By Thomas J. Norton • July, 2006
The battle is starting to heat up. HD DVD has been out for just two months. Two weeks ago Samsung launched its first Blu-ray player, the BD-P1000 ($1,000), the subject of this report.
The player is certainly a vital link in the introduction of any new format. In our 1997 coverage of the DVD launch (then under the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater banner), we had several different players from different sources on hand simultaneously. But in the case of Blu-ray, more players will trickle out starting in early fall. Samsung has released its Blu-ray spinner at least two months ahead of everyone else—for now it’s the Lone Ranger on the blu side of the format war.
I won’t be discussing the technical details of Blu-ray in this piece. For more on how Blu-ray and HD DVD bring high-definition to a DVD-like optical disc, go here.
First Reports
HD DVD, in spite of its clunky failings in the operation of its player (though there are a few different models out there, they are all essentially the same Toshiba design), has been a smashing success in the all-important video and audio departments. We couldn’t have hoped for better.
I won’t beat around the bush here. Many reports from the field have expressed disappointment with what is being seen from Blu-ray in these early days. Ultimate AV’s technical editor, Shane Buettner gives his thoughts on the launch, and what he is seeing from the format so far, in the July UAV eNewsletter, which goes out to subscribers this Tuesday, July 18th. (If you haven’t signed up, go here to do so. You’ll get it every month, and it’s free). My take is a bit different than his, but it was not arrived at easily. After two months of hanging around in the other camp of this gradually building format war, my first reaction to Blu-ray was, “Where is their ammunition?”
When a new video format hits the market, however, there are more variables involved in what shows up on our screens and what comes from our speakers than the format itself. Can what we’re seeing and hearing be a credit to (or blamed on) the player? With one player, it’s hard to tell.
The software is an even more complicated issue. It includes the quality of the original photography, the film to high-def master, and the compression to HD video (including the video encoding scheme). Last but not least are the technical capabilities of the format itself. So if you’re looking for a “the war is over, XXX has won” you won’t read it here. With just one player, a dozen or so titles, and little in the way of test patterns native to the format, definitive conclusions will have to come later. What I will report on here is simply what I’ve seen and heard to date. Anything stated on the “why” side of the ledger remains strictly speculation.
Addendum:
After this review was completed and ready for publication, I had the opportunity to view a side-by-side comparison of the Samsung BD-P1000 player with a pre-production sample of the upcoming Pioneer Blu-ray player. The demonstration was held at Pioneer’s U.S. headquarters in Long Beach, California, and used two identical samples of Pioneer’s new PRO-FHD1, 50″ (diagonal) 1080p plasma displays. Both players were set for a 1080p/60 output. Rather than delay this review for a re-write (the review still accurately reflects my personal experiences with the Samsung in my own system on a much larger screen), I have appended a discussion of this later experience at the end of the review, immediately prior to the conclusions. The impressions I received during that demonstration, however, are reflected in the conclusions, as well as in the Samsung’s Highs and Lows as I see them.
The Data Points
Sony (the 2,000-pound canary in the Blu-ray universe) has chosen to use the traditional MPEG-2 video compression algorithm (codec) for its early titles, though it’s claimed to be at a much higher data rate than is possible on standard definition DVD. The number Sony has stated is, typically, 20Mbps average, with minimums around 15Mbps and maximums around 35Mbps (with occasional spikes to 40Mbps). They argue emphatically for the superiority of MPEG-2 at these high data rates, but we don’t know the circumstances under which that determination was made.
MPEG-2 has also been used for the few titles available so far from other studios. It’s a known quantity codec that uses well-established encoding and authoring software and hardware. It’s also operated by technicians adept in its application. All high-definition broadcasts, to date, use MPEG-2 (though DirecTV and DISH are moving to the newer and more efficient MPEG-4/Advanced Video Codec (AVC) for at least some content).
MPEG-2, while well entrenched, is also very data-intensive. No problem, argues Sony, since Blu-ray has a data capacity of 50GB—far higher than 30GB bit bucket of dual-layer HD DVD. But 50GB requires a dual-layer Blu-ray disc, which was not ready in time for the format launch. So the capacity of Blu-ray is currently limited to 25GB. Does the data-hogging MPEG-2 put a squeeze on image quality with a 25GB disc, even though the discs released so far use most of their capacity for the movie itself, with (generally) very skimpy extra features? Sony insists that this is not an issue.
