Probably Buying BDP-1000

[BTBuck1]

After sending Best Buy Corporate an Email yesterday regarding employee pricing on the Next generation optical format, Best Buy has apparently decided to lift the constraintment on the HD-A1 (a little late as it is deleted now) and the Samsung BDP-1000(still current). Allegedly starting tomorrow BB employees will be able to purchase those players at their discount which is cost +5%

With the increasingly solid improvements the samsung has made over the last couple of months through factory installed firmware and now the user downloadable firmware I am convinced this player could just suit my needs.

I may dive on this tomorrow as I can get it for just around $715+ tax
I will probably give it a whirl and if I'm satisfied use it until second gen units come out and prices fall.
That or when the Sony comes out next month just exchange it and pay whatever small difference there is.

Anyways..i'll keep you guys posted on my decision tomorrow.
Unless any of you think I should just hold off all together?

[theknub]

brian, i have had this raging debate for awhile. at this point, im going to still try and get a ps3 through some form of online order. if i fail at that, then it will be the sammy for me since you can pick up a refurb for $550 to $600 and then move it to the bedroom and pick up a 2nd (or 3rd) gen player once things improve a bit more.

[BTBuck1]

yeah im also seeing that the sony may now also be delayed until december.

This is getting ridiculous. I'm ready to enjoy my 30+ movies now!!!!

[Josh]

I have a $100 GC for BestBuy that has been sitting in my wallet since Christmas, but Best Buy is just too damn expensive for BD. They still have the Sammy listed as $1000 when everyone else has dropped it by $200. And the movies are typically $5 more than Amazon. I need to spend this GC soon, I just don't know what on.

[Spankey]

Over all, I'm happy with the player. I bought the refurb and it is perfectly fine and updated with the new firmware. If you want to save an extra $200 for a first gen player, I would go with the refurb. At $550 the cost is totally justifiable. If I knew the Panasonic was going to be such a great player, I would have waited a bit longer for a great deal. Still, the Samsung suits my needs for now, and I am sure second gen players will be even better.

[phloyd]

I could go that route for $500. I guess we shall see how it goes. I may jump at a slightly higher price

But I really want the Panasonic - sadly they are so limited in numbers that a good discount is really unlikely.

[BTBuck1]

Picked up the Samsung today. $724.98

All I can say is. Anyone who says the HD-A1 is a better peice of equipment is totally off their rocker.

The samsung is very solid & Super fast. And I honestly feel no need to "own" the Sony BDP-S1 now.

This player will do...and then some.

I'll give a more in depth review after I have a little more time with it.
I got a september build, so I'll attempt a FW update, but I don't know that I'll need it (as its probably current).

Brian

[Deciazulado]

Now you can do comparisons at leisure, and best of all,

Enjoy more movies!


Cheers!

[Rio]

Confirmed latest firmware update does address the NR issue. Enjoy!

[Blackraven]

Originally Posted by phloyd

I could go that route for $500.

USD$500 = 25,000 Philippine pesos (est.)

Good enough.

I might jump in when it reaches that level or below.

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Rio

Confirmed latest firmware update does address the NR issue. Enjoy!

RIO, where did you confirm this and any more info on this????? Thanks!!

[Rio]

Originally Posted by shamus

RIO, where did you confirm this and any more info on this????? Thanks!!

I checked updated Samsung on Panasonic 65" 1080p plasma 65PX600 using The Great Raid. The older player, I simply could't see details, grains, those were all wiped off on older Samsung, but the updated one showed them same as Panasonic. Howerver, I still saw severe banding issue on updated player (Panasonic did not show this).

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Rio

I checked updated Samsung on Panasonic 65" 1080p plasma 65PX600 using The Great Raid. The older player, I simply could't see details, grains, those were all wiped off on older Samsung, but the updated one showed them same as Panasonic. Howerver, I still saw severe banding issue on updated player (Panasonic did not show this).

Thanks... I called Samsung again in an attempt to get more info. He said that this firmware does change the DNR setting, but only to medium . But who knows with Samsung... Its hard to get info from them!!!

[BTBuck1]

im not sure exactly what the firmware did, but here are my impressions after two days:

movies watched,
Eight Below
Swordfish
corpse bride
Gone in 60 Seconds
click
fast & the furious dvd
Terminator 2

The only 3 I watched before updating where
corpse bride, t2 & f&f

After updating i re-evaluated the PQ, Corpse Bride seemed a smidgen sharper especially in the scene where the skeletons are singing and dancing against the green background. Next up was f&f DVD...while this was no contest vs. the HDDVD I own the update seemed to improve the over all contrast of the dvd. Before blacks seemed sorta grey and the ringing more apparent. with the FW update it seemed more 3 dimensional, or as much as a sddvd can look.

Terminator 2 looked great, both before and after.

Last Eight Below, & Gone in 60 seconds looked as good as anything I've seen from HDDVD and swordfish was just phenomenal. Click was not only a great visual experience, but the sound was superb and the story a real tear jerker.

Im really enjoying the samsung, and I am convinced i'll be keeping it for a long time. If the sharpness is going to improve more than it already has
I don't see how, the NR doesn't seem to be an issue on anything i've seen so far. ofcourse unless it was initiated in this FW update wich is still unknown.

[Deciazulado]

Swordfish was the transfer that seemed to have the highest relative bitrate from the list of title file sizes posted recently. Thanks for the info on how the movies looked!

[Jim L]

I have the Sony BDP-S1 on order. I purchased the Samsung as a temporary player to check out the format firsthand and determine whether I really liked Blu-ray. Since I watched my first handful of discs on the Samsung with the older firmware I have purchased several more movies.

I updated the firmware today and I can already tell that the load time is faster. I'm watching everything through the component out, which already looks very good. I will watch some more this weekend after the firmware update and let you know the improvement.

The more I use the Samsung, the more I like it! I really like the fact that it also plays CDs. I also like the fact that it has a disc resume function that works after power-off on CDs, DVDs and BDs. The sound quality is also pretty good and I am using a Denon receiver with Polk RTI8's.

The only things I don't like about it are the remote (but that can easily be replaced by a universal remote) and the blue circle on the front. I don't think I can turn off that light though.

Anyway, I plan to take the player back next week. I am fairly pleased with it, but I'm really waiting on the Sony which I think will be a nice piece both aesthetically and in performance.

[Applefiend]

I really like the blue circle on the front.

But yeah, it's a close one but I'm happy with my purchase of my Samsung. Escepially since PS3 has been delayed to March in my territory.

In fact... Off I go to amazon to buy more BDs this very minute.