Samsung DVD-1080P8 1080p Upconverting DVD Player

This neat little machine take ho-hum dvd and and converts it wonderfully into something that can be watched on an HD. I'm using a 42" Samsung 720p plasma and it works nicely with each other. I suggest using HDMI so you don't waste any of the conversion. Format compatibility was important to me so divx users can buy this. I couldn't compare this brand vs. that but this one works. It's isnt Bluray but it removes the pain of watching a standard dvd on an HD set at a resonable price.

I was surprised on the way this DVD player improved the quality of the picture. I can truly compare the quality to the blu-ray quality. The same DVDs looked so much different. i don't remember being that excited about a piece of electronics for a long time. This is the best way to hang on there till the prices on blu-ray players drop to the point of being reasonable ( though i would pay the today's price on them again).
Since i have the player for less than a week, i can't tell anything about reliability, but i'd better give it 5 stars now and decrease the number is something ugly happens.
Another feature i loved - it turns out together with TV. This is very important since quite a few ( around 5 ) DVD players died on us because we forget to turn them off and this is great to find that when you put the TV on timer, the player will turn off as well. This is pretty much the reason i'm getting the 2nd one though i have an XBox to play DVDs on.

I've got this to go with my new 650 series Samsung LCD TV. Easy setup, works good, great picture and sound, though I've only watched a few DVDs so far. For HDMI cables I used the Cables to Go-40315 cables sold here on Amazon for $9.95 and a digital Coax to my amp for sound. All the issues I read about in the reviews (after purchacing) look like setup issues which can be resolved by reading the instructions. I like the idea of being able to watch all my old DVD's in HD. Of course, this might slow me down on buying that Blueray!

The biggest downfall of this unit is it must contain the worst remote control ever. Black buttons on black background, they are all relatively small, and the layout is cluttered and non-intuitive. Try finding the pause and play buttons in a dark room. Good luck. If you intend to drive the player with a better remote set to control the samsung deck, its ok, but if you will use the remote that came with it... do yourself a favor and get a different player.

I purchased it to drive my old SD 20" trinitron tube set in the bedroom, and for that its fine. There is no S-video out, but as the TV has no s-video in, thats good for me. No comment on the HDMI problems others have seen as I don't have an HDMI capable display to test.

I also wanted a unit that plays divx files, and this handles that nicely. If complains 'no decoder', if you select a file that is not a divx file. Great for viewing all of those divx files you burned to DVD off of the internet or from your own DVD's you ripped and compressed.

For the price, I suppose its acceptable.. .well, all but the horrendous remote. I'm seriously considering just returning it for the remote issue.

First off, many people expect that because it says "1080p HD" and because they own an HD TV, that this product will immediately blow them away. But often times true 1080p performance itself can be a tricky thing. You'll need HDMI cables to get the maximum 1080p resolution as component cables can only force out 1080i. First thing you need to know is that your not going to see a big difference on a smaller HD TV screen when attempting to use 1080p resolutions. For decent color depth in 1080p, you'll need 40" inches or higher. For "optimal" performance, you need a 50" inch screen or greater. Of course the ability to "spot" the difference even on a 50" inch, also is a matter of how well your HD set and the DVD player can display it. That's why so many people have such a wide view on how good or bad these things are. They forget to assess their TV's performance. Just because I have a 50" inch HD TV that does a 1080p max resolution, it doesn't mean your same 50" inch 1080p HD TV (different model) can't out perform it. Also many people forget there is DVD player compatibility to consider. Sometimes some models with different internal components work best with certain model TV's.

As for this particular Samsung DVD player, it's a modest device that "can" do 1080p...but in most cases you won't be able to tell. 720p seems to be the best resolution performance your gonna get. You'll get the same quality in 720p with component cables as you would with HDMI. I still recommend HDMI largely because it's a digital signal that can optimize disc scanning for a cleaner picture without the possible loss of integrity. Sometimes the analog signal in component cables tapers down when your DVD player heats up to normal operation temperatures, causing the picture quality to diminish somewhat.

This is a good player with some decent features like the ability to play back divex files from copied discs. In fact it's capable of reading a ton of formats that most players won't. It takes a few moments to load but not too long. It's ability to go 1080p and dazzel you is questionable at best and that's the ugliest thing about it. I suppose the cheap price range would offset the flaws found in this particular player which are few. 80 bucks new for what this thing can do is pretty fair even if 720p happens to be the best you might be able to do.

PROS:
Able to play back many formats like divex, which many computer users may appreciate.

Really good price that you can't knock.

Upscales or upconverts (which ever floats your boat) to respectable high definition quality.

CONS:

It's ability to achieve anything higher than 720p that you'll definitively know about, is questionable.