Unboxing the Samsung BD-P1000

Life sure is good in The Man Room. First these guys got a hold of Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player before almost anyone else, and now they've also managed to score a Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray unit a full six days before the official release, capturing the entire unboxing process for us to enjoy. Since the first Blu-ray titles won't go on sale until tomorrow, initial impressions are limited to the player's design, menu layout, and upscaling abilities, with the HD-A1's output used as a reference point in the latter category. The good news here is that the 500 extra bucks you'll have to spend to pick up the Samsung do indeed give you a few initial advantages over the Tosh, such as the snazzier packaging (big deal), more attractive case, and perhaps most importantly, significantly faster startup and load times. On the downside, the HD-A1 showed slightly better upconverting abilities than the Blu-ray model, and The Man Room also experienced a rather unnerving shrinking and flickering of the menus when connecting to a 1080i projector. As for us, we're gonna wait until some reviews start showing up online before we decide to either shell out the cash or wait for the Sony, the Pioneer, or maybe even the PS3 to come out. Keep reading to check out the remote and a shot of the main menu...

[Bryan Ribas @ Jun 19th 2006 12:27PM]

wait for PS3

[hewie @ Jun 19th 2006 12:31PM]

Wait for a clear next-gen winner.

[LongshotX @ Jun 19th 2006 12:31PM]

The PS3 isn't a dedicated Blu-Ray player. There is no way possible that it is going to be a better quality player than the stand alone versions. Just like PS2 DVD sucks compared to a dedicated player.

Wait for PS3...Pssssh!

[James @ Jun 19th 2006 12:55PM]

The Toshiba HDDVD player actually supports the new high-def audio formats and on top of that, early reports from AVS with street broken Blu-Ray discs say that it has better picture quality than the MPEG2 single-layer.

Interesting times indeed.

[Storm9 @ Jun 19th 2006 1:02PM]

LongshotX... what are u talking about? when ps2 debuted in 2000 it had 480i DVD output just like every other player, i think the newer models have 480p not sure though.

And Ps3 will be a 1080p BD player. So how is a 1080p stand alone player better than a Ps3 which also outputs 1080p? R you saying that 1080p>1080p? IT MAKES NO SENSE!

If you have a high end home theather with a 1080p projector throwing a 160"+ screen, then you will get the stand alone player cuz it comes out first and also b/c you dont really want a game machine powering your HT room...as it will look unprofessional. Not saying that PS3 is bad, but think about if, if you are some very rich guy with a big ego, you are not going to say that your Projector is powered by a playstation.

[Mike @ Jun 19th 2006 1:27PM]

I got one before these guys. Believe me when I say you aren't missing much. This player is TWICE the price of a HD DVD player and has fewer features.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=689149

[bob @ Jun 19th 2006 1:29PM]

yeah but the ps2 dvd player always put the sound out of sync

[Cuw @ Jun 19th 2006 1:30PM]

The ps2 had poor quality picture quality compared to the early stand alone players. It has nothing to do with resolution it has to do with the components inside the ps2 and ps3. They are made for games primarily and conveniently support DVD and Blu-ray not the other way around.

The electronics in a Blu-Ray player will be far superior to those in a PS3 for video playback.

[Mike @ Jun 19th 2006 1:31PM]

Oh... keep in mind that this player does NOT do native 1080p. It takes the 1080p24 on the disc, converts it to 1080i60, then kicks out 1080p30.

Most TV's cannot accept a true 1080p signal anyways. Until the player kicks out an unaltered 1080p24 signal to a TV that can handle it, there's little difference between this and 1080i.

Overhyped and overpriced...

[Mike @ Jun 19th 2006 1:32PM]

Ummm...how about a pic of the actual player?

[Chris @ Jun 19th 2006 1:36PM]

LOrd another format that sony will kill

BETAMAX, SACD, UMD, and people are actually gonna fall for the "try bluray for 1000$" thing LOL give me a break

[Crafty @ Jun 19th 2006 2:07PM]

mpeg2 compressed content for the lose. VC1>

[Scabies @ Jun 19th 2006 2:38PM]

Upsampling/upconverting... what a gimmick. "See your lower rez movie in high def!"
doesnt work folks, doesnt work.

[James @ Jun 19th 2006 2:50PM]

Re: Storm9

"And Ps3 will be a 1080p BD player. So how is a 1080p stand alone player better than a Ps3 which also outputs 1080p?"

Really? I see you have a PS3 sitting in your living room right now. I can't see how in the world that the $499 PS3 would be able to output 1080p through its missing HDMI output.

And yes, the PS2 DVD player is clunky and not very good.