We’ll soon find out. Two dual-layer titles are expected next month, Blackhawk Down and one other to be named later. Not that this will necessarily provide a useful data point; Blackhawk Down, as I recall (I haven’t watched it in a few years), has highly stylized and often very grainy photography that could easily be confused with player/video transfer/format problems.
All of the Sony and MGM releases so far include uncompressed PCM 5.1-channel audio tracks in addition to plain vanilla Dolby Digital (and sometimes DTS). Uncompressed multichannel PCM is an attractive option for audio-conscious home theater fans, but it does take up a lot of data space. For a 50GB disc, no problem. For 25GB, it could be. None of the Blu-ray releases so far include any of the new audio formats from Dolby Digital or DTS (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio). And neither the Samsung nor any of the other first-generation BD players announced to date are able to decode these new formats at full resolution even if they were present. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are both lossless codecs, and in theory are capable of the same quality as uncompressed PCM but are more efficient in their use of data space. Samsung’s website mentions Dolby Digital Plus under the player’s features, but the term appears nowhere I could see in the owner’s manual, either in the text or specifications. (Both the Dolby and DTS formats have the capability of carrying an embedded stream that’s backward compatible with all existing decoders for each respective format, but the bitrates are limited to 640kbps for Dolby Digital and 1.5Mbps for DTS- Tech Ed.)
Is what we’re seeing from Blu-ray discs to date simply an accurate representation of the source material? This is certainly possible, and short of direct access to the uncompressed video masters, it will be impossible to tell for sure. It would help if there were releases of the same film on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, but that hasn’t happened yet. Warner, however, supports both formats, so we expect to see duplications when the first batch of Warner Blu-ray titles hits the streets. In fact, in a recent announcement of its first Blu-ray titles, two such duplicates were listed, Training Day and Rumor Has It. Warner has produced some of the best-looking HD DVD titles to date, so the comparison should be worth the wait.
The display also plays an important role in how any disc looks. While Blu-ray discussions are spreading like kudzu across Internet discussion groups, it isn’t always clear what display is being used, how revealing it is, or how well it was set up.
Snooping Around the Samsung
Unlike all the other Samsung optical disc players I’ve seen in the past, the expensive, upscale BD-P1000 comes decked out in a glossy black tux trimmed with blue lighting. It’s attractive enough, but the gloss finish is a major fingerprint magnet and the blue lights can’t be dimmed. They can be a little distracting in a darkened home theater.
Despite its upmarket duds, the BD-P1000 doesn’t, for me, give off genuine high-end vibes. Sort of like a nice, unassuming guy trying too hard to make a good first impression. To coin a timely metaphor, it’s Jimmy Olsen dressed up for the prom.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with that if it helps keep down the cost. The BD-P1000 will be tied with the Sony (when it arrives in October) as the least expensive Blu-ray player available. While it’s hardly cheap, we often forget that the first VCRs, the first CD players, and the first DVD players were even pricier, particularly when inflation is taken into consideration. And there are claims that the first HD DVD players are being sold at a substantial loss ($200 per player by some accounts) to get the jump on Blu-ray.
The front panel of the player presents a sleek face, with the basic operating controls- fast forward and reverse, play/pause, and stop- located on a single circular control. If you select an output format in setup that is not supported by your display, the screen goes blank, but pushing and holding the fast forward button in that situation defaults the player to 720p for HDMI. For reasons that will become clear later, I was unable to confirm what this procedure does in component.
The text window displays not only the usual time and track information, but the playback resolution (if 720p or 1080i/p) and type of source as well. Around back are the video outputs, coaxial and Toslink digital audio outputs, separate two- and 5.1-channel analog audio outputs, and an exhaust port for a (relatively quiet) fan.
The remote is respectable without being special in any way. It may also be programmed (via the usual codes) to operate a television (volume and channel selection). At this price, however, the lack of backlighting is disappointing for those of us who spend a lot of time in the dark feeling around for the right button.
