Samsung announces combo player (1 Viewer)

[RobertSiegel]

Yes I have been following the threads over at AVS. Seems the unit will not send DTS HD or Dolby True via HDMI, but an upgrade is coming very soon for sending these formats out the analogs, which is perfect for me since my Denon does not have HDMI but has 7.1 analog input, thus no new receiver cost right now.

I am waiting for a few formal reviews, and watching the thread before I dive in.

 

[RobertR]

I've been following that AVS thread, and my high hopes for the player have faded, mainly due to the lack of advanced codecs via analog. If that's fixed soon, I'll take a second look.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Not sure if you read my post there, I do not own the player but was able to get to level 3 samsung tech support, and he actually knew of this issue and said the firmware upgrade for this is almost ready to be released..he confirmed both decoders are inside and ready to be implimented....if you recall the Samsung 1400 came out, the firmware upgrade for that for the DTS HD and Dolby True came out 4 days later so I believe what he says. Don't give up yet...the bigger disappointment seems to come from those wanting bitstreamed sound in Dolby True and DTS HD over HDMI, doesn't look like the player will do it, from what they say. Though I am sure all those new receivers with hdmi still have analog inputs, so they can get the sound codecs that way. I think the upgrade is coming very soon. The level 3 tech specialist told me to watch their web site for the upgrade in the next few weeks or so. If I see that happen, then I am in.

 

[RobertR]

Well, I hope you're right, Robert. I'll just wait and see. My Anthem prepro can redigitize analog inputs, giving me complete control over crossover points, etc., so that would work out great for me.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Anyone get one of these yet?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Nope, I'm about ready to cancel my order and just wait for a better product to come out later next year. Yesterday, my sister, bless her heart, who knows very little about HT equipment, sent me her Christmas gift for me which was a Samsung 1400. She heard me complain about having the first generation Samsung and decided to help me out, not knowing that I'm probably going to upgrade in the next several months. Anyway, it's a pretty good player without the 1.1 profile, but it allows me to hear the lossless codecs through the bitstream with my Denon 4308 receiver. I've heard some bad things about this player, but I was impressed with it yesterday. I had no problems updating the firmware or it playing the Fox discs. It's not as slow as the Samsung-1000 so it will give me time to wait and see on what is announced in a couple of weeks. Chances are, once I upgrade next year, I'll use this fine Christmas present in my bedroom HT in place of the 1000.





Crawdaddy

 

[Paul.S]

Robert, given your keen interest in this player, I think you really need to just go here and slog/peruse/read through:

BD-UP5000 Universal Player Samsung [OFFICIAL OWNERS THREAD] & FAQ - AVS Forum

 

[RobertSiegel]

Tried that Paul, I had questions but it's an owners thread and some got chewed out for posting without owning a player. I wish owners threads were open to those interested to ask the owners questions. I am following it though, thanks.

 

[Paul.S]

I think the thrust of the criticism was directed at those who don't have the player and are/were repeatedly making thread crapper statements as to why moreso than at those such as yourself who are asking questions with an eye towards buying.

Having said that, I share the disappointment over this player neither decoding nor bitstreaming full TrueHD or Master Audio out of the box. (I'm aware of the purported future firmware upgrade.)

 

[RobertSiegel]

I agree and the starter of the thread told me that too. But this thread was nice for those looking to buy, and it seems to have died. What I am happy about is that with this player, I don't need a new receiver right now, I can conveniently wait until CES and see what's coming out, I would much rather have a 2nd generation DolbyTrue/DtsMaster receiver, besides I heard enough about the Onkyos to excite me and then turn me off at the same time.

 

[SpenceJT]

Not quite dead yet.

As of December 21st, I was the first person in Madison to have one. Perhaps even the first in Wisconsin!

Love the player so far. Have played the following without any issue what so ever;

HD DVD
300
Hot Fuzz
Stardust
Blade Runner Final Cut - Ultimate Collector's Edition
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Serenity

Blu-ray
Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest
Happy Feet (from Netflix)

DVD
Happy Feet (for comparison to the Blu-ray copy from NetFlix)
Ratatouille
Dangerous Days (documentary on making of Blade Runner)
Meet the Robinsons

DVD+R (originals owned, but burned to +R for testing)
Nightmare Before Christmas
The Big Lebowski

The only title that did not play at 100% was the Blu-ray Close Encounters of the Third Kind which froze up a couple of times while viewing. I attribute this to the way in which seamless branching is implemented.

