Samsung BD1500, anyone have review?

dontknowjack · 05-20-2008, 09:44 PM

I am interested in buying Samsung BD-P1500. But I want to have first hand review from people who have bought it already. Anyone have it yet? And if you do, how is it?

E55 KEV · 05-22-2008, 09:42 AM

I want this one also

Lee Stewart · 05-23-2008, 06:43 AM

This player is considered "BD-Live Ready."

As I understand it - the hardware is there for 2.0 but not the firmware, which is supposed to be made available sometime in the October timeframe.

Note: it will not do internal decoding of DTS-MA.

dontknowjack · 05-26-2008, 11:56 PM

I did it. I went and got 1500 player. It does good picture on Blu-Ray. But it seems to lag on upscaling department. I had a same reaction to Sony S300 when I had it briefly last year. Could it be because I have Sony Rear Projection 720p televison? Would it upscale better if I had 1080p TV?

Chris Gerhard · 05-27-2008, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontknowjack

I did it. I went and got 1500 player. It does good picture on Blu-Ray. But it seems to lag on upscaling department. I had a same reaction to Sony S300 when I had it briefly last year. Could it be because I have Sony Rear Projection 720p televison? Would it upscale better if I had 1080p TV?

No, upscaling to 720p can be very good. If you are happy with the display for true HD sources like Blu-ray, it should be adequate for faux HD like upscaled DVD. If you have other upscaling DVD players that do a good job in your opinion, your display is either not calibrated well for this particular player or it doesn't do a very good job in your opinion. If you don't have another upscaling DVD player you find superior, I think it is likely your expectations for upscaled DVD are too high. I haven't seen the BD-1500 and can't comment on it, but I have seen the BD-1000 and BD-1200 and several Samsung DVD players and think the company does a good job with upscaling. Upscaled DVD doesn't compare well to Blu-ray in my opinion and that is regardless of player or display.

Chris

ClashFan · 05-27-2008, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

This player is considered "BD-Live Ready."

As I understand it - the hardware is there for 2.0 but not the firmware, which is supposed to be made available sometime in the October timeframe.

Note: it will not do internal decoding of DTS-MA.

Does it do internal decoding of Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD?

If one were to buy this player with an AV that also does not do DTS-MA, what would one get with BD titles that use it? DD+?

Chris Gerhard · 05-27-2008, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClashFan

Does it do internal decoding of Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD?

If one were to buy this player with an AV that also does not do DTS-MA, what would one get with BD titles that use it? DD+?

I believe all Blu-ray players will pass the DTS-HD core at up to 1.5Mbps, over either digital connection, HDMI or optical digital. If you have a receiver connected in that manner than can decode it, you will want to use the DTS-HD core audio.

Chris

ClashFan · 05-27-2008, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

I believe all Blu-ray players will pass the DTS-HD core at up to 1.5Mbps, over either digital connection, HDMI or optical digital. If you have a receiver connected in that manner than can decode it, you will want to use the DTS-HD core audio.

Chris

Well, I have an Onkyo TX-SR674 that is just a bit over a year old. I don't believe it decodes DTS-HD.

So, I guess I have to scratch this BD player off my list. The Panasonic BD50 looks like the one, but it will be way more than I'm willing to spend for some time to come.

Chris Gerhard · 05-28-2008, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClashFan

Well, I have an Onkyo TX-SR674 that is just a bit over a year old. I don't believe it decodes DTS-HD.

So, I guess I have to scratch this BD player off my list. The Panasonic BD50 looks like the one, but it will be way more than I'm willing to spend for some time to come.

That will decode the DTS-HD core audio, but not the DTS-HD or DTS-HD MA. I don't know how critical you are about audio, but the 1.5Mbps core audio is really good. I am still looking for evidence that an audible difference can be discerned, especially by this 56 year old set of ears. I am pretty picky and I am yet to be convinced I can tell the difference.