The Samsung’s operation is very straightforward; if you can operate any ordinary DVD player, you should have no difficulty here. It includes all the features you expect in any disc player, including search, repeat play, audio, subtitle, language, angle, and a bookmark function for annotating up to 10 scenes (the bookmarks are erased when you eject the disc). There’s also resume play (after stop), a feature missing for HD DVDs played back on the first HD DVD players.
The BD-P1000 will play back all the common varieties of optical discs. Pre-recorded Blu-ray discs (BD-ROMs) are, of course, a first priority, recorded in HD at either 1920×1080 or 1280×720 (or even lower, standard resolution, as with some special features). They may use any of the three video codecs supported by the format: MPEG-2, VC-1, MPEG-4/Advanced Video Codec (AVC).
The player will also display JPEG photos (not tested), and includes a slot for this purpose compatible with the 10 most popular types of memory cards. JPEGs stored on a recordable CD or DVD may also be played.
Other compatible discs include BD-R/RE recordable Blu-ray (although the BD-P1000 itself does not record in any format), standard DVDs, DVD recordable (DVD-R/-RW/RAM—within some limits, such as only recordings made in extended play mode), MP3 from 56Kbps to 320Kbps, and audio CD/CD-RW/-R (though CD-R/-RWs longer than 80 minutes or with a variable bitrate may not play properly).
You’ll want to know that some of the players scheduled to come out later this year will not play CDs (or, by extension, CD-R/-RWs). But the Samsung will.
Missing here are Ethernet and RS-232 ports. Since enhanced interactivity features that will require Internet connectivity are anticipated on future Blu-ray releases, this is a potentially important omission. And RS-232 is useful to provide access for custom control systems. In addition, these omissions leave open the question as to how future firmware updates will be installed in the player. Can they be loaded by disc? Or will a return to the dealer or Samsung be required?
Issues
I was unable to get the component output of the BD-P1000 to function. After selecting component on the front panel, I could obtain neither an image nor any on-screen menus that would allow me to change the output resolution. This was true with both Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, on four different displays. Shane Buettner also has a sample of the player, and his component output functions normally. This review therefore addresses only the player’s HDMI output, which was fully operational. I am requesting another sample of the player and will report on the component output at a later date.
The Image Constraint Token, or ICT, is an option for content providers allowing placement of a flag in the disc’s data stream that limits high definition playback to either an HDMI or DVI connection. It may be used on either any Blu-ray or HD DVD release, but so far hasn’t been implemented by any studio in either format.
My understanding of the ICT has been that if present it would trigger downconversion of a high-definition disc to a maximum of 960x540p—which is no longer high definition. But according to the Samsung manual, if the BD-P1000 sees an ICT it will produce no picture at all from its component output. That means that if you have a display with no digital video input, you will not get a picture of any kind from the Samsung player on an ICT-encoded Blu-ray disc. Since there are, as yet, no discs with an active ICT, I had no way of verifying this. But I have no reason to believe the manual is wrong. This is definitely something to think about for HDMI- and DVI-challenged consumers. No plans to use the ICT have been announced by any studios, but they could decide to do so at any time.
There are a number of oddities in the setup menu. A control called Black Level did nothing to change black levels at the HDMI output. Perhaps it operates only on component. The manual does not say.
There’s also something called the HDMI Format control. It’s not only poorly explained in the manual, but offers only one option, “TV.” The other setting, “Monitor,” was locked out, rendering the control pointless.
The Front Display controls the light output in the front display window, but does nothing to dim the more annoying blue indicator lights, particularly the bright blue ring that surrounds the round, four-control switch.
Whenever I load a disc, a message flashes on the screen telling me that HDMI audio is not supported. Presumably this means that the input to which the HDMI cable is connected (in this case, a video projector) cannot separate out and use the HDMI audio that’s present on the connector. Uh, I know that. My projectors have no audio systems. Now can I shut the message off so it doesn’t keep popping up?
Setup and Operation
Hooking up the Samsung player is no more complicated than with any conventional DVD machine. Neither is setup or day-to-day operation.
The BD-P1000 has few of the operational quirks of the first HD DVD players. It doesn’t get confused, for example, with multiple sequential commands. Load a disc, push play, then immediately change your mind and push eject and the drawer opens in a couple of seconds. Try that on an HD DVD player and it will ignore the eject order and go through its full loading cycle, after which you’ll have to push eject again to retrieve the disc.
