Samsung 850 HDMI Dvd Player is it any good?

Snake Plisken

Now that I got my 32 inch Toshiba LCD, I would like to buy an upscaler DVD player for it, I've tried the Xbox on it playing things like the Matrix Reloaded which looks amazing on it, but I believe the 360 doesn't upscale the picture so I am interested in buying a player that will upscale it to 720p, I see the most available one is the Samsung 850 which is available out of Argos/Currys/Dixons for around 150 Euros.

Just wondering if anyone has one of these and is it worth investing in?

Thanks

Snake

P.S. Do you get a free HDMI cable in the box?

zAbbo

Yes you get the cable, haven't used it on hi-def yet. Plays divx/xvid fine.

Its a prog scan player

Sparky

I have it myself, played die hard and white chicks, upscaled to 720p and it really looks good. Not true hi-def, but none the less a better picture than normal.

quazzy

I have a similar Sammy DVD with HDMI and I think it looks great when upscaling and it plays DivX/Xvid so seems like a good option.

mossym

yup another vote, just bought one before moving back from the states to do pal/ntsc and region free for my region 1 dvd collection, and upscaling for my tv...so far so good..mind you i need to feed my tv 1080i, so i haven't seen the 720p in operation

branners69

Snake Plisken wrote:

P.S. Do you get a free HDMI cable in the box?

Never use the cable that come in the box, if you can afford a 32" Lcd and DVD which upscales you can afford to spend €50+ on a decent QED HDMI cable;)

Snake Plisken

guys thanks for your inputs, although reading on the AV Forums it says that if you get an 06 manufactured model, you cannot make it region free due to firmware changes . But maybe someone will find away around it.

I only see a couple of HD options from stores:- the Samsung 850, The Philips D5900 and an LG DVX9900H also a very cheap brand called Universal 80011 for 49.95 in Powercity (must drop in and have a look at it) which is supposed to have HD OUTPUT 720 X 576.
Anyone aware of any other HD ready models you can buy in shops here?

Thanks

Snake

mossym

buy a refurbished one from amazon if you can find one...should be an 05

Moorsie

.... I bought the Samsung but had a DVD player already which I use with a HD ready projector. Slightly better picture but not as jaw dropping as HD. The new HD DVD players are just around the corner and I'd imagine and I'd imagine a lot of them will upscale old DVD's. Probably worth hanging on for I'd say.

Idleater

The theory of UpScaling DVD players is that the scaler built into the DVD player is better than the one built into the screen. At the end of the day either your DVD player is upscaling to 720 and the screen is upscaling to 768, your DVD is outputting at 576 and your screen is upscaling to 768 or your DVD is scaling to 720 and your screen is putting black bars around the outer edge of the picture.

Personally, the scaler in my LG is fine for PAL DVD's so I don't think I will be bothered buying an upscaling Amp or DVD player.

The newer screens have quite good quality scalers as the manufacturers had a recieved a hard time from the public with the "lip sync" that happens to the screens (especially during scenes with a lot of movement).

L

andy1249

Posted by Branners69

" Never use the cable that come in the box, if you can afford a 32" Lcd and DVD which upscales you can afford to spend €50+ on a decent QED HDMI cable "

Just a question but surely we are talking about an all digital signal here with regard to HDMI interfaces , this being the case the old analog axiom of gold plated expensive cables for a better signal dont apply ? Do they ?

Else why is a 50 euro HDMI cable better than a standard HDMI cable ?

branners69

andy1249 wrote:

Posted by Branners69

" Never use the cable that come in the box, if you can afford a 32" Lcd and DVD which upscales you can afford to spend €50+ on a decent QED HDMI cable "

Just a question but surely we are talking about an all digital signal here with regard to HDMI interfaces , this being the case the old analog axiom of gold plated expensive cables for a better signal dont apply ? Do they ?

Else why is a 50 euro HDMI cable better than a standard HDMI cable ?

A well manufactured HDMI cable will assist with not suffering signal drop-out and disconnects due to cable and connector issues.

The amount of stories I have heard about people hooking up their €2000+ Home Cinema Systems for it not to work cos the supplied HDMI cable has been damaged.. with a HDMI cable it will pretty much work or it wont..

If I was shelling out €2000+ on a system I would like to rest easy that the interconnects compliment my system.. but as they say each to their own;)

mossym

ah fine, if the cable that comes in the box is damaged, then sure go get a good quality one, but if it isn't, then the cable that comes in the box will transmit no worse a picture than the expensive one.

unless you buy into the monster cable marketing campaign..

that said, if you do have to replace the cable, i wouldn't buy another cheap one...

Idleater

mossym wrote:

ah fine, if the cable that comes in the box is damaged, then sure go get a good quality one, but if it isn't, then the cable that comes in the box will transmit no worse a picture than the expensive one.

You are correct.

The one that comes with it is probably 1m at most. The signal loss along such a short run will not be big at all, so the main problem will be the connectors and the shielding therin.

Try it and if you are happy with the picture then all is sorted, the shielding on the plugs is up to scratch, if not or you need a longer run, buy another one.

Snake Plisken

Reading on AV forums about a possible bug on the 850 where a message HDMI AUDIO NOT SUPPORTED keeps popping up on the screen

I'm thinking about getting a Philips 5900 instead, anyone any opinions on this model?

Thanks

Snake

mossym

try a search on www.avsforums.com

i remember reading about that problem up there, i think someone had a fix

Clover

http://www.avforums.com , good site for info.

Snake Plisken

Well I went for the Philips and bought the Tristar HDMI lead from Argos (Does the business and good solid construction), Happy enough with the Philips 5900 although I've had one or two freezes on Xvid HD TV shows from the US, i.e. the picture freezes, but the sound continues, from what I've read on the AV Forums, it might be to do with Packed bit streams but there is a simple freeware program that can unpack the streams on the show and it works fine.

Cheers

Snake

LFCFan

I have the Samsung 850 and the picture is very good and it plays DivX very well too. There is an issue with the 'HDMI Audio Not Supported' message popping up at every menu change and switch between layers but you can turn off all messages in the setup menu. It hasn't really bothered me. The fast scan is a bit aannoying though in that it's very jumpy and doesn't scan well. Other than this I'm happy enough with it. I got mine from Pixmania and it didn't come with a HDMI cable.