[The Jeremy @ Jun 19th 2006 2:59PM]

It was my understanding that both the Toshiba HD-DVD player and this Samsung Blu-Ray player have the same issues regarding output due to both machines using the same decoder chip. I understood we'd all have to wait for the units coming out with the Sigma Designs decoder chip that can actually output 1080p (whether or not you have a 1080p capable television is a whole different can o' worms).

So the wait continues, for now...

[Storm9 @ Jun 19th 2006 3:00PM]

James, PS3 will support 1080p over component, its just that if movie studios implement ICT, then u cant see movies in 1080p but u can play games in 1080p over component.

And i believe most movie studios are not going to use ICT till atleast 2009...if they ever do.

[Guruboy @ Jun 19th 2006 3:28PM]

BR and HDDVD players do upscale dvds Scabies you moron.

Faster startup and load times are what people should actually be looking for in these new HD optical players. Both Blu-Ray and HDDVD are HD quality, so a deciding factor should be load times, yes? I don't know what other features I'm looking for...

Quit dissing the PS3. For one thing, how the DVD player in the PS2 worked is irrelavent unless you just want another reason to say "Sony=bad" like so many people here. There's also talk about how crappy the PS2 DVD player was...there's claims of it all over the internet, but having used mine as a DVD player for so long, I haven't seen any of these telltale problems. There's also the fact that the Xbox's DVD player wasn't any better. Let's talk about the Xbox360...and how you have to buy the HD DVD player seperately! I also hear the normal, outdated DVD player on it is a piece of junk too, but no real evidence.

Apparently the HD DVD player loads slower, so that's even less of a reason to buy an Xbox 360 for HD DVD. As a consumer you shouldn't be caring too too much about the specifics of the PS3 Blu-Ray player. If it's not obviously a piece of junk, there's no reason to complain. The fact that all PS3 media will be on Blu-Ray means the player needs to right away be capable of running Blu-Ray discs effectively. Bad financial news for Sony, good for us consumers.

$600 gets you a BR player for games and movies and a PS3

$400 gets you a premium Xbox 360 with no HDMI output option whatsoever, at least not announced)
+$100 or more gets you an HD DVD player add-on that may not be for games anyways (so basiclly it'll be a piece of crap)
or +$500 for a real HD DVD player that doesn't load as fast as a Blu-Ray player

[Scabies @ Jun 19th 2006 3:44PM]

watch your flame, boy. What I'm saying is when you buy a 480p, 1080i or 720p disc, even if the player/tv translates it up to 1080p, you still have a 480p, 1080i or 720p image.

Take a picture. open it in mspaint. stretch/skew the image to 125%. The picture is bigger, sure, and the file you save afterwords will contain more pixels. However, the detail can never go up since the source is xxxx/xxxx pixels.

[Andrew @ Jun 19th 2006 4:00PM]

I have a PS2 and use it as my main DVD player and love it that is why i am getting a PS3. instead of X360 i might get a WII too. still i bought the PS2 because i would not have to buy a DVD player. I'm sure that is how people will think about the PS3 a dad will buy a PS# for his son and he gets a BR player out of it.

[Jeffrey @ Jun 19th 2006 4:35PM]

Don't forget the TELEVISION QUALITY:

I did a lot of research before buying my Sony 32" Bravia XBR (1360x768) LCD HDTV.

As awesome as it is, the black level issues in LCD's have still not been resolved. So the darker the picture the more noticeable the problem. If I didn't have the money to get top-of-the-line I'd wait and stick with normal CRT's until the price drops.

The point is that if you're carefully comparing the picture quality between the latest High Definition Players don't forget that one of the most important things is your television. A cheap player on a great TV is likely to have a better picture than an expensive player on a lower quality TV.

[MSM @ Jun 19th 2006 4:55PM]

Storm9 = Moron

so there the isn't a picture quality difference between any player (DVD, HDDVD, BR...) from the low end to the ultra high, all the same huh? and I'm NOT talking features just audio/video output quality. I guess it was just in my head that those cyberhome $39 dvd players looked like it was video from the inside of my asshole.

What the hell are you watching things on, a black and white 13" with rabbit ears?

[GameGuy @ Jun 19th 2006 5:35PM]

Storm9, do Sony themselves even make a TV that supports 1080p over component? I'll answer that for you. NO.

