After all the hype, Blu-ray is finally here with the arrival of Samsung's high definition Blu-ray BD-P1000 player. Movies on Blu-ray are around five times sharper than DVD, although you need a high definition television to see all that extra detail.
The BD-P1000 is the size of a large DVD player, with a fold down flap on the front revealing and 10-in-2 memory card reader that lets you view photos on your television. The slimline black remote control sports all the features you'd find with a DVD player, although some of the buttons are a little small.
A look at the rear of the player reveals all the usual outputs, including one for a new high definition HDMI cable, which carries both audio and digital video to high def displays. A button on the front cycles the video output between the HDMI, component and composite - which is extremely useful if you're swapping between displays - but strangely this button isn't on the remote.
As Blu-ray has only just arrived, only a handful of movies are available in the new format and we're yet to see them available for hire in Australian video stores [UPDATE: The Blockbuster in Brunswick, Melbourne, has a Blu-ray shelf with half a dozen titles]. Thankfully our Samsung player came with The Transporter on Blu-ray, but it also plays DVDs and CDs so we hired the movie on DVD to compare the difference. Blu-ray has a resolution of 1080p, which means the picture is made up of 1080 horizontal lines compared to PAL DVD's 576p. The 'p' is for progressive, which means all the lines are displayed at once.
Fire up the BD-P1000 and the first thing you notice is Samsung has gone overboard with the glowing blue lights on the front. It's also frustratingly slow to startup, play or eject a disc, but the on screen menus are easy to read and very user friendly.
Connected to a 40 inch Sony Bravia KDL-40X2000 high definition LCD using a HDMI cable, the difference between The Transporter in Blu-ray and DVD was noticeable but not striking. Everything just looked that bit sharper, particularly close-ups of Jason Statham's face in the car outside the bank. You could see not only individual whiskers but even the pores in his skin. The extra detail certainly isn't enough to take your breath away and the casual observer might not even notice the difference. Even so, the eye quickly becomes accustomed to Blu-ray and things look a little shabby when you go back to DVD. CONTINUED
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