When the player is cycling through certain commands it displays a tiny hourglass in the middle of a black screen. Holy Microsoft! But at least you know it’s thinking and hasn’t crashed (which it never did, by the way).
Reports that the Samsung loads discs faster than the Toshiba HD DVD players are questionable. With the player powered up, it took just 33 seconds to the start of the Sony Pictures logo on a Sony disc. But then that hourglass comes up again for a few seconds, more processing goes on, and it’s a full 52 seconds after start until the actual disc menu appears—very similar to the loading time for an HD DVD. If the player is off with the drawer closed, add in another 27 seconds for the player to fire up and the drawer to open to accept a disc. However, these times did seem to vary depending on the disc. Some users will still find the delay annoying.
Output Settings
You can’t drive both the component and HDMI outputs at the same time; you select the one you want with a switch on the front panel. You then choose the resolution you want from the on-screen Display Setup menu.
For BD playback from the HDMI digital video output the resolution options are 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. DVD upconversion is available to any of these resolutions, plus 480p from the HDMI output. (As with all players offering similar format conversion of DVDs, the result of this upconversion is simply a scaling of the source to match the native resolution of your display and is not true high-definition). No 480i option is available for DVD playback from the HDMI output.
Note that the only 1080p output selection on the Samsung is 1080p/60 (HDMI only). The player does not offer a 1080p/24 output, though this option is expected on the upcoming Sony and Pioneer players.
I’ve heard reports from reliable sources that because of limitations in programming of the video processing chips chosen for the player (limitations that might be amenable to a future firmware update) the BD-P1000 does not convert the 1080p/24 signal on the disc directly to 1080p/60 when you select a 1080p output. Instead, it first converts the 1080p/24 to 1080i/30, then converts that to 1080p/60, resulting in an unnecessary sidetrip to an interlaced format (assuming you have a 1080p display that accepts a 1080p input directly).
BD video playback from the component output is available only in 720p and 1080i (when there is no Image Constraint Token on the disc). Standard DVD playback from component is limited to either 480i or 480p.
Blu-ray playback is only available in high-definition modes. No downconversion to 480i/p. But that’s a “Who cares?” for most of us.
For audio you can choose the coaxial or optical digital output for two-channel PCM (CD), Dolby Digital, and DTS. You can also access the uncompressed 5.1-channel PCM tracks offered on some BDs via the 5.1-channel analog outputs. (These outputs do not, however, provide multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS decoding. See Dateline 07/20/06: Additional Hot Details for further information). The multichannel PCM signal is also carried over the HDMI connection, but access here will be limited to receivers and pre-pros capable of separating out the multichannel audio from the HDMI signal (HDMI version 1.1, which at present is only now becoming available on newer AV receivers and pre/pros).
The Samsung’s multichannel analog outputs provide bass management, but not individual channel level adjustments, distance settings to optimize arrival times at the listening position, or any crossover frequency options for the subwoofer (the fixed frequency is 100Hz). If you plan to use these 5.1-channel analog outputs, be certain that your receiver or pre-pro offers, at minimum, level adjustments for each channel through its multichannel analog inputs. Not all do, and some that do convert these analog inputs back to digital for processing! Both of the Toshiba HD DVD players offer channel level settings, position (delay) settings, and three subwoofer crossover options at the 5.1-channel outputs.
Blu-ray Performance
In these first days of Blu-ray, it’s difficult to separate out the performance of the player from the rest of the elements in the recording/reproduction process. Since I’m working here with a single player and less than a dozen discs, my impressions will of necessity involve the entire playback chain: source material, telecine to HD video transfer, compression (in this case using MPEG-2), the player, and the video display. I will, therefore, use a program-specific approach, presenting my impressions on a variety of titles.
I began my viewing on the 720p Yamaha DPX-1300 projector, with the player set for a 1080i HDMI output. I also briefly compared that to 720p, and 1080i looked a bit better, a result that may vary with the display. When I switched to 720p the on-screen the menus were enlarged, as if the image had been zoomed. My initial panic (reviewers panic easily) was relieved when I found that this was only on the menus; the actual program material on the discs played back properly. When I switched back to 1080i, this zoom effect disappeared.
