The Samsung BD-P1200 Review Thread - Firmware 2.1

[arendal]

Has anyone seen a review on this yet?

The spec's look good, let's hope the picture does the same

[McBain]

Not yet. As far as I know it's still due to ship this month.

[DTMoney84]

I was just in the Samsung store at the Time Warner Building in New York yesterday talking to some reps about it and they said they are expecting it in the last week in March. Looking very forward to seeing it.

[Zvi]

I wanna buy it to replace bdp-1000. As long as it has improved loadinng times and other goodies are as advertised.

[DTMoney84]

I've actually heard April 19th now as the shipping date for this.

[RUR]

FWIW, Robert over on AVS claims that Samsung advised him of a delay until end June on the 1200 and may have dropped 24fps. Sure hope it's not true since I had planned to get one for the BR.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=818672

[jorg]

droped 24fps not a chance

[McBain]

The manual states:

"HDMI mode (HDMI output) 1080p/60fps, 1080p/24fps, 1080i, 720p, 480p"

and

"Movie Frame (24 Fs)
Movies are usually filmed at 24 frames per second. Some Blu-ray discs have the capability of playing back at this frame rate. Setting the Movie Frame (24Fs) feature to ON allows you to adjust the Blu-ray player's HDMI output to 24 frames per second for improved picture quality. If your TV cannot support this frame rate, this menu cannot be selected, This menu can only be selected in 1080i or 1080p HDMI output resolution modes."

[TuneMan1980]

I assume this is the BD-P1200 review thread and now since it's out does anyone have it yet and have a basic review of the player?

[RUR]

OK, set it up late last night after watching my team get creamed by FL

As preface, I'm running the 1200 via HDMI thru a Denon 2806 to a 3 year old Panny 1080i plasma, so I can't check the 1080p24, alas!

Time to image from a cold start (unit off with disc in it) = 45 sec
Time to image for an SD (unit on) = 15 sec
Time to image for a BD (unit on) = 25 sec

PQ is excellent on the very small sample thus far of both BD's and SD's. There may be an odd and very occasional image jerking issue on SD's, but it may be me being tired last night. I'll need to watch a bunch more to confirm or deny this.

Remote is logically laid out and seems fine, though I've not checked out half the functions, yet. No illumination, which is unfortunate.

Please post specific questions and I'll answer, if I can.

[muellerfilm]

I have been checking Circuit City online every day and yesterday they showed stock of the BDP 1200 at several stores so I ran down and picked one up.

Now for the review:

I have a Samsung 5296D 1080P LCD panel hooked up to HDMI for testing

I compared the PS3 the Sony BDPS1 and the Samsung BDP1000 all with the latest firmware and this unit by far has the best picture. Bright vivid colors rich blacks. I really prefer it over the other players. The picture really just looks significantly better than the other players. Disk load times are very quick and I have had no glitches playing back disks. This unit really feels like a generation two unit.
There are more settings on the player than the BDP1000. There is movie frame 24FS mode. There is a HDMI setup mode that has Anynet+ HDMI-CEC. There is a sharpness mode was set by default to off. There is a DVD noise reduction mode witch I turned on to low setting and it seemed to smooth out the picture on the Departed DVD that I tried. There is also system upgrade mode for upgrading the unit. There is an Ethernet port on the back.
Now here is the real selling point for me and many others. I make my own bluray BD-R And BD-RE. and this player plays back both BDAV and BDMV SPECIFICATION perfectly with no skipping or glitches. This is something no other player can do right now.
Thank you Samsung for producing a truly state of the art player.

Mark

[TuneMan1980]

Is SD standard DVD's or are you talking about SD memory cards? As far as specific questions I was just trying to get everyone's feel for the player to see if it's a worthy player.

[TuneMan1980]

Glad to hear you're impressed. I'm looking to pick one up in the next couple of weeks.

[muellerfilm]

The unit includes the remote, composite video cables and users manual that's it no HDMI cable included like the bdp1000. The 24fps mode is really noticeable on my Samsung 5296 LCD. Also the upconverted DVD's look fantastic. Best up conversion I have ever seen and you can you can set three settings for DVD noise reduction playback low med ium and high. I used the low setting and compared Basic instinct 2 DVD vs. Blu Ray and I was very impressed how good the up conversion DVD version looked.
I really love this player and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a full featured blu ray player. This is truly a second generation unit with much improved picture quailty. When I saw this player demo'd At CES afew month's back I new it it looked better than any blu ray player that I had seen I now that I have one I can confirm. The Samsung Reps were really giving a sales pitch on how this player would be superior to the other players on the market and now I believe them.

Mark

[Zvi]

Thanks guys for the revies. How is the boot time on the new unit? Better than 20-30 seconds?

[RUR]

Originally Posted by Zvi

Thanks guys for the revies. How is the boot time on the new unit? Better than 20-30 seconds?

Time to image from a cold start (unit off with disc in it) = 45 sec
Time to image for an SD (unit on) = 15 sec
Time to image for a BD (unit on) = 25 sec

Ken

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by muellerfilm

The 24fps mode is really noticeable on my Samsung 5296 LCD.

According to page 123 of the instruction manual the Samsung LN-S5296D is a 60HZ LCD screen that makes no mention of having a 1080P/24 signal input.
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200609/20060915182807718_BN68-01047X-00-L03-0830.pdf

Are you sure you are not using this on a Pioneer Plasma instead? The 24 frame rate menu in the BDP-1200 can not be selected if your display does not accept 1080P/24 inputs. Page 42 of manual
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200703/20070302185146703_1357A-BD-P1200_XAA_ENG_BM.pdf

[muellerfilm]

Well HDTV1080P

No I do not have A Pioneer I have the Samsung 5296 and as it says in the owners guide for the BDP1200 if your display can not handle 24FPS mode you will not be able to select it but guess what you can select it and you can see the difference. What do you think about that. Also If you press the info button on the 5296 remote while a bluray 1080P disk is playing it says 1920x1080P @24Hz. With the display saying that 1920x1080P @24Hz this is real 24FPS. As a note with Sony BDP S1 hooked up to the 5296 display the info button on the Samsung shows 1920x1080P @60Hz

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by muellerfilm

Well HDTV1080P

No I do not have A Pioneer I have the Samsung 5296 and as it says in the owners guide for the BDP1200 if your display can not handle 24FPS mode you will not be able to select it but guess what you can select it and you can see the difference. What do you think about that. Also If you press the info button on the 5296 remote while a bluray 1080P disk is playing it says 1920x1080P @24Hz. With the display saying that 1920x1080P @24Hz this is real 24FPS. As a note with Sony BDP S1 hooked up to the 5296 display the info button on the Samsung shows 1920x1080P @60Hz

Thanks for the info muellerfilm,

If you’re selecting 1080P/24 output on the BLU-RAY player then your Samsung LN-S5296D must be accepting the 1080P/24 signal and converting it to 60HZ refresh rate. The LN-S5296D does not mention 1080P/24 feature but it is possible they forgot to include that info in the manual. The reason for the better picture when switching to 1080P/24 mode on the BLU-RAY player might be because the Samsung LCD monitor does a better job of converting 1080P/24 film material to 60HZ compared to the BLU-RAY player converting 1080P/24 material to 60HZ.
** I am not sure what is going on but the Sony BDP-S1 should also say 24HZ like the Samsung BDP-1200. **

[RUR]

Originally Posted by TuneMan1980

Is SD standard DVD's or are you talking about SD memory cards? As far as specific questions I was just trying to get everyone's feel for the player to see if it's a worthy player.

Yes, SD = Standard Def DVD's.

Ken