Samsung's BD-P1400 Blu-ray player dips to $270

Whoa, Nelly! Just three days after we saw Samsung's BD-P1400 crack the $300 barrier, the unit is now down below $270 at Amazon. More specifically, it can be had right now for $269.98, which certainly brings it a lot closer to the price range currently dominated by HD DVD. The only question now is: how much lower will it go (and when)?

[Thanks, Adam]

[Kennyb123 @ Dec 11th 2007 12:06PM]

Whoah, Nelly!

Another 100 off, and I'm sold.

[shawnmos @ Dec 12th 2007 1:18AM]

I agree. Actually I'll probably bite at another $70 off.

[harosa @ Dec 11th 2007 12:12PM]

Can anyone comment on the PS3's noise when playing a Blu Ray disc? One of the main reasons I havent jumped on the 360's HD-DVD drive is because my 360 sounds like a jet playing a game so I imagine its equally loud playing a movie. It's obvious the movie choices seem to be better on Blu ray so a PS3 seems the obvious choice in that it can play PS3 games whenever they actually make a game I 'm willing to pay for, so is it very noisy in playing movies?

[Chris @ Dec 11th 2007 12:15PM]

Just so you know, when you use the HD-Drive to watch a movie, the 360 goes into sleep mode so the fans powers down reducing the noise you described. I'm pretty happy so far with the drive...

[chilicoke @ Dec 11th 2007 12:19PM]

PS3's fan does kick into high gear when it's playing Blu-Ray or upscaling DVDs. but compare to X360, it's still whisper quiet

[m3nphls @ Dec 11th 2007 12:20PM]

I play bluray movies most of the time in my PS3 and it makes no sound at all, its really quiet

[Bweetza @ Dec 11th 2007 12:24PM]

My PS3 is almost useless as a Blu-Ray player due to the noise the fan makes. The fan has 3 (or 4) speed stages and after about 20 minutes of playing a movie, it sounds like a vacuum cleaner. Apparently, this isn't a problem with all of the PS3's. There are two versions that were manufactured and both have different fans. One version being much quieter. Sony knows of the problem and last I heard, they will replace the loud version with a refurb... but they cannot guarantee that the refurb will be a unit with a quiet set of fans. Yipee.

Comparison-wise, my 360 is easily half the decible level when playing in the DVD or the HD-DVD player.

[kempcross @ Dec 11th 2007 12:35PM]

Mine is very quiet.

[Bret @ Dec 11th 2007 12:37PM]

That is so weird. My PS3 when running a game is way louder than my XBOX 360.

[harosa @ Dec 11th 2007 12:45PM]

Well, i'm leaning towards the 40GB PS3 so maybe thats the newer models with a quiter fan? Who knows. Its so damn confusing, HD DVD or Blu ray, im only entertaining the thought because my DVD player is on the fritz and i just got a HD tv.

[Jimmy @ Dec 11th 2007 1:30PM]

I have a launch window 60GB PS3. I have noticed the fan about three times since I have had it and never during a movie. Blu-ray playback seems to put very little strain on the PS3. As a comparison, I often hear my Tivo fan but not my PS3 fan and they sit on the same shelf.

[shabbis @ Dec 11th 2007 1:38PM]

Most of the noise generated by the Xbox 360 is the internal DVD drive spinning up to 16x or so during games. The HD-DVD drive is a lot quieter as it doesn't spin at 16x like the DVD drive. Also the DVD drive is quiet when playing normal DVD movies as well since it spins at 1x. I can't hear the 360s fans at all on mine.

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 11th 2007 6:45PM]

If it helps, the PS3 will NICELY upscale your entire DVD collection to 1080p with no problems. ;)

[Jason @ Dec 11th 2007 7:50PM]

The PS3 is quiet when playing Blu-ray.

Don't listen to the sad no-life Xbots claiming otherwise...

[zargon @ Dec 11th 2007 12:19PM]

Looks like someone is trying to clear stock of a outdated model.

[Bob @ Dec 11th 2007 12:20PM]

buy it now ...an if it dips again ( within 30 days of purchase) --- amazon refunds the difference

[Jensen @ Dec 11th 2007 12:20PM]

Cool. If that drops any more, I might go format neutral! I still want to see that bloody Casino Royale.

[CurtisAtWork @ Dec 11th 2007 12:23PM]

Noise from PS3 is really unnoticable. In fact, my Samsung 56" HDTV puts out just as much noise. And I only notice it when their is lull dialoge or action or when my A/C is not running.

[Paris @ Dec 11th 2007 12:35PM]

Same with my Xbox 360. I only notice it when my washing machine is not running.

