Comments on: EXCLUSIVE: Early Samsung Blu-ray Players Ship with Chip Mistake http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/ Fresh daily content for AVguide.com Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:35:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Randy Nugent http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-60 Randy Nugent Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:09:57 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-60 The reviews and experiences presented here are very disappointing. This so much reminds me of the old Beta and VHS foolishness, and then on to SACD and DVD Audio crap.There really is no need for any of this... does the word "greed" come to anybody's mind. I AM NOT going to have anything to do with buying into this new technology until the companies get their act together... and SONY, you should be ashamed, the consumer deserves better. I for one can do without HD until there is a high degree of compatability for all the video and audio formats, and the technology matures. For now, the best speakers and a DVD will be very enjoyable... mature and relatively inexpensive, plus I know I am getting very good value for my money. The reviews and experiences presented here are very disappointing. This so much reminds me of the old Beta and VHS foolishness, and then on to SACD and DVD Audio crap.There really is no need for any of this… does the word “greed” come to anybody’s mind. I AM NOT going to have anything to do with buying into this new technology until the companies get their act together… and SONY, you should be ashamed, the consumer deserves better. I for one can do without HD until there is a high degree of compatability for all the video and audio formats, and the technology matures. For now, the best speakers and a DVD will be very enjoyable… mature and relatively inexpensive, plus I know I am getting very good value for my money.

]]> By: John http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-52 John Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:37:49 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-52 I was interested in buying a HD type dvd player, but I have a bitter taste in my mouth after buying two expensive 5.1 dvd players only to see the disc manufacturers walk away from both (as an early adopter I had to buy 2 machines in order to play both formats-sound familiar). I particularly was interested in the Samsung player due to it's versatility. I understood it could output 1080p which would match my Sceptre 37" LCD TV...But, thanks to this review I'll once again raise my skepticism and pass on new technology. I've been burned enough. Why can't companies just work together to bring one "mature to the point it actually works" technology instead of marketing competing half-baked formats (there should be a universal player that works with 99.9% of discs and outputs in 1080p since this will be the de-facto resolution soon). I'm sick of stuff that is overpriced, doesn't work half the time and requires you to up-grade constantly due to failure and obsolesence. Thanks for giving me rant space. Any manufacturers listenig...Sony? I was interested in buying a HD type dvd player, but I have a bitter taste in my mouth after buying two expensive 5.1 dvd players only to see the disc manufacturers walk away from both (as an early adopter I had to buy 2 machines in order to play both formats-sound familiar).

I particularly was interested in the Samsung player due to it’s versatility. I understood it could output 1080p which would match my Sceptre 37″ LCD TV…But, thanks to this review I’ll once again raise my skepticism and pass on new technology. I’ve been burned enough.

Why can’t companies just work together to bring one “mature to the point it actually works” technology instead of marketing competing half-baked formats (there should be a universal player that works with 99.9% of discs and outputs in 1080p since this will be the de-facto resolution soon).

I’m sick of stuff that is overpriced, doesn’t work half the time and requires you to up-grade constantly due to failure and obsolesence. Thanks for giving me rant space. Any manufacturers listenig…Sony?

]]> By: Scott Wilkinson http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-49 Scott Wilkinson Thu, 20 Jul 2006 01:35:34 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-49 I've not seen Blu-ray from a Vaio computer. If the picture quality is as soft as it is on the Samsung player, there's more going on than the Samsung's noise-reduction circuit (unless the Vaio uses the same chip!). I'll look into that. Were you looking at the computer's monitor or a larger home-theater display? Most of my experience with the Toshiba player is with the original version (noise-reduction circuit enabled). I only had about an hour to look at one with the circuit disabled. I hope to get a modified player soon, and I will report my findings at that time. As for compression artifacts, I didn't think they were that bad on the original player. I did see what looked like edge-enhancement on some titles (T2, for example), which I thought was a mastering issue, not a player issue. Of course, compression artifacts (mosquito noise, macroblocking, etc.) arise from the compresssion process, and the player's processor is responsible for reducing them as much as possible. I did notice that temporal artifacts (noise that arises from analyzing multiple frames) in flat, dark backgrounds were somewhat reduced when viewed from the modified player. I did not see the noise from HDMI that many others are reporting from the original player. My biggest objection remains the softness of the image. I suggest we take this over to the Forum (forums.avguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=356), where I'll be happy to continue the discussion. Thanks for all your input! Scott Wilkinson Video Editor The Perfect Vision I’ve not seen Blu-ray from a Vaio computer. If the picture quality is as soft as it is on the Samsung player, there’s more going on than the Samsung’s noise-reduction circuit (unless the Vaio uses the same chip!). I’ll look into that. Were you looking at the computer’s monitor or a larger home-theater display?

Most of my experience with the Toshiba player is with the original version (noise-reduction circuit enabled). I only had about an hour to look at one with the circuit disabled. I hope to get a modified player soon, and I will report my findings at that time.

