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10
stars
best performance of any blu-ray or hd-dvd i've owned
by ltunedgs
on
December 21, 2007
Pros: HQV processor, ethernet port, quick load time
Cons: non so far...
Summary: After plenty of research and reading reviews on a ton of players both hd and blu-ray this unit seemed to be the best of both worlds. The cost was slightly ...
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Summary: After plenty of research and reading reviews on a ton of players both hd and blu-ray this unit seemed to be the best of both worlds. The cost was slightly higher then buying an hd and blu-ray player seperately but it's well worth the extra money. The HQV processer makes the upconversion of regular dvds flawless. The ethernet jack is huge for updates and most blu-ray players lack this. I've already owned a Toshiba A-2, an xbox 360 hd dvd player and a Samsung bdp-1200. This player blew them all out of the water!! Buy this unit and you don't have to worry about the which format might prevail.
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10 out
of 12 users found this user opinion helpful.
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8
stars
Would be perfect if they'd fix the audio issues!
by Raptor_007
on
January 9, 2008
Pros: All formats in one box, 1080p/24, quick load times, amazing HQV Reon upconvert
Cons: HD audio support is basically missing... NOT as promised!
Summary: This player boots up quickly, loads discs quickly, and provides some of the best HD and SD video quality available. The convenience of a single player for three formats is ...
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Summary: This player boots up quickly, loads discs quickly, and provides some of the best HD and SD video quality available. The convenience of a single player for three formats is wonderful. 24Hz mode gives a more cinematic feel to motion (on compatible displays).
Now, the bad part... this player does NOT decode advanced audio formats onboard, and does NOT even allow them to be bitstreamed! The only fully-functional audio formats are core DD, core DTS, and PCM.
If Samsung comes through with a firmware update to fix the audio issues, this player will deserve a 10/10. Its video quality is superb. However, the audio support is quite feeble compared to available (separate) HD-DVD and Blu-ray players.
Updated
I previously gave this unit an 8/10. Now that Samsung has released this player's firmare 1.3 udpate, the BD-UP5000 really is the do-it-all player we've all been hoping for! It deserves at least 9.5/10.
For the best in video, this player supports playback at 1080p/24 for Blu-ray and HD-DVD. No telecine judder or interlacing artifacts here, just perfect video. SD-DVD gets a wonderful treatment as well from the HQV Reon video processor, upscaling nicely to 1080p.
The latest firmware finally brings the audio up to date, with onboard decoding of all Dolby formats and bitstreaming of every format. This player is the perfect mate to an HDMI 1.3 receiver, and has plenty of options available for older receivers as well, including 7.1 analog outs and both coax and optical versions of SPDIF.
Boot and load times are quick compared to most Blu-ray and HD-DVD players out there. You won't find yourself waiting much.
Blu-ray profile 1.1 is now fully supported, if you care about that sort of thing.
The only real downside is that other owners report no playback of burned Blu-rays. I don't have a Blu-ray burner yet, but I suspect I'll be a little disappointed if BD-R/BD-RE playback isn't added to this unit by the time I do get a Blu-ray burner. Burned DVDs play just fine.
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7 out
of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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10
stars
For me the format war is over
by Beery1
on
December 31, 2007
Pros: Plays both BD and HD-DVD perfectly
Cons: Region coding is annoying
Summary: I got this player for Christmas and it's the best $800 I've spent in a long while. The biggest advantage is that I no longer have to worry ...
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Summary: I got this player for Christmas and it's the best $800 I've spent in a long while. The biggest advantage is that I no longer have to worry about the high-def DVD format war - I'm already on the winning side no matter how long the war lasts or what format wins. I now have both BD and HD-DVD movies in my collection and they all play wonderfully with perfect picture and sound. The only bad thing is that there's still that annoying region coding that prevents me from watching my British DVDs, but every high definition DVD player has that problem, so it's not really a flaw confined to this product.
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7 out
of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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9
stars
Rating is tentative pending firmware update
by MiketheD
on
January 12, 2008
Pros: duo player; Reon chip
Cons: BD 1.1 disk issues - ambiguous support
Summary: I have been waiting for this player for some time. Main theater has a Tosh A-35 and Panny BD30. This was for the bedroom setup where having one player is ...