If you can't afford the Panasonic DMP-BD50, I will venture a guess that you wouldn't be disappointed with a lesser player that permits handling of uncompressed lossless PCM and DTS-HD core and I believe that is 100% of Blu-ray players with your Onkyo. If you liked HD DVD audio quality, keep in mind HD DVD used lossless audio about 30% of the time and the Blu-ray DTS-HD core audio beats everything but lossless and therefore beats about 70% of HD DVD releases in terms of audio as a result, that is both from an objective standpoint and subjective in my opinion.

Chris

**PFC5** · 05-28-2008, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

That will decode the DTS-HD core audio, but not the DTS-HD or DTS-HD MA. I don't know how critical you are about audio, but the 1.5Mbps core audio is really good. I am still looking for evidence that an audible difference can be discerned, especially by this 56 year old set of ears. I am pretty picky and I am yet to be convinced I can tell the difference.

If you can't afford the Panasonic DMP-BD50, I will venture a guess that you wouldn't be disappointed with a lesser player that permits handling of uncompressed lossless PCM and DTS-HD core and I believe that is 100% of Blu-ray players with your Onkyo. If you liked HD DVD audio quality, keep in mind HD DVD used lossless audio about 30% of the time and the Blu-ray DTS-HD core audio beats everything but lossless and therefore beats about 70% of HD DVD releases in terms of audio as a result, that is both from an objective standpoint and subjective in my opinion.

Chris

Some of the BD players are coming out without 5.1 analog audio outputs now which means a receiver must have HDMI to hear any of the HD audio soundtracks.

FYI. The DTS-HD core is just DTS @ 1.5mbps, so it is not better than DD+ @ 1.5mbps. I know you said it was your "subjective opinion", but that opinion is clearly wrong IMO.

Chris Gerhard · 05-28-2008, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFC5

Some of the BD players are coming out without 5.1 analog audio outputs now which means a receiver must have HDMI to hear any of the HD audio soundtracks.

FYI. The DTS-HD core is just DTS @ 1.5mbps, so it is not better than DD+ @ 1.5mbps. I know you said it was your "subjective opinion", but that opinion is clearly wrong IMO.

His receiver won't decode DD+ at 1.5Mbps, will it? I don't believe I could tell the difference between the two really, but my receivers can decode DTS core at 1.5Mbps but not DD+.

Chris

**PFC5** · 05-28-2008, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

His receiver won't decode DD+ at 1.5Mbps, will it? I don't believe I could tell the difference between the two really, but my receivers can decode DTS core at 1.5Mbps but not DD+.

Chris

It doesn't have to with HD DVD players since they ALL decode DD+.

The OP receiver DOES have 2 HDMI inputs so it doesn't matter since EVERY HD DVD player decodes DD+ as well as DtHD.

Before you say an HDMI receiver isn't needed with the HD audio with BD players, remember that many of the new BD players are leaving out the 5.1 analog outputs, so a HDMI receiver is necessary with them to get anything other than 2 channel PCM, or downrezd DtHD (most new Sony titles). I hated (and said as much) that Toshiba left out the analog outputs when they did it and now BD player mfg are starting to do it as well.

Some of the HD DVD player models actually convert the DD+ @ 1.5mbps to DTS to output to a receiver over optical also. The HD-A2 being one of them for sure, since I do have that model, as well as all the first gen HD DVD players.

Regardless, this whole topic is moot since HD DVD is dead now. I just didn't want a very subjective (and wrong IMO) statement left out there. Both formats had limitations and spec flaws, but we have what we have now.

**PFC5** · 05-28-2008, 12:34 PM

Does the 1500 even have the 5.1 analog outputs?

Chris Gerhard · 05-28-2008, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFC5

It doesn't have to with HD DVD players since they ALL decode DD+.

The OP receiver DOES have 2 HDMI inputs so it doesn't matter since EVERY HD DVD player decodes DD+ as well as DtHD.

Before you say an HDMI receiver isn't needed with the HD audio with BD players, remember that many of the new BD players are leaving out the 5.1 analog outputs, so a HDMI receiver is necessary with them to get anything other than 2 channel PCM, or downrezd DtHD (most new Sony titles). I hated (and said as much) that Toshiba left out the analog outputs when they did it and now BD player mfg are starting to do it as well.

