almabes's Full Review: Samsung BD-UP5000 Blu-ray and HD-DVD Player
UPDATE: This review was written BEFORE Toshiba gave up on HD-DVD. If you are looking to buy a high-def player, and have not accumulated a library of HD-DVD titles, save your money and get a Blu-Ray only player. If you have an existing library that includes HD-DVD titles, read on...
I finally decided to replace my aging, but still quite functional, Panasonic DMR-E75V combo DVD/VHS player, and jump headlong into an HD player. However, currently there are two competing, mutually incompatible HD formats out there. I don't want to be limited on what HD content I can enjoy because of movie studio politics. To be able to enjoy HD movies in both formats you either need to purchase two players, or a hybrid player like the Samsung BD-UP5000, or the LG BH200. Both the LG and the Samsung are based on the same BroadCom 97440 processing platform, and therefore should have similar performance and capabilities. I managed to purchase the BD-UP5000 from Best Buy, before they officially go on sale.
The Player
The player itself looks to be a very high quality piece of equipment. The front is minimalist, very simple and clean. Only the power button, the tray, an open/close button and a large multi-functional button that controls play/stop/chapter skip functions protrude ever-so-slightly from the front.
The rear of the unit has every output you could possibly need:
Composite video/2ch audio
S-video
Component video
HDMI 1.3 (with Deep color support)
Optical digital audio (TOSLink)
Coaxial digital audio (spdif)
7.1 ch Analog audio
The component video outputs support a maximum resolution of 1080i. The HDMI output supports 1080p in both a 60 frame and 24 frame mode. All of the RCA connectors are gold plated to ensure a good connection.
The menu system is also simple, easy to navigate, and relatively straightforward.
The manual is superb. Samsung did an excellent job describing everything you would need to know to operate the player. The manual is available on Samsung's website. If you are thinking of purchasing a BD-UP5000, definitely give the manual a good perusal.
Samsung includes with the player a composite A/V cable. This is absolutely useless for about 99.9% of the people that will be purchasing a BD-UP5000.
DVD playback
The BD-UP5000, over component video, does NOT upscale DVDs. It outputs in 480p. It does however do an excellent job of de-interlacing, and 3:2 pull down. This player uses the Silicon Optix Reon HQV video processor. The Reon is arguably the best video processor on the market.
Blu-ray Playback
Since I don't have any Blu-ray movies yet, I haven't watched any Blu-ray content. We're going to rent some movies tonight from Blockbuster (which carries only Blu-ray) and I'll update my review. I have read elsewhere that the BD-UP5000 is fully compatible with all the Blu-ray titles on the market today, and any incompatibility is generally addressed by a firmware update over the Internet via the Ethernet port on the back. The BD-UP5000 has the latest BD-Java JRE in its firmware. An out-of-date JRE is the usual cause of a disc problem.
Update: We have watched a couple Blu-ray titles, and they were awesome. We had no problems watching them. We watched Spider Man 3, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, and The Italian Job (I have a MINI Cooper S...It's required viewing). All played flawlessly.
HDDVD Playback
I don't have any HDDVDs yet, but I hope to get Transformers for Christmas. The earlier LG BH100 was not fully HDDVD compatible. It didn't support the HDi technology for the menus and other interactive disc features. The BD-UP5000 is fully HDi compliant, and should have no problems with any of the HDDVD discs I attempt to play.
Update: We have watched a some HDDVD titles as well. All played flawlessly, and had breathtaking video and audio.
How to get one for the Geek in your life
Unfortunately, these are nearly impossible to get in time for Christmas. Only the larger Best Buys have them now, and only the one example, intended to be the display model. If you're lucky you can sweet talk an associate into selling you the display model. If you can wait, they're available online from Crutchfield, Amazon, Circuit City, Best Buy, OneCall, and many others. Circuit City shows the earliest availability--Christmas morning. Hopefully Best Buy will follow suit. The e-tailers will probably have availability around mid-January.
Update: Nobody online shows having ANY in stock. Good luck trying to get one. Best Buy increased their price to $999 and dropped the LG to $799.
Playback problems
Recently, I have noticed a problem with the BD-UP5000. Titles, regardles of format, which have scenes that transition abruptly from extremely bright, fast moving scene (usually explosions that cover the entire screen) to a dark scene cause my TV to lose sync for a split second. As the TV recovers, the aspect ratio changes to 4:3. Then roughly a half second later the TV resumes 16:9 display.
I can consistently reproduce the issue with the widescreen DVD release of Finding Nemo. 23:03 into the film, the underwater mines explode, and then the scene transitions to the two pelicans in the water, at night. the issue occurs. I can even reproduce the issue stepping through the individual frames one-by-one. It did not occur with my previous player, using the same connections, video output (480p) and signal path. I have reported the issue to Samsung's level 2 support, who agreed this is not normal and would try to reproduce the issue in their lab setting.
If anyone else reading this review, owns this player and experienced the issue I described, leave a comment please.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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