Your biggest issue(s) with the Samsung Blu-ray player? (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

In fairness, it's not only the Samsung, but also the RCA which is that on both formats, you can't see how much time is left in the movie. You can see how much time has lapse, but not how much time remains on a film or documentary you're watching.

Also, I want the ability to turnoff the upconverting if it's ever necessary.





Crawdaddy

 

[Travis Hedger]

Whoops....posted correct answer to the wrong question in the wrong forum.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I don't have a problem with the Samsung player, it's a pretty nice piece of equipment. The BD discs have been fairly lackluster so far, hopefully there will be improvements on that front in the near future.

My major gripes with the Toshiba are the boot time and the remote. The remote doesn't always work when I hit the down arrow on menus.

 

[Cees Alons]

This thread is meant to accumulate "issues" (and their possible solutions) with the BD players only. Please post anything about HD DVD players in the similar thread in the other forum.

Thanks!


Cees

 

[Travis Hedger]

Edited my statement above, the issue you mention has been seen on HD DVD and my mind, wanting to help out, told my fingers to pump out that answer.

 

[EricCr]

Having watched Hitch and Terminator I have had the same thing happen during both films. About 3/4 of the way through Hitch the audio dropped out for a second and the video froze and it then started up again. It did this a few times and then I ejected the disc and looked for dust. I found maybe two flecks on it and cleaned them off. The movie then played fine. About 1/2 the way through Terminator it froze for just a second and then no problems. Is this something to be concerned about or could it really just be specs of dust getting in the way of the laser? I don't want to box the thing up and take it back to Circuit City if the player is fine but don't want to be stuck with a lemon. Of course if I take it back who knows when they will get one in to exchange it with.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Because of the density of the media, it is entirely likely that a dirty disc will impair playback. A clean disc is a happy disc. This is the case for DVD, and it sounds like it will be even more so for high-definition counterparts.

But if you see the same pattern on a third disc, and a fourth disc, I would worry.

- Steve

 

[Steven Simon]

Biggest gripe with the Toshiba is when you fast foward or rewind, you don't see a speed stepping... Slow Load times on DVD's...

Samsung.... Haven't really found any problems yet

 

[Rachael B]

Neither of the Samsung players I've had this week will play Lionsgate titles without sporadiac judder. I will proably be returning this second player too. It won't even load Lord Of War, which the first one did. Besides these issues, I like the player well enough.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Mine was DOA with corrupt firmware (and returned for a refund). That was a pretty big problem.

The Lions Gate issues may be with authoring, especially since the Sony titles are playing back okay. I've had authoring issues with some custom work I've done for the Toshiba player. Does Lions Gate have any statement on the issue?

- Steve

 

[Ronald Epstein]

So, let me ask you here....

I may be forced to buy into Blu-Ray as there seems no
inevitable price drop by year's end.

With these reported problems, should I buy the Sony, Samsung
or just wait for another manufacturer model later this year?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Ron, until we know a little more about what's going on with Blu-ray, I'd stay away. The format just doesn't appear to be ready for prime time yet. The Sony player won't even come out until October 25th. Perhaps by mid-November we'll know more about whether or not Blu-ray has a chance to deliver on the bulk of their promises.

 

[TedD]

Ron, Based on what I have seen so far, if you value image quality in your HT, I would wait. I have yet to see any actual released movies on BD that don't have image quality issues. HD DVD has set a high standard, and today BD is not delivering. It's true that the demo disc looks anywhere from fair to excellent, depending on the source.

But you know the many stories about demos.
My favorite concerns heaven and hell, but that's off topic.......

Ted

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well here's my new question....

Is the problem with Blu-Ray the software (movies) or hardware?

If it is software related, that's something that can easily be
worked out. I can still buy a player now and be ready for the
first releases from Fox and Disney.

If it's a hardware issue ane you think I should wait for future
players (whenever that happens), that is an opinion I need to
hear about.

....and if there are issues with the Samsung player, how about
the Sony player that is now out. Should I opt for that instead?

 

[Ron-P]

From what I've been reading, it's mostly software related. The movies are coming out poor in quality. The Samsung player itself seems to be fairing pretty well with not too many bugs or issues.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This fall the studios are promising to release new films to both
formats day-and-date.

This means that if I want to own a new release of, let's say,
Pirates of the Caribbean II or X-Men III, I have
to buy it on SD and then again on Blu-Ray.

Why not just skip the middle man? If I buy BR now, I can buy
all the new films on the new format.

My thinking in all this is that prices are probably not going to
drop on hardware for at least a year. If all the problems are
software issues that is easy to resolve. If the problems are
hardware related then I know to stay away completely.

....and I still haven't heard anything about the Sony Blu-Ray
model and how good or bad that is performing. If Samsung is
the problem perhaps I should be considering the Sony?

 

[Cees Alons]

The Sony won't arrive before October/November.
The PS3 might be there sooner, though...


Cees

 

[Robert Crawford]

The intention of this thread in this particular forum area was for Blu-ray owners to post any issues they may have with this player so that those contemplating buying the player can read about these issues from first-hand expriences instead of somebody just repeating comments they've read or heard from second-hand sources.

Ronbo,
If you have any doubt then it's probably best that you wait until you're comfortable with the situation.





Crawdaddy

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Ron,
Again, the Sony Blu-ray deck has been officially postponed until October 25th. The next Blu-ray decks to hit the marketplace will be the Panasonic and Pioneer models, currently scheduled for September.

Here's what we now know about the early Blu-ray problems:
1. The Samsung Blu-ray player has a HDMI glitch that affects Panasonic display devices. THIS HAS NOW BEEN CONFIRMED. You *cannot*, at this moment in time, hook-up a Samsung BD player via HDMI to a Panasonic HD display of any kind. You'll have to utilize component instead in order to obtain a "decent" picture. And you can't upscale most SD-DVD's via component; *plus* at any time the studios, at their discretion, can enforce the ICT on component to restrict resolution to 540p. These HDMI glitches will be solved via HDMI 1.3, but the only Blu-ray player that will utilize HDMI 1.3 this year is the PS3 game system (and only in its $599 configuration).
2. The "judder" associated with the Blu-ray Lionsgate titles only occurs with the DTS audio option. Now ... Is the problem with the Samsung player or the software? Nobody knows at the moment. (The Sony titles have been offering uncompressed PCM in lieu of DD or DTS.)

Will any of these problems be addressed by a future firmware upgrade for the Samsung? And will the user be able to easily upgrade the unit or will he have to take it in? Nobody knows the answers to these questions at the moment.

 

[Ron-P]

The studios also promised a lot more titles at roll-out, I don't put much stock in stuido promises. Perfect example; Paramount, they had release dates for HD-DVD, so far we have nothing, not even a release date for a single title. They pulled back and are being very quiet.

Does the Samsung have an ethernet port for internet upgrades? Anyone know if the Sony model will or does?

I see your point on double-dipping but I also wouldn't rush out to buy a player at $1k either. Rock/hardplace. You can always buy the titles and then the player at a later date when the known bugs are fixed.