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Summary: I have been waiting for this player for some time. Main theater has a Tosh A-35 and Panny BD30. This was for the bedroom setup where having one player is a big plus. Video is stunning over HDMI. Bedroon setup does not have TrueHD or DTS-HD MA support, so that was not an issue for me right now (both main theater players do have this as does my pre-pro). I realized that Samsung said the firmware update for BD 1.1 would be in January 2008, and so there is still time to live up to that promise. My concern is the lack of any response from Samsung as ot the status. Given the rather universal (no pun intended) problems being written about on the net as to the issues this player has with new Blu-Ray disks (Resident Evil:Extinction comes to mind) I would think that samsung would be providing info to its customers about the status of the update, but their site is devoid of any news. Will wait and hope that they live up to their representations. The Panny plays the Resident Evil disk flawlessly. If the firmware update works as promised, this is (or will be) a fantastic player.
Updated
After experiencing a number of problems with little or no response from Samsung and the failure of the recent firmware update to correct any of the major problems this player presented to me (audio dropouts on all SD disks, still no True-HD/DTS-HD-MA multi-channel support, problems playing multiple Blu-Ray disks) I gave up. Returned it and got the LG-BH200. So far, none of the issues that plagued the Sammy. Will report back after more use, but happy so far.
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4 out
of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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7
stars
Very good, but misleading about Dolby TrueHD
by MSDougherty
on
January 10, 2008
Pros: Excellent Blu-ray and HD DVD reproduction
Cons: Misleading specifications
Summary: I purchased this player to replace an LG BH-100 hoping to solve all that player's problems. I succeeded to a great degree, however, the BD-UP5000 taunted it's ability ...
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Summary: I purchased this player to replace an LG BH-100 hoping to solve all that player's problems. I succeeded to a great degree, however, the BD-UP5000 taunted it's ability to decode the newer Dolby TrueHD codec a bit too soon. The BD-UP5000 manual has this nasty little note at the bottom of page 10: "When playing a Dolby TrueHD disc, audio will only be heard over the front left and right speakers."
If that isn't misleading I don't understand the meaning of the word. When I played a disc that had Dolby TrueHD and selected that output I got an on-screen message stating that the player "does not support Dolby TrueHD output, please select another source."
Now I know that this player was late to market and that they already supposedly have the BD-UP5500 in the works, but to release a product that states in all the literature that it has a certain capability and then retract that in the "fine print" is inexcusable.
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3 out
of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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9
stars
Absolutely Awesome!!!
by cchaney84
on
December 18, 2007
Pros: great picture quality for everything and sound is unbelievable!!
Cons: Limited Dolby TrueHD playback on HDDVDs
Summary: This has been the player that i have waiting for...got the lg 1st gen combo player and this just blows it outta the water...the picture quality for everything ...
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Summary: This has been the player that i have waiting for...got the lg 1st gen combo player and this just blows it outta the water...the picture quality for everything is just phenomenal...its so awesome to actually be able to access every menu option and special feature on all formats.
my only quarrel with this player is the same one i had with the lg unit unfortunately. i have a denon2807 and the duo hd is hooked up the same way as i had the lg, through the 5.1 analog outputs. the player plays every audio format with the exception of dolby truehd on the hd dvds. i tried playing batman begins and when i selected the dolby truehd option, a menu pops up on the screen that says that the player is unable to play dolby truehd through the multichannel outputs. it does play just in 2.1 (just like the lg). i just don't understand how the duo hd has onboard decoding for every other format with the exception of this one...the only thing i can hope for is a firmware upgrade soon. this is the only flaw in this nearly perfect player and hence this was the only reason that i couldn't give it a perfect 10. well done samsung, at least some one got it right.
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4 out
of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
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7
stars
overall,a great picture
by Larry Christian
on
January 21, 2008
Pros: plays both formats
Cons: does'nt recognize discs
Summary: I am just a novice when it comes to video and i must say i was happy with my old HDA1 but i needed more choices,so i purchased this ...
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Summary: I am just a novice when it comes to video and i must say i was happy with my old HDA1 but i needed more choices,so i purchased this unit and if it was'nt for the fact that it does'nt recognize some discs even after 4 or 5 attempts,(i understand that Samsung is working on a fix)i say it's a great value.
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2 out
of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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9
stars
Firmware Update 6/2/08
by Ed Abramson
on
June 18, 2008
Pros: Audio limitations fixed
Cons: Cannot play DVD+ Discs
Summary: Firmware updated and can handle multi-channel audio for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD and Master Audio. Picture was already outstanding and HQV chip for upscaling is awesome. A great unit ...