[Benga @ Dec 11th 2007 2:26PM]

Paris you're stupid... I needed some hahas!

[Rob @ Dec 11th 2007 12:35PM]

Once Blu-Ray players hit the $150, it's on. HD-DVD has the advantage of dumping the Toshiba's A2 for $99 a few weeks back. Granted, A2 was/is not the top of the line and was being replaced by the A3. And even then, the Toshiba A3 went down to $180+ over the weekend sales. If any of the Blu-Ray manufacturers can managed to release a player under $200, people will pick them up, regardless. Movie viewers who don't mind going neutral, would love to support both formats for under $400. Everyone wants the movies.

[John B @ Dec 11th 2007 2:16PM]

That's only valid with all things being equal. I don't want a Profile 1.0 BD player, so I'm not jumping on this at all. I can't wait to see how many people jump on this only to realize that its function is limited (compared to profile 1.1 and 2.0) and cannot be upgraded with firmware. HD DVD is already a finalized specification and contains just about everything that is a part of the profile 2.0 specification.

Now, I'm not saying that those extra features like P-in-P or Internet access will be make-or-break functions for most people, but I think that it's going to be quite a while (at least a full year) before BD players that can equal HD DVD in functionality (to those who care about it) will be even close to comparable with the price of HD DVD players. Right now, that title still belongs to the PS3 at $399. If no backwards compatibility with PS2 is acceptable, that's still the best future-resistant unit to buy for playing Blu-ray movies.

[Porfirio Reyes @ Dec 12th 2007 12:07AM]

I would def pickup a BD player if it went below the $200 mark to compliment my A2. What I've been doing is downloading the HD versions of the movies that I want, but are only available in BluRay. I downloaded the 720P version of Casino Royale and it looked absolutely sick! Torrents FTMFW!

[Geoff @ Dec 11th 2007 12:37PM]

The fan noise on my PS3 is almost non-existant. The noise made from my A2 when booting a disc up is more noticeable.

[NoK610 @ Dec 11th 2007 12:51PM]

For the price, it's the not worth getting for a profile 1.0. I checked their site to see if they have an update but I didn't find anything related to upgrading the profile.

[DJ @ Dec 11th 2007 12:59PM]

I agree with the earlier posts. Once BR breaks below the $200 mark, they'll sell like crazy. Afterall, how many people blink twice at paying $200 for an iPod nano?

[UESC @ Dec 11th 2007 1:30PM]

so, will this player work with the 1.1 profile?

[j4ydubs @ Dec 11th 2007 1:59PM]

No. It's profile 1.0 and not update-able.

John

[Fruition @ Dec 11th 2007 2:10PM]

After seeing how fast those inexpensive HD-DVD players flew off the shelves, it'd only make sense to see something similar happening with the Blu-ray camp.

[Smith @ Dec 11th 2007 2:59PM]

I want a player that plays both HD and Blu-ray!

http://us.lge.com/superblu/

[Cale @ Dec 11th 2007 3:24PM]

Unfortunately, the only thing it has that Toshiba's A3 doesn't is 1080p. This is a Profile 1.0 player that's been reported to be buggy as hell. I can't justify spending more than $150 on it just because it's already outdated and won't be able to play PiP or have Web-features ever! It's a bottom-line Blu-ray Player. The PS3 is still the best bet for going Blu.

[Mark @ Dec 11th 2007 7:54PM]

This particular player has new firmware 1.2, which fixes the bugs. Whilst it't not a profile 1.1 player, unless you are really interested in PiP, it's no big deal, this player will play the main movie, and extras on a Profile 1.1 disc.

All in all, a far better bet than the Toshiba HD DVD players going cheap, and living under the 51GB triple layer disc cloud.

But the PS3 is still the better buy, as it's truely updatble to Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player, a great game console, media streamer, and upscaling DVD player.

[hothotdisco @ Dec 12th 2007 7:26PM]

Buddy who cares? Alot of regular folks are just going to care about the price. If they can pop in their blu-ray movies and watch them, then thats all they really care about. I doubt most people even know what profile 1.0 is.

[Brad @ Dec 11th 2007 4:15PM]

I've been dying to jump into the blu format for quite some time now, but even these low prices aren't helping. I've spent some significant time with this machine and just can't accept how slow it is. I've yet to find a blu player that has it all. Ethernet, Dolby TrueHD/DTSMA via bitsream, and the 1.1 profile (quicker boot times). Looks like I'll have to wait until next year. I'll make the jump, but not until they have solidified a few things.

