Samsung's BD-P1400 Blu-ray player sinks below $300 {HDTV}

engadget.com ^ | 12/8/2007

[for-q-clinton]

Now to answer the rest of your post.

HDMI vs. Component. Yes, it isn’t always better to go with HDMI. Many factors come into play. One is how well does the DVD player, cable box, whatever use the HDMI. At first most were horrible at it. Now they are getting better though. But if you watch a bunch of analog cable you may be better with component. If the signal is digital the entire way then you may be better with HDMI.

I have my upconverting HDDVD player on my projector and never hooked it up to my 57”...it became the kids basement play room TV when I found it too heavy to move upstairs ;-)

[for-q-clinton]

If you think it is nothing but hype try changing your monitor to a 640x480 resolution

This isn't the same thing. Yes HD DVD vs. SDTV is hugely better. But what is hype is HD DVD (or BluRay) vs. DVD played on a good HDTV and upscaler.

Plus you sit much closer to your monitor so you'll notice it more.

A better test would be go to your local electronics store. Put in a DVD and an HDDVD (make sure the HD DVD player has upscaling). Stand back as far as you would watch THAT tv in your home...then tell me it's worth all the extra money.

[mowowie]

Thanks for the reply man.
Just wondering...Not that i ever do this but....
Is it possible to make copies of blu-ray and hddvd movies on a computer yet. I’m sure somebody will or already has cracked the encryption and DRM stuff but Do they even sell burners and blank disks yet?

Also everybody keeps talking about the Movie aspect of these new disks but I rarely ever read anything about the Data storage aspects.
I’d love to get a new Blu-Ray burner to archive the tons of crap on my computer.

[TalonDJ]

Plus you sit much closer to your monitor so you'll notice it more.

Not really. Before buying my TV I did a distance to area comparison to if I watch movies on a computer with my chair pushed just slightly back and if I watched them in a living room setting. This helped me determine that the 52" screen I ended up buying was the right size. Most of the videos I watch on it are normal dvds and it is perfectly obvious they are not the full resolution of the TV. A 'good upscaler' is just SDTV smeared a bit farther than normal. If that looks the same to you As full HD then you need a higher rez tv or new glasses. Seriously. You are talking several times more actual pixles of information versus blurring between them to fake it. Yeah, if you have a 30" 720 screen at 15 feet then maybe don't bother. But 1080P at 12feet and it is a world of difference. The idea that someone would not be able to tell the difference between 4 times as much data is nuts.

[for-q-clinton]

Yes there are ways to get the encryption off the disk and just copy the movie. But the files are huge and blank media isn’t cheap (yet)...so it’s not worth it really. even on hard disk storage it iffy. Unless you like to maintain terrabyte storage for movies that you may never watch again.

Now for computers, that’s where bluray really has the advantage as it holds more data. But if you want dual media (DVD on one side HDDVD on the other...then you must use HD DVD). The larger capacity for bluray doesn’t do it much good as it’s not needed for the movies that are placed on them. I guess HD TV shows would benefit though allowing you to squeeze another episode on the disc.

Right now the burners aren’t worth it yet (to me). I have an HD camcorder and need to save my tapes out in HD to disk, but the burners are still too expensive when you consider media costs. I’ll stick with leaving them on the tape for now...when the price is right I’m going to dump them all at once.

[for-q-clinton]

You’re just fooling yourself. I’ve tested this with friends on my 110” screen. Can I tell yes. can they tell? ONLY after I train them what to look for.

The test I do...put in movie. Tell them it’s an HD projector (which it is). They love it. Show them an HD DVD. love it. Show them more stuff and the only thing they really comment on is the menu system in HD DVD.

But for video snobs yes they can see a difference. But I have yet to find a “regular” guy/gal that doesn’t like the DVD as much as the HD DVD.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I understand Oppo has the best upconversion. If you are going to watch a lot of SD DVDs, then Oppo is the way to go. I would combine it with a Blu Ray or HD-DVD.