The first Blu-ray disc to hit the player was Hitch Early reports on this title weren’t good, but it was nothing like the disaster I was led to believe. I wasn’t bothered by digital artifacts or noise, and the color was fine, although this isn’t the most vividly-photographed film. Shadow details and blacks were also good—certainly within the (very good) capabilities of the projector. I saw no false contouring.
Close ups on this disc were generally crisp, but not achingly sharp. They could have been more detailed without appearing unnatural. Nothing here either blew me away or even got my juices flowing. There were more than a few soft scenes, particularly on medium and long shots, but no visible edge enhancement.
The presentation was pleasant enough, but wasn’t even close to the “WOW” reaction I had right from my first look at HD DVD on the same projector (that is, after I discovered that the HD DVD player had to be set to 1080i for 1080 discs for the best picture!). For anyone familiar with high-def, this BD will look good on the Samsung, but far from jaw-dropping. But this was my first BD, and it wasn’t really bad, just a rather ordinary HD presentation and short of what I was hoping for.
One comment I need to make about Hitch, and about many of the other Blu-ray titles as well, is that the graphic overlays on the menus are often pin-sharp—far sharper than the movies themselves. This isn’t really all that surprising when you think about it as they’re usually stills, and often computer generated. The scenes from the film that backdrop many of these overlays are often a little soft and foggy-looking, but they might have been done that way for artistic reasons.
The Punisher came next. While there were some reasonably effective scenes—not overly crisp but not objectionable and better than most standard definition- overall this BD looked no better to me than an average DVD. In fact, there were some shots that were so soft that they had no business being called high-definition. If the problem is in the program material—and it might be—you have to ask why this material was chosen to help launch a format.
The Terminator looked like the low budget film it was. There’s significant film grain, more in the early scenes than in the later ones. Although it’s reasonably sharp, it’s not consistently so throughout, but is also never truly bad like the worst scenes in The Punisher. The transfer clearly looks like high-definition, but not in any knock-you-out sort of way, just in terms of everything being clearly defined and generally clean (apart from the film grain). I saw no artifacts, and no visible edge enhancement. Dark scenes were respectable. While I wish it looked even better, this may be the best that’s possible given the original photography and film elements.
That’s three down and while there are no disasters so far (though I wouldn’t put The Punisher on anyone’s must buy list), I’ve seen nothing particularly exciting yet either. But I imagine if the first three HD DVD titles I viewed had been The Fujitive, Full Metal Jacket, and Constantine, I would have wondered what all the fuss was about there, too.
I moved on.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day clearly blows the above three titles out of the water. The menus are sharp and detailed. When the film starts, the title lettering is softer than the best HD I’ve seen, so I started to get a little concerned. I needn’t have been. True, the images aren’t striking throughout; there are some rather ordinary-looking shots, including the first scenes in John Connor’s foster home. And a few scenes elsewhere challenge the term high-definition. Were they photographed that way? Adam Greenberg’s cinematography was nominated for both an Oscar and an American Society of Cinematographers award for outstanding achievement. But cinematographers often look for qualities other than consistently sharp, detailed images, and this is where the BD falls down a bit. I can’t say for certain that this intermittently limited resolution is in the source material, or even possibly in the original film-to-video transfers, but that’s always possible. It’s also possible that something in the Samsung player or BD transfer is reducing the resolution on some scenes just enough to slip the result down from very good to simply okay.
Still, T2 is the best-looking BD of the first four I’ve sampled, and by a considerable margin. There are plenty of scenes—most in fact—that are clearly high-definition. I saw good shadow detail, fine color, low noise, and no serious artifacts. In the few places I thought I spotted a problem, the same thing showed up—though sometimes less clearly—in the T2: Extreme DVD.
One point demands to be made here. While the T2 version on the Blu-ray disc is the standard theatrical edition, the film has been released in a superior, extended cut on two DVD versions, including the last one, that Extreme DVD. Was the standard cut too long for a single layer Blu-ray, or are we in for the same endless progression of T2 titles on Blu-ray we experienced on DVD? Inquiring minds want to know.
I moved along, reluctantly, to Underworld Evolution, a depressingly awful movie. But it’s a useful test because it’s almost as dimly lit as Dark City. I saw good black levels and shadow detail, with no serious noise, artifacts, or edge enhancement. But while the picture quality is okay in most respects, it isn’t particularly detailed or sharp. It’s well short of the kind of resolution I expect from quality high-definition.
