So I finally broke down and bought a Samsung BD-UP5000 Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo player.

[Shawn]

It was $400 for a refurb. It should be here Thursday. Hopefully everything will work out ok.

The reason for buying is I decided I was going to keep all of my HD DVDs and wanted a better player than my HD-A2 since my Sony Bravia can't do 3:2 pulldown correctly. I was thinking about getting an HD-XA2 but that seemed stupid to spend that much money on a dead format. The BD-UP5000 can do everything the HD-XA2 can do plus play Blu-ray movies. (And I can free up one of my HDMI connections!)

I held off at first because of playability issues with some discs and the fact that TrueHD was 2 channel only, but it looks like Samsung has come through with their firmware updates and fixed all playability issues to date as well as upgraded the player to profile 1.1 and with the latest update added TrueHD 5.1 internal decoding and bitstreaming of all codecs including DTS-MA.

It has a Reon video decoder for my standard DVDs which is why I was planning on sticking with my profile 1.0 Samsung BD-P1200. Now I can keep my Reon and upgrade to profile 1.1 (and possibly 2.0) and get high def audio. Even w/o HD DVD playback it still makes a great Blu-ray player (in theory anyway).

I'll snap some pics and let you all know if it lives up to my expectations when I get it.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Shawn
It has a Reon video decoder for my standard DVDs which is why I was planning on sticking with my profile 1.0 Samsung BD-P1200. Now I can keep my Reon and upgrade to profile 1.1 (and possibly 2.0) and get high def audio. Even w/o HD DVD playback it still makes a great Blu-ray player (in theory anyway).

Not that profile 2.0 matters very much, but is there really any official word from Samsung that there's even a chance of it getting profile 2.0?

 

[Shawn]

Well the hardware is already there since it was required for the HD DVD spec. The only difference is profile 2.0 requires 1GB of internal storage instead of 256mb. I think the BD-UP5000 has 512MB of flash memory. I guess it depends on how strict the BDA is. It's not like there is any one movie that will need to use the entire 1GB of storage. Basically the storage is only for storing downloaded content. It should work with less.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Shawn
Well the hardware is already there since it was required for the HD DVD spec. The only difference is profile 2.0 requires 1GB of internal storage instead of 256mb. I think the BD-UP5000 has 512MB of flash memory. I guess it depends on how strict the BDA is. It's not like there is any one movie that will need to use the entire 1GB of storage. Basically the storage is only for storing downloaded content. It should work with less.

OK, so Samsung hasn't said anything about a profile 2.0 update, and it doesn't actually have the hardware the BDA requires for profile 2.0 (they _are_ strict about that sort of thing).

 

[Koing]

:thumbs;

Enjoy it mate

Koing

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: Shawn
Well the hardware is already there since it was required for the HD DVD spec. The only difference is profile 2.0 requires 1GB of internal storage instead of 256mb. I think the BD-UP5000 has 512MB of flash memory. I guess it depends on how strict the BDA is. It's not like there is any one movie that will need to use the entire 1GB of storage. Basically the storage is only for storing downloaded content. It should work with less.

OK, so Samsung hasn't said anything about a profile 2.0 update, and it doesn't actually have the hardware the BDA requires for profile 2.0 (they _are_ strict about that sort of thing).

Which is why I said possibly. They may not get profile 2.0 certification, but I don't know if that'll stop them from unofficially supporting BD Live content. Either way that wasn't a big deciding factor in my purchase. Profile 1.1 is far more important to me. I actually used the PIP with HD DVD. The internet content... not so much.

 

[Shawn]

I got the player today. First impression: Awesome! I tested the following movies so far:

HD DVD:
The Matrix
Transformers
2001 A Space Odyssey
Planet Earth
Serenity

Blu-ray:
Juno
Fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver Surfer
Dave Matthews

I had no problems playing any of those discs. Some people have reported problems playing Fox BD+ titles even with the latest firmware update, but they worked fine for me. I tested the IME (picture in picture) on the Matrix and internet connectivity on Transformers and everything worked perfectly. My only (minor) complaint so far is the menus were a little sluggish on The Matrix and Serenity, but considering Samsung created their own version of HDi it works pretty well.

I listed to Dave Matthews in TrueHD for the first time today and it sounds great.

I don't have any Blu-rays that have Bonus View but I'll test it next time I rent a movie that has it.

 

[Shawn]

Here are some pics:

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0176copy.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0179copy.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0172copy.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0187copy.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0191copy.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0192copy.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/iloveme2/100_0193copy.jpg

 

[SlickSnake]

I care.

(cuddles up next to Shawn to watch my 150 HDs I brought over to his house for an extended HD viewing party.)

Seriously, that's cool. I thought about buying a combo player, but since I got 3 HD players already that seems kind of a waste at this point. I would rather upgrade one of my HT receivers and get HDMI support.

 

[montypythizzle]

I HAVE to get a next-gen DVD player. My 50" is crying every time I put in a DVD.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I HAVE to get a next-gen DVD player. My 50" is crying every time I put in a DVD.

Maybe you need more lube?