Samsung BD-P1400 first impressions

Toggle sidebar
  • WELCOME TO THE NEW SERVER!

    If you are seeing this you are on our new server WELCOME HOME!

    While the new server is online Scott is still working on the backend including the cachine. But the site is usable while the work is being completes!

    Thank you for your patience and again WELCOME HOME!

    CLICK THE X IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER OF THE BOX TO DISMISS THIS MESSAGE
teamerickson

teamerickson

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jan 20, 2006
1,716
0
El Dorado Hills, CA
As a few of you may know I have been a huge supporter of HD DVD. After finally realizing the format war has no end in sight, I wanted more movie viewing options. There are movies on each format I want to watch and I just couldn’t take it anymore. When the price for the Samsung hit $280, I purchased one from Costco. I like Costco’s liberal return policy. This gave me peace of mind in case I wanted to return it. I finally hooked it up last night and here are some first impressions after watching “Casino Royale”.

I like the size of the unit. I have an A1 and it is feature packed but it is large and heavy.

No HDMI hand shake issues at all. My Toshiba 62hm196 actually seemed to run smoother with the Samsung.

Picture quality is great. I’ve only watched “Casino Royale” but I was impressed. The blacks look really good. I don’t know if it has to do with HDMI 1.3, because I don’t think my TV supports it, but I liked the way it looks.

I like HD DVD menu options during playback, seemed easier to accesses. Hey, I can hit stop on the Samsung and the movie starts from where I left off. Very nice!

The unit starts and plays a disc pretty quickly. Compared to the A1 anything is fast, but I didn’t think it would be this fast.

The menus for settings are pretty easy to use. The probably could be a little more detailed but seemed pretty user friendly.

So far I’m really pleased with the unit and look forward to having more movies at my disposable.
 
Last edited:
Good, loads better than the 1000 I had and seems to keep going up from the 1200.

I wish all players loaded as fast as my ps3. My A2 drives me nuts.
 
I wish this unit would decode the HD audio so you could use the 5.1 out. Unless I get a new reciever I won't be able to take advantage of the HD audio.

The display seems kind of dim. Not a big deal but hard to see.

I don't care for the Blu-ray jewel cases that come with the discs. They don't seem as good as the HD DVD ones. I guess HD DVD is better. :rolleyes:

So far so could. I really like the black levels with this machine.
 
teamerickson said:
I don't care for the Blu-ray jewel cases that come with the discs. They don't seem as good as the HD DVD ones. I guess HD DVD is better. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

They are literally the exact same cases except with a different color and logo. There are two main types: the snapper (more common on Blu-ray, used by Universal on HD DVD) and the rounded ones (Warner and Fox on Blu-ray, most HD DVD releases).
 
The "Discovery Atlas" series, like for Italy and Australia, have taller cases. I had to reconfigure my DVD rack to increase a shelf size to fit them.
 
Ah, ok, is that these big BD cases I keep reading about? I thought people were going nuts talking about the non-uniform BD cases.

I really hope your positive 1400 experiences continue. I can't bring myself to buy another sammy product after my experiences with the 1400. If it were just me, I'd be ok, but wife and kids bitching about it after 2 days and 2 different players was enough for me. Hopefully they got the firmware figured out finally
 
OK I need some help from the audio experts.

I was under the impression this unit does not internaly decode the HD audio for passing through the 5.1. Is this true? Can someone please give some insight. I been trying to read through the 95 pages at AVS and haven't found the answer yet.

I know it will pass it through the HDMI after update.
 
Ok, I just got of the phone with Samsung level 2 support. They say that the HD audio only passes through HDMI. I'm still confused though. It DOES internaly decodes it, why not let it pass through 5.1? If it passes though HDMI does it even need to decode it? Is bitsteam decoded?

I think if I use the 5.1 I can take advantage of the uncompressed PCM. Teach, Diogen where are you?
 
Last edited:
teamerickson said:
I'm still confused though. It internaly decodes it, why not let it pass through 5.1?
Click to expand...
You mean SPDIF? You can't.
Because the standard doesn't support it (DD 640kbps and DTS 1536kbps is all it can do).
teamerickson said:
If it passes though HDMI does it even need to decode it? Is bitsteam decoded?
Click to expand...
Depending on the player, both can be done: passing bistream (untouched) along with video over HDMI and passing decoded with video over HDMI.
What you want to do depends on the player and receiver you are using. Decoding means converting bitstream to PCM.

Diogen.

EDIT: After re-reading your posts, you probably were talking about analog out when saying 5.1.
I don't think there is anything that can prevent you from decoding in the player and sending high resolution
audio over analog (unless the player downsaples it, what I don't believe is the case) and using your receiver as an amp.

When Samsung said only HDMI will do, they probably meant bitstream audio passing to receiver.
 
Last edited:
Yes, as he said, optical cables are limited to about 1.5. This was a limitation that was set when the standard was made for the original coax cable. They did not consider the added capacity of an optical cable, they just set what a coax cable could carry.

There have been studies showing most people cannot tell the difference between 1.5 and HD. Maybe. But Dolby labs, amongst others, disagrees. In any event, it won't be a huge difference. But you'll need an HDMI capable receiver to get past the optical limitation. Analog outs would be nice, but they seem to be passing from the market.

Keep in mind also, Costco has revised their warranty for electronics items. Not as liberal as it used to be.
 
diogen said:
EDIT: After re-reading your posts, you probably were talking about analog out when saying 5.1.
I don't think there is anything that can prevent you from decoding in the player and sending high resolution
audio over analog (unless the player downsaples it, what I don't believe is the case) and using your receiver as an amp.

When Samsung said only HDMI will do, they probably meant bitstream audio passing to receiver.
Click to expand...
Correct 5.1 analog. I'm currently reading through the 95 pages at AVS. I get the feeling that TrueHD is ok thorough 5.1 analog but not DTS HD.
 
Great news! I'm fairly certain that if using 5.1 analog out to a reciever with 5.1 analog in (multichannel) you can take advantage of TrueHD and I think LPCM and uncompressed PCM. There are also some hints that it may be possible to update to BD 1.1 if Samsung choses. I'm really liking this player! :)
 
Last edited:
navychop said:
Well doesn't that article give you pause, especially the comments!
Click to expand...
I think the recent firmware has addressed a lot of the problems. I haven't had any, but I've only watched about 4 movies. I think for the price this player is great. It has everything except profile 1.1.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

gadgtfreek
Warcraft' among Universal's first Ultra HD Blu-ray offerings
Replies
0
Views
1K
gadgtfreek
gadgtfreek
teachsac
WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES FIRST ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™ TITLES
Replies
2
Views
1K
cpalmer2k
cpalmer2k
Poke
    • Like
Sony's first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases will arrive early next year
Replies
3
Views
1K
Ilya
Ilya
dfergie
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to release its first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray titles with Dolby Atmos
Replies
0
Views
1K
dfergie
dfergie
E
Having trouble enabling BD Live on Jurassic Park 3D. New to BD Live, how do I access it? Who can I
Replies
5
Views
2K
teachsac
teachsac

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts

Share this page

Share this page
Top
Back