Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player reviewed

Being an early-adopter is risky business -- especially when the product in question costs $1,000 and is embroiled in a so-called format war -- so the opinions of experienced reviewers are key in helping folks to decide whether or not to take the Blu-ray plunge, and whether Samsung's BD-P1000 is the machine to do it with. Luckily PCMag has a thorough write-up which not only discusses the merits and detriments of the player itself, but looks at the format as a whole to determine what type of consumer would actually benefit from next-gen optical devices in the first place. The review basically boils down to this: if you have a high definition TV larger than 42-inches, then you'll definitely notice a difference between Blu-ray and standard or upscaled DVDs, and the Samsung does a good job delivering the picture quality that Blu-ray is capable of. However, this particular reviewer also feels that Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player -- at half the price -- has a slight edge in the picture department, although the P1000's uncompressed audio and ease-of-setup are judged to be superior. Ultimately the decision comes down to personal preferences, so you'll probably want to give both devices a thorough going-over at the store (even if you're buying online); as for us, we're just hoping that Ricoh gets that dual format laser out the door poste haste, so we never have to make a choice at all.

[Via Digital Media Thoughts]

[tristanfey @ Jul 14th 2006 3:56PM]

I sure hope that was suppose to be sarcasm, spil. I think almost everyone following the HD formats knows that it is "Blu-Ray" and not "Blue-Ray" for the format name.

[spil @ Jul 14th 2006 3:59PM]

yes, that was sarcasm. by the way you misspelled "supposed".

[Wonderboy @ Jul 14th 2006 4:08PM]

I for one would like to welcome out new High-Def overlords... Wait, wrong article.

Apple RulZ!!! Dang, wrong one again...

What's that stupid, useless arguement I keep seeing on threads like this? Oh yeah...

HD-DVD is sooo much better.

Or something like that.

[AVA @ Jul 14th 2006 4:32PM]

Why are people hoping for the release of hybrid players? All that does is prolong the format war instead of letting the consumers choose until one eventually dies off. We don't need another Dvd-R, Dvd-Ram, Dvd+R fiasco.

[Guillaume @ Jul 14th 2006 4:47PM]

Personally I think HD-DVD will come out on top. Not because of any technical differences, but because of branding. Consumers are used to the name DVD, and most people already know about high definition.

HD-DVD will seem like the next logical purchase for consumers.
"Blue-ray... what's that ?"

[cckrobinson @ Jul 14th 2006 4:58PM]

Nice review. Aside from the small capacity advantage of Blu-ray, technology wise they are basically a wash. That tells me that the studios are ultimately going to decide which format will win.

I personally don't want a dual format player. I hope either Toshiba or Sony ends up taking it in the shorts over this debacle. At least with the BetaMaxVHS debate there was a clear technical advantage to BetaMax.

[Q @ Jul 14th 2006 5:27PM]

I really hope Blu-Ray wins. I'd much rather be paying $0.50 in 5 years for 50GB of recordable space than 30GB. Whichever loses will stay expensive until eventually dying out.

[TC @ Jul 14th 2006 5:32PM]

I was pretty non-fussed about any of the next-gen systems, I suppose Blu-ray would get my backing for being technically superior. However the prospect of Fifth Element and Robocop in High def on a quality huge LCD are really tempting me to take the plunge :)

[Yaks @ Jul 14th 2006 5:46PM]

Useles ... Milla is hot, but paying 1k to watch her in HD... common. Oh, there is also Hitch -- I need nothing but to see Kevin James fat ass in Blu-Ray HD....jeez. And a grainy version of The Terminator -- common. I have Terminator on my HD Tivo right now crystal clear with surround sound -- and this this is better how?

[cckrobinson @ Jul 14th 2006 6:12PM]

Until prices drop below $300 you won't see mass adoption of either format. By then, one of the formats should ultimately have a major advantage in the number of titles available. More titles equals more players being sold.

[Kris @ Jul 14th 2006 6:17PM]

I will wait for the Ricoh dual format laser

[TC @ Jul 14th 2006 6:21PM]

Yaks:
It can't be that clear on HDTivo if you mistook Terminator for Robocop!

[Yaks @ Jul 14th 2006 6:28PM]

TC: I wasn't responding to you, and Robocop and Terminator are both out on Blu-Ray and based on reviews -- Terminator looks like crap on Blu-Ray. In fact all the initial release titles are grainy and poorly encoded. I haven't seen Robocop on HD chanels on satelite, but rest assured that I know what I'm talking about. Maybe you want to checkout some reviews of the quality of the encoding before you drop your 1k.

[Pal @ Jul 14th 2006 10:53PM]

Sexiest Blue-Ray player yet. Sony's player is too ugly to even look at. Good job Samsung!

[GhostDoggy @ Jul 15th 2006 7:14AM]

I'm right there with you, spil. The mis-spelled word only aggravates the problem with those reporting on and reviewing something they probably know nothing about. Not to pick on the newbit reporter, but if you don't have the time to report a product or service by its 'name' then go find another job.

BTW, what cridentials does PCmag have as a videophile to bring a worth 'review' of Blu-ray? I'd much rather read a review by someone like WideScreen Review, but then again I'm just a PITA, too.

[Dave @ Jul 15th 2006 1:55PM]

I stand for Blu-Ray too. It is better, bigger, more support and alredy avaliable.
Also i saw $3750 HD prototype player and BRs are only $1000 or less :)

[Pilgrim @ Jul 15th 2006 4:10PM]

Do those blu-ray players come with the new sony root-kit software?

