Questions about Samsung Bd 1000

[bhampton]

Hi,

A friend has the first ever available Blu Ray player the Samsung 1000 and I've helped him update the FW several times. (I use a PS3 and he plans on upgrading to PS3 this XMass.)

After updating the FW yesterday for some reason the audio was messed up. (Dialog was mostly coming from the surrounds. I think he was only passing stereo to his AVR which was apply-ing some Pro-Logic type of matrixing to it.) So, I went over to try to help. I was like a fish out of water because this player is so different from my PS3.

Choosing to bitstream the optical output put all the channels back in the right places but the TV complained about not being compatable with bitstreaming even though we were not trying to use the TV for audio at all. Anyway,... I determined his AVR did not accept HDMI-Audio but did have 6 channel analog input. So,.. We hooked up the analog out of the Samsung to the analog in of his AVR.

He still has the optical hooked up and can now choose between the 2.

But,.... I don't know what to recommend to him. Seems like this player doesn't support lots of the HD Audio codecs according to the player information page on this site. So,.. I don't know if optical out with bitstream would be his best bet or if there is some advantage to the analog out.

Can anyone shed a light here....

Thanks,

Brian

[bhampton]

Well,

Did some reading online and found the analog output of this player is good for PCM soundtracks otherwise bitstreaming via optical is the best bet.

Trying to setup my friends HT reminded me though of lucky I am to be using a PS3.

-Brian

[badboi]

Unfortunately I still have this machine as well. I'm using the 5.1 analog connections so I can get the uncompressed audio. I would probably recommend using that as well. The digital audio was hit or miss with me and this machine connected to my Outlaw, so I just opted for analog 5.1. I can say that I don't experience any dropouts that way, like some do who use HDMI or digital.

When you say the tv complaining, did he get the "unsupported audio" or something like that? If so that's normal. I believe there's a way to turn that off, but I can't remember it.

The audio mix up seems to have happened to a lot of people after the latest update. There are a few threads about it on the net, but I don't think anyone ever figured out how to correct it. Seems it only affected people who were using digital connections. And don't hold your breath for Samsung to come up with a solution.

The PS3 might be the better option for him. I'm waiting on the Sony 550 or Oppo to come out. Need those analog connections since my Outlaw doesn't do HDMI.

[bhampton]

Thanks,

Yeah,.. a box kept poping up saying PCM unsupported. Since this guys TV was also a Samsung... I don't know if the info was coming from the TV or the BDP.

Menus on the BDP were too sparse (like there didn't seem to be a way to say just output the video via HDMI without sending the audio as well.) While the TV had been calibrated and I didn't want to dig too much in it's menus. (Soon as I started looking though those he mentioned it was all calibrated and seemed nervous so I opted out of them.)

After setting up optical to Bitstream and balancing all the speakers outputs with my SPL meter he said it sounded better then ever. After we hooked up the analog cables it sounded great to me but we were tired of tweaking it so I didn't go though and balance the levels for the 6 channel input.

Anyway,... Hope he figures out some way to enjoy it and I hope he goes through with plans to pick up a PS3 this XMass.

At least this latest FW update let him play some discs he recently bought that wouldn't load before (Batman Begins and MIB.)

-Brian

[badboi]

The 1.6 update took care of a few problem discs, but a lot of the newer ones won't play. Nightmare Before Christmas loads and plays (after a very long time), but it stutters and pauses like every 45 seconds. Hunt for Red October is the same, as is Patriot Games. Forbidden Kingdom took forever to load, but did play after about 5 attempts. Can't wait to toss this thing in the bin.

[bhampton]

Sugar,

He was happy when he bought the player because it was marked down a lot from it's MSRP but hearing it still doesn't play everything is sad.

I've gone over about 3 times now to walk him through the FW updates hoping each time that he'll be able to watch whatever he chooses to buy or rent.

Wish he could just take it back to best buy and say "look this thing sux and was very expensive, hook me up with a player that works."

He plans to get a PS3 for his kid this X-Mass which I suppose will be mostly his in reality. It's going to be night and day. Still,.... I regret the whole Blu Ray profiles thing in the first place. I guess it was for the best but I would have been happy with the 1.0 type of discs.

-Brian

[gr3y]

Hey I still have this player. I recently had to send it in for service ( under warranty) they switched out whole drive assembly lol

Anyways, Its updated to latest firmware and has no problems with using the HDMI for audio. I'm running it on a Yamaha 1900. Have only tried The love Guru. No problems.

Originally Posted by bhampton

Sugar,

He was happy when he bought the player because it was marked down a lot from it's MSRP but hearing it still doesn't play everything is sad.

I've gone over about 3 times now to walk him through the FW updates hoping each time that he'll be able to watch whatever he chooses to buy or rent.

Wish he could just take it back to best buy and say "look this thing sux and was very expensive, hook me up with a player that works."

He plans to get a PS3 for his kid this X-Mass which I suppose will be mostly his in reality. It's going to be night and day. Still,.... I regret the whole Blu Ray profiles thing in the first place. I guess it was for the best but I would have been happy with the 1.0 type of discs.

-Brian