Picture (currently connected through component via my Onkyo TX-DS989) is vibrant, crisp with detail, and full of color. Audio (connected via SPDIF/TosLink) is fantastic, however it is not full bitstream as my Onkyo has no HDMI or any of the new HD audio codecs. Also the player is currently having issues with bitstream, which (according to posts at another site) are known to Samsung, and for which a firmware update will be released in the coming month.

I have had no issues with PQ (other than the grain which would be expected from source material) watching from about 12 feet from my 65" Mitsubishi WS-65907 with 7" CRTs.

Again I don't have HDMI with either my television or receiver so I am unable to fully test the player, however I can tell you that I am satisfied.

I will be even more satisfied, once firmware is released, enabling all of the audio features and fixing some known playback compatibility issues, but I could not be more pleased with the purchase this far.

Happy Purple New Year!

Spence

 

[BrandonH]

Well my preorder was delayed again and when I called today he still could not give me any idea when it will ship.
So I started looking for it elsewhere.
And Holy Cow I found it only a few blocks away, the only one in a 75 mile radius a local Circuit City had one (only one) in stock.
So I canceled the preorder and yeah I am paying more to have it now but what the heck I want now.
They have it right now for me to pick up at the counter SWEET
The down fall of my impatience is it is 80.99 + tax 66.00 more than my preorder was.

I will post my assessment of the unit after I have had some time with it.
First movie I am going to play TRANSFORMERS!

 

[Cees Alons]

Good for you!

Don't forget to post about your findings!


Cees

 

[Dave Moritz]

While I will be purchasing the Denon DVD-2500 BT personally. I too would love to hear your findings on the Samsung combo player. So I know what to tell others that are looking to get a format neutral player.

 

[BrandonH]

Well I stayed up Way too late last night playing with it.
There was some kind of firmware that downloaded directly from the internet it did not say what it was or what it was supposed to do be upgrading.
I still have to play with it some more but here is what I found out so far.
Razor sharp picture on both HD-DVD & Blu-Ray to be honest I can not tell the difference between the two.
The picture is better that anything I have seen from OTA HD or DirectTv HD maybe because it is direct IDK.
SD-DVD picture is also just amazing!
Sound is clear and powerful from all formats.
HD-DVD internet interactivity is really cool but I still have to learn more on that.
Even If I had paid a 1000.00 for this unit it would still be worth every penny.
So I will leave this to open questions and do what I can it to answer them.

 

[Phil Menard]

Brandon, can you try a PAL and different region standard dvd?

 

[BrandonH]

I do not have any PAL
The manual states region 1 for DVD, A for Blu-Ray.
HD-DVD is region free (something I just learned) which is cool it will play any HD-DVD from anywhere in the world.
One thing I noticed is that on Ratatouille (BluRay)there is on occasion an angle icon that will pop up in the upper left hand corner, cant seem to do anything with...none of the controls on the remote will do anything with it.
I need to look further into that.
in the audio setup if I select Bitstream (re-encode) my received thinks its DTS all the time even with Dolby but not when I select Bitstream (audiophile) then the receiver recognizes Dolby and DTS properly.
EDIT:
OK went to the official 5000 owners thread signed up so I could use search.
For the angle icon I have to turn off screen messages that did it.
I don't know if its just the player or a bluray (not being finished) issue at the moment.

 

[Paul.S]

Phil et al.,

Can't imagine that whatever questions you may have about this player are not addressed in this FAQ.

Samsung BD-UP5000 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions Main Page

And just a reminder that Samsung announced this player's replacement at CES a short while ago.

 

[BrandonH]

yeah he is probably right
you all should go to the other site for any of your questions

Yep there was an announcement about a new duo player in the midst
Samsung BP-U5500: $599 Hybrid Blu and HD DVD Dual Player

 

[Paul.S]

Warner's support of HD DVD is not the only thing skedded to sunset as of May.

The Samsung BD-UP5000 to be discontinued in May - Engadget HD

Ouch.