Hands-On First Impressions: Samsung (Man Room review)

[zombie]

http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=0151

[Dr Kain]

It seems like that guy also misread the page 8 information about the single SIDED disc message.

Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if converting from supporting HD-DVD was a good thing...

[zombie]

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

It seems like that guy also misread the page 8 information about the single SIDED disc message.

Yup, afraid so.

Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if converting from supporting HD-DVD was a good thing...

I already support HD DVD and plan on supporting BD as well. That said, I'm starting to have second thoughts about getting a BD player now. If the discs are as bad as the reviews suggest then we'd all be better off waiting till dual layer BDs are available or until Sony wises up and uses a better codec.

[Dr Kain]

Originally Posted by nyg

I already support HD DVD and plan on supporting BD as well. That said, I'm starting to have second thoughts about getting a BD player now. If the discs are as bad as the reviews suggest then we'd all be better off waiting till dual layer BDs are available or until Sony wises up and uses a better codec.

That's what I'm starting to wonder.

It isn't teh codecs I care about, it is the video quality. However, I just don't know about HD-DVD. I owned some movies, never opened them, so I took them back since it is/was impossible to find a player. Hell, I've yet to see a player at all. Then I decided I'd rather get a BR player because they have more movies coming out that I want (or so I thought, as of right now, WB says they are supporting both, but I only see HD-DVD titles from them), but now, I don't know. I want Fifth Element and Underworld Evolution, but there will be an EE of UE in teh fall, and who knows if that will come out to BR. As for Fifth Element, there are so many complaints about the picture quality, but I'm not sure if it would be too bad for someone like me who is not all picky.

If I do get the Samsung though, I'm definitely getting the 4 year warranty on it, this way, if it sucks, when the Sony comes out, and if the Sony does end up being better, I'll exchange my Samsung for the Sony (saying my Samsung is defective).

[zombie]

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

As for Fifth Element, there are so many complaints about the picture quality, but I'm not sure if it would be too bad for someone like me who is not all picky.

I feel the same way. I'm not overly critical like many seem to be, I'll know when I see it if it's good enough for me. That's the reason why I haven't cancelled any of the many movies I have preordered, at least not yet.

[AV_Integrated]

It is all about the CODEC or the DL issue. More though, there is something specific going on with the encoding. This IS HD that we are talking about and the quality is far below that of broadcast HD and even looks worse than DVD. This is completely out of the ordinary and doesn't make sense. Watching part of XXX made me shrug - it looked horrible. But, when I went into the menu and the credit videos, etc. they looked phenomenal.

I am a supporter of Blu-ray specifically because of their industry support. These first few hiccups are very annoying, but I don't believe are at all reflective of what the product is capable of. Blu-ray needs the new CODECs, it needs dual-layer discs... Most of all it needs a level of quality control that puts the product head to head with HD-DVD and at the very least - hits the ground as the equal to HD-DVD.

If Blu-ray matches HD-DVD for image quality, comes out with some players that are competitively priced fairly quickly, and gets the studios on board to actually produce movies of the highest quality... Then it seems to me that Blu-ray has a near slam dunk in this format war.

But, if they remain slow, with a higher priced, lower quality product... Then why bother? Get more people working on the software and hardware issues that matter right now: Better disc creation (encoding/codecs/etc) - Dual layer disc production.