The colors on 50 First Dates are brilliant. It’s a good-looking BD from beginning to end. But for a film shot almost entirely in bright sunlight, with the breathtaking scenery of Hawaii as a backdrop, it’s surprisingly lacking in the sort of detail you’d expect in a superior high-definition presentation. Again, it’s not soft in an absolute sense. But for high-definition, it is.
The verdict so far, as viewed on one of the best 720p displays on the market? Not nearly as negative as in many online reports. In fact, the best discs did look pretty good. Not amazing; up to this point I hadn’t been reduced to the quivering mass of protoplasm that resulted from the briefest glance at the best HD DVDs. There’s still nothing here to compare with the HD DVDs of Phantom of the Opera, The Chronicles of Riddick, U-571, 16 Blocks, or Unforgiven. Those discs will roll down your socks.
It was at this point that the new Marantz VP-11S1 1080p DLP projector, reviewed by Shane Buettner this week, arrived at my studio for some additional measurements. Naturally, I had to repeat some of the above work on this higher resolution projector, which also offered me the opportunity to select the Samsung player’s full 1080p (HDMI) output resolution. I viewed many of the same discs, and other titles as well.
Though the enhancement with a 1080p display only pushed the results to a significantly higher level on one title, the improvements were definitely visible on all of them.
I also compared the first three titles below directly with their DVD counterparts, the latter played back on the Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player set to upconvert to 1080i. I set the Sharpness control on the projector to between +5 and +10 depending on the disc (Shane had used zero, the maximum setting is 50, so we’re not talking a big boost here). This provided a subtle but useful increase in subjective detail without oversharpening the image (or adding clearly visible white lines on test patterns). It may or may not be significant that I was perfectly happy with a zero setting when watching HD DVDs.
The House of Flying Daggers has, for some reason, a sterling reputation for image quality. That may be true of the theatrical presentation (which I did not see) but it most certainly is not true of the DVD. It’s satisfactory, but the most colorful sequence in the film, in the house of “entertainment” where we first get to know many of the main characters, is never very crisp and has some shots that can only be described as badly focused.
On the positive side, the colors on the BD are strikingly beautiful—deeper and richer than the DVD. There’s also an enhanced sense of three-dimensionality on the Blu-ray, the same sort of depth I see on HD DVDs.
Some close ups—most in fact—look fine, though if you look closer you’ll see an absence of facial textures. And medium and long shots are often excruciatingly soft. Yes, they are better on the BD than on the DVD, but the lack of detail on the higher resolution format in these scenes is more annoying because of failed expectations. You want this title to be a knockout, and it isn’t. Could the limited resolution originate in the film source? Yes, it could, but that makes it an awkward choice as one of the first Blu-ray discs, despite the fact that’s it’s arguably a premier title.
While Hitch is no better than an average-looking disc in the still cozy Blu-ray Pantheon, it absolutely looks better on BD than on DVD. No, it’s not a night and day difference, but the DVD is only a fair transfer, and the Blu-ray ups the resolution to the point where it is clearly better. There’s more detail in fabrics and facial textures, particularly on close ups. There’s no question that this is high-definition. That extra degree of detail, particularly as viewed on a premier 1080p display, makes the image more relaxing to watch.
While the DVD mangles wider establishing shots and many middle shots as well, Hitch on BD handles them noticeably better. It didn’t distract me with the difference between reasonably sharp close-ups and the “whoops, what happened to the focus?” reaction I have from the DVD when the camera moves back.
A perfect example of this the boardroom scene in which the accountants are first seen talking to Allegra Cole. The shot starts with closeup of her, then the camera pulls back slowly to take in the rest of the table. On the BD, Allegra remains in excellent focus throughout the pullback. On the DVD, the focus is respectable for about the first third of the shot, but by the end she’s a fuzzy blob. You don’t often notice these things consciously (unless you’re a critic!), but they add up to the difference between an enjoyable presentation and the feeling that something you can’t quite put your finger on isn’t right. Watch enough good high definition and you’ll spot the improvement over DVD every time. You’ll start to notice something slightly artificial and not quite film-like (despite how much we have all overused that term) about many DVDs, if not most. I wouldn’t call Hitch on BD a watershed of high-definition. It’s certainly no better than the average HD cable presentation. But it was most certainly high-def, particularly on a great 1080p display.
