark Anthony]

None of this surprises me at all, neither Samsung or Toshiba for that matter have ever produced hardware that can be considered the best of the best - a look at the impartial and even keeled secrets review of DVD players can confirm this and the fact that there are so many difficiencies on both player's proves it - be it picture quality, loading times or inability to play future audio formats that should be de rigeur.

Give it a year and once the Denon's and Pioneer's of this world start producing second gen products, we may truly see which of these formats is good enough for the prices they want us to pay - but as someone who fully expected blu ray to be the best, I am pleasantly surprised with what Toshiba has accomplished from the start - if nothing else their speed with the firmware fix has to be applauded.

M

 

[PeterTHX]

$100 more. Plus it has a bigger hard drive, bluetooth, etc.

 

[Walter Kittel]

From Projector Central...

Initial Notes on the Samsung Blu-Ray Release

(Note to mods: Despite the title I felt that the article was tilted more towards an evaluation of some of the early Bd titles, vs. the player. Hence I placed the link in this thread. Please feel free to move at your discretion.)

- Walter.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

That was FAST!!!
I sit corrected. ;-)
I do not believe 1.3 will solve all the problems of HDMI, unfortunately, as the newest version only officially address audio, right?
Hope some behind the scenes tweaks, makes "all" of HDMI shortcomings go away.
I mean, what is the point of "upgrading" to digital, when compared to analog it's a "downgrade"?!?!?!?!?! :-0

 

[Yumbo]

No chance ICT is affecting THE FIFTH ELEMENT (etc) is there?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

None whatsoever.

Sony has already officially stated that *no* Blu-ray discs released this year will have the ICT enabled. Plus most of the Blu-ray owners are stating that the Samsung's 1080i output on the initial Blu-ray titles looks better via component!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Still $100 more than HD-A1 that has HDMI output.

 

[Steve Phillips]

I was expecting the worst when popping in THE FIFTH ELEMENT last night, but I really didn't think it looked so bad. It beat the HD-DVD of THE PERFECT STORM I watched immediately prior. A little grain and dirt here and there, but far better than the DVD.

TERMINATOR doesn't look so hot, but let's face it, it never has. This was probably not the smartest title to use at launch. I thought UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION looked excellent also, on par with the HD-DVDs I've seen.

I've got the Toshiba HD DVD unit connected via HDMI, and the Samsung Blu-ray via component.

I'm pretty happy with both players so far; but I'd agree Sony better start using the best encoding process out there. They can't afford not to.

I'm mostly renting the discs from Netflix at this point anyway, so for me, after the cost of the players: I'm not really worried about who comes out on top.

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

That's how I felt when I viewed it last night. It was pretty good, except when there were descriptive sentences on the screen written in white. The extreme edging of the letters had a tremendous amount of noise that I've never noticed on any other format, and that was completely distracting for me, but other than that, the film itself, wasn't too bad.

What I really can't stand, is the descriptive subtitles, that are on the Blu-ray movie xXx. They are below the OAR 2.40:1 film frame and in the black border area of a 16x9 aspect ratio screen. This is not the way it is in the theater and for me, looked almost invisible, because I have black matting around the projected OAR. People with 'constant hight' setups won't even see the descriptive subtitles, as their OAR frame takes up the whole screen, not leaving the black bar space for projecting the words.

Sony really has to get their act together and give us the same image experience that is seen at the theater.

Paul

 

[JediFonger]

this is interesting because that print of the 5th element in HD/SD has been circulating around on Demand from Comcast for ages.

 

[PeterTHX]

What's the size of the HD-A1'S hard drive?
How many games does it play?
How many SACDs can it play?
Does it have DolbyTrue HD 5.1 like the PS3?

$100 is a bargain.

 

[PeterTHX]

But there is more of us who do not have that setup and prefer it in the black bars because A: it doesn't muck up the flm frame and B: it's easier to read.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

don't care about HDD
don't care about games
don't care about SACD
just bought a new receiver so currently don't care about DolbyTrue HD 5.1

Therefore not spending the additional $100.

I just want a $400 BD player with HDMI output by December (well, by the time I buy HD-A1, which will also in December, the price will already drop to $400, current cheapest price for HD-A1 is around $450)