Some of the HD DVD player models actually convert the DD+ @ 1.5mbps to DTS to output to a receiver over optical also. The HD-A2 being one of them for sure, since I do have that model, as well as all the first gen HD DVD players.

Regardless, this whole topic is moot since HD DVD is dead now. I just didn't want a very subjective (and wrong IMO) statement left out there. Both formats had limitations and spec flaws, but we have what we have now.

The discussion was about DTS-HD and as far as I know all Blu-ray players pass the DTS-HD core audio over the digital output and his receiver can decode that just fine. My point stands, Blu-ray was always a better choice for audio due to the choices made in my opinion. I made no wrong statement, my opinion is just that. A big majority of HD DVD players sold left out analog 5.1 outputs as well, namely the HD-A2 and HD-A3 and one or two others.

How often was 1.5Mbps DD+ used with HD DVD? It has not been used often with Blu-ray. Blu-ray uses lossless audio a majority of the time, probably about 70% with about half of those being uncompressed lossless PCM. I think DTS-HD MA has been used more often than Dolby TrueHD and even my Sony BDP-S1 decodes Dolby TrueHD so there are a lot of options that will have him covered with much better audio than he was able to get with HD DVD, again, my opinion but you are the only person I have ever seen that tried to promote HD DVD compared to Blu-ray because of audio. Your claim just wasn't true, from a player standpoint nor software standpoint. Blu-ray beat HD DVD for audio, but that never stopped you.

Chris

Chris Gerhard · 05-28-2008, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFC5

Does the 1500 even have the 5.1 analog outputs?

No, but I never said it does. It can pass DTS-HD core over toslink and all advanced audio codecs bitstream over HDMI. In addition, it has the hardware to decode Dolby TrueHD but I don't know if it will be capable of decoding DTS-HD MA ever. The player can pass lossless uncompressed PCM over HDMI to an HDMI 1.1 and above receiver that can handle lossless PCM and there are a lot of those, the first models having been available for several years now.

Chris

05-20-2008, 09:44 PM	#1
dontknowjack High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 949	Samsung BD1500, anyone have review? I am interested in buying Samsung BD-P1500. But I want to have first hand review from people who have bought it already. Anyone have it yet? And if you do, how is it?

05-22-2008, 09:42 AM	#2
E55 KEV High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 1,024	I want this one also __________________ My Website www.E55AMG.com

05-28-2008, 12:34 PM	#13
PFC5 Super Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 24,868	Does the 1500 even have the 5.1 analog outputs? __________________ Denon AVR-887 Klipsch RP-5 Pwred Towers (mains) (525 watts peak each 12"Subs) All Klipsch RC-25(ctr),(2)SS1(surr),(2)SS1(rearSurr) Toshiba (2)HD-A20,PS3,BD35 For SACD/DVD-A Samsung HD-841 Panny 50pz80u plasma Settings RCA HD50LPW162 50"DLP w/HD2+ SA 3250HD 47" LCD+Yamaha5790+HD-A1(bedroom) Harmony 680 + (2) 670s (amazing remote/support) Game room with Onkyo receiver & B&W Speakers The_Cable_Game Take the high ground and be happier

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05-23-2008, 06:43 AM	#3
Lee Stewart Behold - the future! Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL Age: 58 Posts: 23,804	This player is considered "BD-Live Ready." As I understand it - the hardware is there for 2.0 but not the firmware, which is supposed to be made available sometime in the October timeframe. Note: it will not do internal decoding of DTS-MA.

05-26-2008, 11:56 PM	#4
dontknowjack High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 949	I did it. I went and got 1500 player. It does good picture on Blu-Ray. But it seems to lag on upscaling department. I had a same reaction to Sony S300 when I had it briefly last year. Could it be because I have Sony Rear Projection 720p televison? Would it upscale better if I had 1080p TV?