OK, I know you’re all waiting to hear about BD of The Fifth Element. On the Marantz projector it looks very good. Yes, there’s some dirt and speckling in some of the early scenes suggesting that a damaged print snuck into the transfer suite. I wish it weren’t there, but the flaw isn’t the onset of Armageddon, and it passes quickly. There is a subtle sense of sharpening in many scenes, but the image is always crisp and rarely looks artificially enhanced.
But how does it compare to the Superbit DVD?
The main problem with such comparisons, including those above, is that you can’t be sure the two discs were cut from the same masters, (and there are some indications here, such as those dirt speckles, that suggest they were not). Nor can you be sure how the scaling on the player/projector handling the DVD is affecting the result. But bearing those issues in mind, the two discs here were very close, indeed. Could I see differences? Yes. Surprisingly, the HD version on BD isn’t always quite as sharp as the Superbit. The latter appears to add subtle edge enhancement that is largely gone or innocuous on the BD. Would I pay for the difference? Absolutely, but the larger the screen, the more you’re likely to notice the superiority of this BD. Except as noted, I saw no significant differences in either color or video noise, though the BD did sometimes seem a bit grainier.
Up to this point I’ve been relatively positive about what I see from Blu-ray, but with the important caveat that none of the current titles have impressed me as much as the best offerings from HD DVD. That feeling was reinforced when I went back and had another look at two HD DVD titles on the Marantz 1080p projector, The Perfect Storm and Phantom of the Opera. The former is an average-looking HD DVD, but looked about as good as the best-looking BDs sampled up to this point. Phantom is one of those “Oh, my God!” experiences that nothing I’ve seen on Blu-ray yet equals. The forces behind Blu-ray need to look at this disc on the best projector they can find, and honestly ask themselves if they are offering anything to equal this. In my opinion, they are not, at least not yet. But that isn’t to say that they can’t.
But one BD finally came tantalizing close. And it only takes one great release to prove a format. Remember my comments above about 50 First Dates viewed on a 720p projector? Colorful, clean, and just a little short of what I had hoped to see from it. Well, on the 1080p Marantz I couldn’t believe I was watching the same BD. Maybe Sony or Samsung snuck in overnight and swapped discs or players on me. Now, it looked sensational. There were very few “off” shots (and nearly every movie has them, where the budget does not allow a re-shoot for a scene that’s just a hair off in focus or exposure). Mostly, it was as sharp as I could wish for from start to finish. The colors remained vivid and yet natural. Adam Sandler’s performance is the same mix of endearing charm and dumb humor as before, and Rob Schneider’s is still just dumb, but BD can’t help that. This BD now came very close to the best of the HD DVD discs, though for reasons yet undetermined that was not the case on the 720p Yamaha projector.
This single experience tells me that a superb Blu-ray experience on the Samsung player is achievable—and at the same time makes me wonder why the other BD releases I sampled left me feeling let down.
DVD, Anyone
The BD-P1000 is, of course, also a DVD player. To check out its performance as such, I compared both the The Fifth Element Superbit and Shakespeare in Loveon the Samsung against the Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player. The Toshiba was set to upconvert to 1080i, the Samsung to 1080p. Using two samples of each of these DVDs, I was able to do a fast switch between the two players, connected to the two separate HDMI inputs on the Marantz projector. (The swap was not instantaneous; it does take a few seconds for the projector and players to complete their secret Commander Cody HDMI handshake on each switch.)
The differences weren’t huge, but they were noticeable, with the Samsung looking less detailed. Both players looked virtually the same (and very smooth) on a luminance (black and white) sweep test from the original Video Essentials DVD, though that is no guarantee that there aren’t subtle differences in their video frequency responses. Nevertheless, while both players produced fine pictures, I slightly preferred the crisper look of the Toshiba—though some may feel that it looks slightly enhanced on DVD (which it definitely does not on HD DVD). The Samsung was less resolved in a way that almost looked like there was some sort of subtle video noise reduction going on in the processing chain, but there’s no noise reduction control on the player. (Noise reduction also softens the image along with reducing noise)
There are significant differences inside of any BD player in how BD and DVD are processed. Softness on DVDs, therefore, doesn’t necessarily prove that the softness on most of the Blu-ray discs I’ve commented on comes from the Samsung. But it is possible.
