Samsung's
2nd generation Blu-ray is hitting retail shelves this week, and HDGuru has the first review up. As you might expect, the next gen is both better and cheaper than the last, and Samsung's latest Blu-ray player lives up to expectations of quality using the Silicon Optix HQV Reon signal processor (that'd be the same video chip used in HD DVD's top player the XA2). The player features HDMI 1.3, as well as 24fps output, but still no Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD playback. Also new on this model is an Ethernet jack, but don't expect any additional downloadable content, this jack is only for firmware updates. The reviewer was hard pressed to see any difference in quality between this and some of the other Blu-ray players, but it did outshine the rest in the HD HQV Benchmark tests and overall speed. While Blu-ray fans are happy to have a new player at the new price point, those who know
will hold off till October when the proper next generation players hit the street.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Xyzzy @ Apr 16th 2007 8:29AM
Hey Ben,
I hate to go offtopic, but remember a few weeks ago when I said you might want to talk about the fact that HD DVD was in the top 25 sales at Amazon (since you previously reported on Casino Royale being in the top 10)? Well, we now have the first of the new formats to make the top 5 at Amazon -- and to make things interesting, it's a title that's being released on both HD DVD *and* Blu Ray.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MRAAJW/ref=nosim/tonyswebsit02-20
As of right now, the HD DVD version is ranked 4th overall at Amazon (the BD version is a very respectible 14th as well). I can't believe that this title is selling like hotcakes for both formats, especially considering the cost.
Ben @ Apr 16th 2007 9:17AM
That series deserves a post of it's own, but it's hard to do sales ranks on pre-sales alone. Once it comes out next week we will cover it.
The reason why it is going to be so big, is that it is the biggest HD video source title released on either format.
Scott J. @ Apr 16th 2007 1:01PM
So, let's see if I can summarize the BD-P1200:
List Price: $799
Supports 1080p/24: Yes
Supports DTS-HD: No
Supports DTS-HD Master Audio: No
Supports DolbyTrueHD: No
Supports dual video streams (e.g. PIP commentary): No
Supports October 2007 Mandated Requirements: No
Supports Ethernet for Firmware Updates: Yes
Supports Ethernet for Interactivity, Enhanced Features, etc.: No
Blu-ray Video Quality: On par with other Blu-ray (no bad filtering enabled this time)
SD DVD Upsampling Video Quality: Better than other Blu-ray players, on par with Toshiba's $799 HD DVD player
It's too bad that Samsung couldn't have produced a player that was compliant with the October 2007 mandate. It's also too bad that a high-definition player built in 2007 still doesn't support the lossless Dolby and DTS codecs.
Maybe Sony's upcoming BDP-S300 for $599 will do better?
mremulator @ Apr 18th 2007 2:51PM
Audio support (or rather lack of) sucks for this player. The Panasonic DMP-BD10A looks like a better option.