As for compression artifacts, I didn’t think they were that bad on the original player. I did see what looked like edge-enhancement on some titles (T2, for example), which I thought was a mastering issue, not a player issue. Of course, compression artifacts (mosquito noise, macroblocking, etc.) arise from the compresssion process, and the player’s processor is responsible for reducing them as much as possible. I did notice that temporal artifacts (noise that arises from analyzing multiple frames) in flat, dark backgrounds were somewhat reduced when viewed from the modified player.

I did not see the noise from HDMI that many others are reporting from the original player. My biggest objection remains the softness of the image.

I suggest we take this over to the Forum (forums.avguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=356), where I’ll be happy to continue the discussion.

Thanks for all your input!

Scott Wilkinson
Video Editor
The Perfect Vision

]]> By: John http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-47 John Wed, 19 Jul 2006 20:48:30 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-47 Scott, Thank you so much! I was excited to be an early adopter of Blu-Ray after having OTA and DirecTV HD for years now using a Toshiba CRT. The picture on numerous movies was great, but I was more impressed by the uncompressed PCM soundtracks. Now I understand my lack of enthusiasm for the image. I continued to buy movies thinking it must be their fault. Now I understand that I should have trusted my vision and questioned this from the beginning. (Going now to find my receipt to be sure I registered this BD-P1000 with Samsung -- I definitely want, and expected, more.) John Scott,

Thank you so much! I was excited to be an early adopter of Blu-Ray after having OTA and DirecTV HD for years now using a Toshiba CRT.

The picture on numerous movies was great, but I was more impressed by the uncompressed PCM soundtracks. Now I understand my lack of enthusiasm for the image. I continued to buy movies thinking it must be their fault.

Now I understand that I should have trusted my vision and questioned this from the beginning. (Going now to find my receipt to be sure I registered this BD-P1000 with Samsung — I definitely want, and expected, more.)

John

]]> By: Ilya http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-46 Ilya Wed, 19 Jul 2006 20:08:07 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-46 When I watched Blu-ray titles, in addition to softness of the picture (compared to HD DVD) I noticed a lot of compression artifacts which to me were even more annoying than softness: washed-out colors, unnatural skin-tones, dull, flat-looking picture, color-bending, loss of detail on moving objects and very noticeable mosquito noise. In comparison, most HD DVD titles don't have these artifacts, or at least they are much less noticeable. I suspect that some of them are caused not by the player, but are due to the fact that current Blu-ray titles use less advanced compression (MPEG-2 vs. VC-1) on a smaller disc (25GB vs. 30GB) and as a result have to use much heavier compression. I would be interested to know if the author observed compression artifacts with the modified player? When I watched Blu-ray titles, in addition to softness of the picture (compared to HD DVD) I noticed a lot of compression artifacts which to me were even more annoying than softness: washed-out colors, unnatural skin-tones, dull, flat-looking picture, color-bending, loss of detail on moving objects and very noticeable mosquito noise. In comparison, most HD DVD titles don’t have these artifacts, or at least they are much less noticeable. I suspect that some of them are caused not by the player, but are due to the fact that current Blu-ray titles use less advanced compression (MPEG-2 vs. VC-1) on a smaller disc (25GB vs. 30GB) and as a result have to use much heavier compression.

I would be interested to know if the author observed compression artifacts with the modified player?

]]> By: jim http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-45 jim Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:22:51 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-45 To Editor: First, thanks for the excellent discovery. There are many people out there who are dissapointed with their Samsung... This is great news. Second, In your article, while comparing the Samsung to the Toshiba, its hard to tell if you are using your old Samsung or the newly modified one????? Third, please hurry back with info on fixing this problem and more info on picture quality!!! Thanks... To Editor: First, thanks for the excellent discovery. There are many people out there who are dissapointed with their Samsung… This is great news.
Second, In your article, while comparing the Samsung to the Toshiba, its hard to tell if you are using your old Samsung or the newly modified one?????
Third, please hurry back with info on fixing this problem and more info on picture quality!!!
Thanks…

]]> By: Ken F http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-42 Ken F Wed, 19 Jul 2006 10:51:44 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-42 If this is true... Why do Blu-ray titles look so soft on my VAIO? I see little difference between Blu-ray on the Samsung and my VAIO. Both produce a significantly softer picture than my HD-DVD player on available titles. If this is true…

Why do Blu-ray titles look so soft on my VAIO? I see little difference between Blu-ray on the Samsung and my VAIO. Both produce a significantly softer picture than my HD-DVD player on available titles.

]]> By: Glenn http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-41 Glenn Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:48:54 +0000 http://www.avguide.com/news/2006/07/20/exclusive-early-samsung-blu-ray-players-ship-with-chip-mistake/#comment-41 Sony's explination does not explain why people are seeing the same soft picture with their VAIO player though? Sony’s explination does not explain why people are seeing the same soft picture with their VAIO player though?

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