[Chad @ Dec 11th 2007 4:45PM]

It's now downed to $245.48

[skypilot @ Dec 11th 2007 5:04PM]

guys its now $245.48 on amazon as of 4:20PM on 12/11/2007 EST hahaha

[Jiedai @ Dec 11th 2007 7:37PM]

I just checked it at 4:35pm PST and it is $269.98

[James @ Dec 11th 2007 7:51PM]

What kind of moron buys this when you can get a PS3 for like 50 bucks more (used), or 150 more new with a big fat pile of extra movies?

Even if you're not a gamer at all, the PS3 can still stream movies, music, pictures, etc. from your PC (thanks, TVersity!), run a web browser, etc... It was the last "new-gen" console I got (Wii first, then 360; PS3 only a few weeks ago) but it's definitely a *very* capable machine, if you're a "home media enthusiast". I would never buy a standalone HD movie player when something like the PS3 is available.

[Mark @ Dec 11th 2007 7:56PM]

And that's the funny point.

Toshiba claim PS3 owners don't watch movies, but common sense dictates, that whilst the PS3 is still the cheapest, best and most future-proof Blu-ray player on the market, Toshibas made up statistics are just wishful thinking. Many PS3 owners buy movies, and many ONLY buy movies, and use the PS3 only as a blu-ray player.

[Brad @ Dec 11th 2007 10:39PM]

That's what's sad, the PS3 is considered by many to be the best blu-ray player out there....yet it's not capable of being controlled by a universal remote control, nor is it capable of generating bitstream audio.

[Porfirio Reyes @ Dec 12th 2007 12:13AM]

If my Harmony remote was capable of controlling the PS3, I'd maybe consider it, but those pompous asshats @ Sony decided to go Bluetooth....wtf were those morons thinking?

[nguyen @ Jun 16th 2008 3:59PM]

Here's how you make your Universal remote control the PS3
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=27286

[Aldo Altamirano @ Dec 11th 2007 8:06PM]

Did you know that at least with this BluRay player, if you do STOP and PLAY the movie start all over again? .There is no memory feature. When you stop a movie you have to start over as if you just loaded it in the player.
When you pause a movie it will only pause for about 5 minutes, then it will go to screen saver. After a few minutes of screen saver it will STOP the movie and when you come back you have to start the movie over and try to find where you were. This is a MAJOR annoyance!
Also, it doesn't have Replay/Skip-back button which seems to be a pretty standard feature on any cheap DVD player.
Maybe that's why it's so cheap?

[hothotdisco @ Dec 12th 2007 7:17PM]

Once this sucker dips down to $200 its pretty much over for HD-DUD. Now you bitch ass HD-DUD fanboys can't say ''BUT BLU-RAY IS TOO EXPENSIVE!'' anymore.

[Trigger hippY @ Dec 13th 2007 2:44PM]

The only thing Sony and Bluray have going for them is the PS3. If it wasn't for the PS3, there would be way more HD-Dvd players in consumer's homes. Although BD holds more content and is technically superior to HD-Dvd, the average consumer could give a rat's ass. The average consumer wants stuff for cheap and that's what HD-Dvd gives them right now. History has shown that Sony has always tried to play catch-up when they are losing a battle and History has shown Sony can't catch-up. An example is Betamax. Beta was a tecnically superior format than VHS was but people started buying VHS players because they were cheaper than Betamax players. Sony tried to slash prices but it was too late, VHS had penetrated the market so deep that Sony had no choice but to drop Betamax from the consumer sector. Probably the most recent example of Sony's failure are MP3 players. Sony was slow to get into the MP3 player market and when they finally released a player, you had to convert all your MP3s to ATRAC and then load them on your Sony MP3 player to listen to them. But doing all that was a hassle to the consumer and it didn't help that a Sony MP3 player was $50 bucks more than an iPod. So what did Sony do? They dropped the ATRAC from their MP3 players and made their players the same price as an iPod but it was too late. The iPod went on to capture %90 percent market share while Sony had to concede.

As of right now, it looks like Sony is playing catch-up. Lets see if history will play its role.

[jmandude @ Dec 16th 2007 1:56PM]

I have the PS3 60 GB and Toshiba A3 HD DVD. The PS3 is in an enclosed space and after 20 minutes of playing a Blu Ray movie the fan kicks into a louder and higher speed. Then around 30-40 minutes it gets loud as a vacuum cleaner and tells me to shut down to avoid overheating. When I take it out of the enclosed space it's back to normal quiet fan speed. The Toshiba A3 HD DVD doesn't have that problem. I had Xbox 360 which at normal speed was alot louder than the PS3.
The problem is I want to keep the PS3 in an enclosed media console.