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Summary: Firmware updated and can handle multi-channel audio for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD and Master Audio. Picture was already outstanding and HQV chip for upscaling is awesome. A great unit that allows you to take advantage of great pricing for HD-DVD movies that are still available.
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1 out
of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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5
stars
BD-UP5000 had great potential
by deetsm
on
February 11, 2008
Pros: Great picture, great sound
Cons: Doesn't play all blu-ray movies!!
Summary: I had been researching the BD-UP5000 for months and bought it the day it was released. It was very easy to setup and easy to navigate the menus. Unfortunately the ...
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Summary: I had been researching the BD-UP5000 for months and bought it the day it was released. It was very easy to setup and easy to navigate the menus. Unfortunately the player would not play three of my 20 blu-ray discs correctly. In fear that a firmware update would not be available I returned the player in favor of the Panasonic DMP-BD30K. With a little more time and effort the BD-UP5000 would have been amazing.
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1 out
of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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2
stars
DOA and poor service and support (repair)
by RedBMW
on
October 20, 2008
Pros: It was advertised and sounded like it would do it all. Samsung paid for the postage to return it for unsucessful repair two times. The turn around time for repair is rather quick at about two weeks. Fast, but incompetent since it is still broke.
Cons: Mine arrived and would not play blurays--DVDs were ok. Instead of returning it to place of purchase, I followed Samsung's tech advise and sent it, postage paid, back to them for repair. It returned scratched and with horrible picture quality.
Summary: For a player at this price point, it should be flawless. One thing I totally have a distaste for is when a product is sold and then it has to ...
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Summary: For a player at this price point, it should be flawless. One thing I totally have a distaste for is when a product is sold and then it has to be "updated" when you first turn it on to work correctly. It is as if they never designed or programed it correctly in the first place. They are in such a hurry to get it to market the product is flawed. I do not have an RJ45 internet connection in my media closet to update the thing!
All of that doesn't matter when it won't even work.
Brand new player would not play blurays--it just locked up and froze. Unwittingly, I followed the Samsung's Tech advice and sent the product in for repair instead of returning to place of purchase. They recommended it be sent in the original box. When I received it back in the mail after repair, it was packed in a generic box--not the original. The repaired player came back with scratches all over the back in the vicinity of the HDMI out. It appeared as if a blind man had attempted to connect the HDMI cable and missed several times putting scratches through the paint into the underlying metal. The player would play blurays, but the picture quality at 1080i HDMI was horrible--fuzzy, halos, artifacts. Changing the output to 720 on component cables improved it immensely. The HDMI/1080 part of the player was inoperative. Also, while it was in for repair, Samsung never updated the audio either. It still does not decode the DTS-HD or True HD.
The Samsung is so bad, I just wanted to return it for either replacement or refund. I attempted to do this--when Samsung returned it in a generic box, the place of purchase would not accept it for return (less than a month old at this time) without the original box. The manager told me that companies never return the items in the original box for just that reason--so that you cannot return them for refund.
Now, after the second unsucessful repair, I am stuck with a $600.00 paper weight. I have owned it for a month and a half, of which it has only attempted to play a bluray once and locked up, sent in for repair, returned with video and audio problems, sent in again--and returned with more scratches and still unfunctional.
I bought two Sony BDP-S350s (about a third of the cost of the Samsung) which work flawlessly and have the latest codecs. They can be updated as well, but if you do not have an internet port in the vicinity of the player, Sony will send you an updated DVD for free!
I guess I will keep sending the Samsung in for repair. There are still 11 months left on the warranty--and as long as they keep paying the postage--I will keep sending it back.
From the reviews that others have written, I may have received a lemon. If that is true, and it is not a defect in design, then why can't their repair center fix this thing? Are they that incompetent? It seems to me, that after several unsucessful attempted repairs, as a manufacturer--especially with a player that is this high-end, I would just replace the item with a new one. Here it goes again, back for repair.
PSS
I am in the process of increasing some of our flat screen TV's with larger models. I need 4 TVs 32" or larger and was considering Samsung. The pictures and the prices of Samsung TVs were very appealing, but after the hassle of this Bluray player, I do not want to have anything to do with Samsung.
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