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Technology Lifestyle Samsung Blu-ray BD-P1000 Disc Player - REVIEW
Technology Lifestyle Samsung Blu-ray BD-P1000 Disc Player - REVIEW | Samsung Blu-ray BD-P1000 Disc Player - REVIEW |
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| by Adam Turner | |
| Sunday, 04 February 2007 | |
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Page 2 of 2 When we switched to a mammoth 46 inch Samsung F7 Series high def LCD we expected DVD to look a little rough around the edges, but the difference between the Blu-ray and DVD versions still wasn't striking. We assumed the Blu-ray player was doing an excellent job of upscaling DVDs from 576p to 1080p (which is really guesswork so it can never look as good as true 1080p), but it turned out progressive scan and HDMI were the key factors. Most people would be upgrading to Blu-ray from a standard DVD player so we tried The Transporter DVD on an ordinary DVD player - thus losing the upscaling so we were stuck with DVD's native 576p in PAL. We connected it up to the 46 inch Samsung via component and it looked shocking. The colours were overdone and all the fine detail was gone, with the size of the television magnifying all the imperfections. We expected using a single composite video cable (the yellow plug) would look worse again. Sadly composite is what many people watch today, although typically on a smaller television so it doesn't look so bad. We connected the Blu-ray player to an old 58cm CRT television via composite video and played the DVD, but it didn't look any better than an ordinary DVD player. Switching to the Blu-ray movie we were in for a shock - it refused to play at all. It broke the news to us as such; "This is disc not available in this video output mode or resolution. Please change to HD resolution (720p, 1080i, 1080p)". The player wouldn't let us switch to any of those modes. We suspect we won't be the last to see this message and a lot of people will be in for disappointment when they get their shiny new Blu-ray player home from the shop and it refuses to play nicely with their old TV. If you're currently watching DVD on a regular television via composite, or even component, then upgrading to Blu-ray on a high definition display via HDMI is more stunning than the jump from VHS to DVD. Moving to Blu-ray without a high definition television is not worth it because you can't watch Blu-ray movies, not even in low resolution. Without a high def television, this $AU1600 Blu-ray player is nothing but an expensive DVD player. Unfortunately a 1080p "true" high definition television will cost you at least $AU5000, while even a decent 720p set will still set you back $AU3000. Equally, buying a high definition television is not really worth it unless you buy a Blu-ray player to go with it. Of course the introduction of any new technology wouldn't be complete without a format war and Blu-ray has a competitor in HD DVD. While both offer 1080p output via HDMI, Toshiba's first HD DVD player is $AU400 cheaper than this Samsung Blu-ray player. Like all new technologies, in 12 months they'll be half the price and you can put the money towards a high definition television to go with it. By then it might also be clearer whether Blu-ray or HD DVD will win the format war. Until that time, Blu-ray players are best left to the early adopters with pockets deep enough to buy a high definition television to watch them on. AT A GLANCE: Samsung Blu-ray BD-P1000 Disc Player PRICE $AU1599 PROS great Blu-ray picture, upscales DVDs CONS expensive, won't work with a standard television CONTACT Samsung http://www.samsung.com/au/ {moscomment}
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