[RobG @ Jun 19th 2006 5:57PM]

Guruboy,

Yes we all get it, Sony could crap in a box and you would be happy for the chance to buy it. Enough already. The facts you are over looking are these:

1. you cannot output 1080p over component, there isn't enough bandwidth
2. this discussion is about BD-DVD vs. HD-DVD, Microsoft is not selling the Xbox 360 as a HD-DVD machine. ITS A FREAKING ADD ON! you don't have to buy it, whereas sony you are forced into buying it.
3. the quality of the PS2 DVD player is definately an issue. The fact that it looked like ass is an indication that the PS3 is starting from a disadvantage in this regard. Track record speaks volumes.

[Storm9 @ Jun 19th 2006 6:03PM]

MSM, do you automatically assume everyone has a 1080p $10,000 projector? If you have such a projector than yes you will see a differnce between a cyberhome dvd player and a denon $3500 dvd player b/c every small detail is magnified 100x when projected.

For regular consumers with TVs under 60" it wont make much differnce between a PS3 and a stand alone.

[Mike @ Jun 19th 2006 6:55PM]

Morons... I clocked the boot times for both players.

Here are the results, from Off to an open drive tray:
HD-A1: 37 seconds
BD-P1000: 25 seconds

Big deal.

[Mike @ Jun 19th 2006 7:00PM]

Oh... another moron alert....

Neither player outputs true 1080p. Yes, the BD-P1000 does it... but the image goes from 1080p24 to 1080i60 to 1080p30. You do the math.

Both formats CAN do 1080p, though neither player outputs a true 1080p signal (the A1 only does 1080i). Further, all the reviewers have said that the Samsung looks EXACTLY THE SAME in 1080i and 1080p modes (gee, I wonder why?).

Until TV's can display 1080p24, this discussion is really pointless.

Simple math...
HD-DVD -- 1080i, stunning PQ, Ethernet, USB: $500
Blu-ray -- 1080sorta-p, so-so PQ, No Ethernet, No Usb: $1000

Are you willing to pay an extra $500 for less features and "sorta 1080p"? You could get an HD DVD player, all the movies that are out, and still have money left over. Or you could get a Blu-ray player.

I'm not a troll folks. I have both players sitting in front of me, so I *AM* in a position to pass judgement.

[Storm9 @ Jun 19th 2006 9:47PM]

Mike you also have to look at content, i wouldnt mind HD dvd, but with Sony having the most studios and companies under its belt it would be a bad choice to for HD dvd.

I think that the whole two formats thing is just stupid, already they did it to video games, u have to buy 3 freaking consoles, why cant they just work together and make ONE amazing console and all games would work on that?

It would benefit the consumer if there was either HD-DVD or Blueray not both, if it continues this way, it will be uber expensive for the consumer who has to buy more stuff.

[Dave @ Jun 20th 2006 4:35AM]

Go go go BLU-RAY! I cant wait to get one of these!

[James Farnham @ Jun 20th 2006 6:33AM]

For me having the ethernet port is a plus. I just received the update for the 500 toshiba player and the boot up time is much faster. But to be honest waiting a few seconds to start the player, I could care less. Look I am your average 33 year old. Kid on the way and everything. Income near 40. For me its about price. Hd movies are dropping the price in aug. The hybrid discs are near 40 now for hd movies. No way I can sustain that. I collect movies. Have about 300 regular dvds. At this time the normal guy cant afford to hit the stores every tuesday and buy movies. I own a hd player but to me the winner will get there movies under the 20 buch price point. My opinion.

[Ben Hobbs @ Jun 20th 2006 11:07AM]

You can do 1080p over component cables, upscaling players can make a picture look excellent, and yes, better - (although most of the time the majority of the better picture quality is down to the signal being digital, all the way through)

Its easy to test out if you have modern DVD Player software on your PC - Shrink down to 800x600 resolution, watch a DVD. Then bump up the resolution to something much higher and watch the same DVD, voila better quality.

Some TV's have very good internal scalers in them and won't benefit much from upscaling but generally DVD players are better at it - I've had two identical players next to each other running at 1080i and 480p and the upscaled image was quite an improvement.

[Guruboy @ Jun 20th 2006 11:09AM]

Yes but the financial benifet of buying a PS3 as a Blu-Ray player and a console are much better than having to buy either an HD DVD player alone or the 360 with a crappy add on.

Fanboy accusations simply point out your insecurities. Sorry.

[optikz @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:40AM]

everybody is forgetting the simple fact that SONY is complete garbage. maybe one point in time, they made decent products, but i guess with all the movies and trying to be the front runner in EVERYTHING, they tend to lose sight of whats important, QUALITY. instead they think about QUANITY and how many people will bow to them and buy all this crap. Since when has sony even made a good television? if i recall, wega, trinitron and now SXRD are all crap. i used to enjoy buying sony products. i think they should focus more on making quality products then trying to out do every oteh company in every other thing.