13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Great addition to my home theater
Date of Review: Jul 24, 2005
The Bottom Line: Like I said in my review, I recommend this player to anyone with a fixed pixel display capable of HD resolution.
Purchase through set-up:
I purchased the Samsung HD850 at Best Buy to replace my aging and temperamental APEX AD-703 DVD changer. The 850 plugged right into my burgeoning home theater system with relative ease using an HDMI to DVI cable (not included) to the monitor and Digital Optical cable (also not included) to an A/V receiver. On-screen menus are easy to navigate and I quickly selected HDMI/768p and Bitstream output settings on the player. After running a THX optimization DVD for proper monitor calibration, I found that the images produced by this upconverting player are excellent and on par with the technology already available in my monitor.
Picture Quality:
I tried all output configurations to achieve the best possible picture for my set-up. My Westinghouse LTV-32w1 LCD HD ready monitor already has a built in Faroudja DCDi de-interlacer, but I found that the Samsung did a fine job of upconverting and that I preferred the image produced and transmitted through digital output as opposed to Composite, S-Video or Component connections. I have had no problems with artifacts or black/white level balance problems. The overall improvement in picture quality, as compared to the interlaced scanning APEX, was noticable on some DVD's but nominal due to an excellent de-interlacer/scaler already in the monitor. If you're looking for dramatic improvement in image quality and already have an HD monitor with built-in de-interlacing and scaling, wait for true HD DVD's introduction. It would probably be money better spent.
Sound Quality:
The improvement in sound reproduction over the APEX was nothing short of amazing. The APEX used Digital Coaxial output where the Samsung is using Digital Optical. With output on the Samsung set to Bitstream, my Yamaha HTR 5750 receives a clean digital signal and decodes in 6.1 surround for DTS, DD, and a few other formats. It is awesome! Only downside I can see with regard to sound is that it will not play the DVD Audio format. No biggie for me as I don't currently own any.
Reliability/Durability:
I have had absolutely no problems running any DVD's or CD's on the 850. The same could not be said of my APEX, which chose every third DVD to have a complete meltdown on. I've run the LOTR trilogy back to back to back and not had so much as a hiccup from this player. I've only had the player for two weeks, but my experience so far is very positive with regard to its reliability. Only downside I see here is a weird Fast Forward function. It's either too-slow-fast or super-blindingly-I-missed-the-chapter-I-wanted-fast with no real options in between.
Summary:
Overall, I am very happy with my purchase. I probably could have spent less money on a simple Progressive or even Interlace Scanning player... but I wouldn't be having as much fun playing with it :) My APEX really was the epitome of awful and this Samsung has made my movie watching/listening life MUCH better. I highly recommend this player to someone who has a fixed pixel display monitor capable of displaying HD resolution.