[Bleach @ Jul 17th 2006 7:27AM]

Disney will develop original Blu-ray titles

By Thomas K. Arnold
1 hour, 20 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Raising the bar in the Blu-ray Disc vs. HD DVD battle, Walt Disney Co. is creating a series of short films to be shot in high-definition to accompany select films the company will release in the Blu-ray format.



-good to see Disney finally making moves on this format war. It would be cool to see pixar films on Blu-ray.

[jm9843 @ Jul 17th 2006 3:38PM]

It seems that most people who comment on the new format "war" on these gadget blog sites aren't quite up to speed.

I'd recommend reading this article on the state of the "war": http://www.projectorcentral.com/blu-ray_2.htm

[Jason @ Jul 17th 2006 8:21PM]

I think that Disney will for sure be backing Blu-Ray since Stevie boy has taken the helm of Disney and Apple is backing Blu-Ray.

On the other hand all of the initial reviews indicate that HD-DVD has much, MUCH better PQ than Blu Ray. You can also pick up an HD-DVD player for as little as $364 shipped, 1/3 the price of the Blu Ray player. That buys you the HD-DVD player and virtually the entire HD-DVD library.

Blu Ray is single layer 25GB with ancient MPEG2 compression and looks like crap (go look at the movie 50 First Dates and you will see tons of artifacting, noise and banding). At least HD-DVD is using VC-1 which is an excellent codec, using 1/2 the space of MPEG2 with better picture quality. Also, HD-DVD is already shipping with 30GB dual layer. Blu ray is nothing but promises at this point.

I think Matrix, Harry Potter and several other heavy hitters are releasing for HD-DVD in Q4 of this year.

Also, Sony has shown extreme arrogance in all of this claiming that Blu-Ray is "higher definition", "can not fail" and that "the future starts when we say it does".

I hope consumers vote with their wallets and put the smack down on Sony for once and for all (and I could give two craps if HD blanks only store 30GB right now, they've already shown they can do 45GB triple layer very affordably, Sony can't even release movies yet in dual layer).

[Chet @ Jul 18th 2006 2:25PM]

Ummm...

What is all this talk about the size of Blu-Ray not meeting up to HD-DVD?

Didn't TDK make an 8 layer 200GB Blu-Ray disc already that surpases any HD-DVD?

It is true HD-DVD is already shipping 30GB HD-DVD dual layer discs. But it is also true TDK is shipping 50GB Blu-Ray dual layer discs also.

People seem misinformed about this whole format war...

Blu-Ray will most likely win because they are putting the product out faster than the competition. Companies will choose them over other formats because, they have a final product available for mass manufacturing.

[Disc Zombie @ Jul 18th 2006 3:41PM]

Actually, according to this reviewer, http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=22593 , no titles have been released in the 50GB format because of the "high failure rate of 50GB discs . . . due to their complicated manufacturing needs"

Seems like my prediction of Sony's 0.1mm protective coating vs the 0.6mm thickness of DVD and HD-DVD becoming a problem is already biting them in the ass.

Plus thanks to the encoding decisions for the pre-recorded movies (MPEG-2 vs VC-1, PCM vs Dolby Digital) uses up more storage space than what is used on HD-DVD that the HD-DVD movies don't need as much storage capacity as Blu-ray movies do. So, at least until something changes, the extra storage capacity of Blu-ray is pretty much null and void in the grand scheme of things.

Me? I'll wait this little skirmish out for now. I got plenty DVD and Laserdisc movies to watch in the meantime . . .

[Disc Zombie @ Jul 18th 2006 3:49PM]

Oh and by the way "putting the product out faster than the competition" doesn't make a lick of difference if nobody wants to buy what you're mass-producing . . .

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Industry_Forecasts/Disc_Sales/Early_Sales_Encouraging_for_Blu-ray,_But_Still_Lag_Behind_HD_DVD/124

"Of the twelve Blu-ray players the store received in stock, Zohn said it has sold only two, compared to backorders of over 2,000 units for Toshiba's first two HD DVD players the store has yet to fulfill"

Not a good sign so far for Blu-ray . . .

[tristanfey @ Jul 18th 2006 5:53PM]

"Why are people hoping for the release of hybrid players? All that does is prolong the format war instead of letting the consumers choose until one eventually dies off. We don't need another Dvd-R, Dvd-Ram, Dvd+R fiasco."

Same reason people were perfectly happy with CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW and CD+RW formats. In the end it meant all new drives were able to use any of the formats and the disc costs dropped down to pennies each. People are hoping for the same resolution here.

[tristanfey @ Jul 18th 2006 6:00PM]

RE: Guillaume

"Personally I think HD-DVD will come out on top. Not because of any technical differences, but because of branding. Consumers are used to the name DVD, and most people already know about high definition.

HD-DVD will seem like the next logical purchase for consumers.
'Blue-ray... what's that ?'"

But the naming could also backfire, as the general public is looking for something better than DVD and they may just think that HD-DVD is just a fancy DVD. On the same token, they go to the store and say, "Blu-Ray... what's that?" and the salesperson takes that as interest and tries to sell them on the product with his/her explanations.

Never underestimate the ignorance of the common consumer and their willingness to let the saleperson decide the purchase for them. Especially on technology purchases.

[Ed @ Jul 22nd 2006 11:48AM]

Its stupid. I have no idea why they even think about inventing this blu ray. I am very happy with my HD, and I watch my movies with Pure Crystal Clear Picture and Sound. This is just another way, to Kill the consumers for something we dont need. Who cares if they have more space. The question is What in the world are they going to include in this extra space of blu ray discs. This is another way for them to spend less and charge more to consumers. Its ridiculous and waste of money.