Tests
There are few HD test patterns on disc, at present, for testing Blu-ray players. The T2 BD has the THX setup patterns. Also, every Blu-ray disc from Sony has several patterns that are hidden, Easter Egg style, in the opening disc menu. While the menu is on screen, simply push 7669 (which spells S-O-N-Y on your telephone!). There’s a color bar pattern, a pattern with a variety of resolution checks, red, green, and blue full-screen patterns, a crosshatch pattern, a color sweep pattern, and a gray ramp.
Using these tests, plus a few patterns on DVD, I determined that the Samsung will reproduce above white and below black on the Yamaha projector, that the (HD) color sweep is excellent and very uniform, the luminance sweep from the T2 BD is extended but a little uneven at higher frequencies, and there is just a hint of vertical banding on the (HD) gray ramp.
I performed deinterlacing and scaling tests on the player using my usual battery of standard definition DVD images, with the Samsung set to 1080p HDMI and connected to the Marantz 1080p projector. This tested the full gamut of the player’s scaling, starting with a vanilla 480i source and converting it up to 1080p. If it performs well here, it should not have serious scaling or deinterlacing issues on typical program material. And it did turn in some excellent results, with one exception. It sailed through my jagged diagonals tests and showed excellent handling of film-based sources, including recognition of unflagged 3/2 pulldown.
The player did, however, show minor ripples in horizontal details in a 2:2 video cadence test. The latter suggests that you might see some artifacts introduced with video-sourced material, which unlike film does not employ 3:2 pulldown. I don’t have a lot of challenging, video-originated, real world program material in my mostly film DVD collection, and none yet, of course, on Blu-ray. But what I tried looked fine, including DVD menus.
Audio, Anyone
The quality of the new audio formats offered on HD DVD, even though they aren’t complete and are converted to high data rate DTS at the player’s digital output, have been for me the most unexpected surprise of that format.
So far, Blu-ray players, including the BD-P1000, offer only standard Dolby Digital and sometimes DTS from their digital outputs. Nothing I heard from the Samsung on these legacy formats sounded either better or worse than what I typically hear. In other words, they’re just like DVDs, soundwise. That isn’t bad, just a lost opportunity that HD DVD has seized.
The only other option is the uncompressed PCM tracks offered on the Sony releases. When I connected my system to the 5.1-channel analog outputs on the player, I found (as mentioned earlier) that there were no level settings for the individual channels, only test tones to help you set levels using the level settings in your receiver or pre-pro (assuming it has level adjustments for each channel with the multichannel analog inputs. Some do, some may not).
I spent so much time analyzing the video performance of the BD-P1000 that the time I needed for a review of its audio in time for this report slipped away. And in any event, since this review is already mounting a serious challenge to War and Peace in length, I’ll have more to say about the audio, particularly both the uncompressed PCM from both the analog 5.1-channel outputs and multichannel via HDMI, in a future Take 2.
Addendum
As mentioned at the beginning of this report, a few days before this review was posted I had the opportunity to visit Pioneer in Long Beach and get a sneak peak at their upcoming Blu-ray player. They had a sample of the Samsung, as well. I watched excerpts from several BDs using duplicate titles on both players, viewed side by side on matched Pioneer 50-inch 1080p plasmas.
In every case, the Pioneer produced a more detailed image. The difference was not night and day, but it did make the difference between merely acceptable and superb high definition. While there were a few instances where I felt that the Pioneer might actually have been a little too sharp (it will take test patterns to determine if this was the case), overall it did not appear to be. Rather I was starting to see the same sort of resolution from Blu-ray on the Pioneer that I expect to see from a premium HD format, and which looked like it could, with top grade program material, equal what I’ve seen from HD DVD in image quality.
And what about the possible limitations of MPEG-2? We were shown an excerpt from an upcoming BD from a studio which has not yet announced any Blu-ray releases. If I revealed the title here I’d have to kill you. But I’ve never before seen such incredible resolution of tiny details on video. And while we didn’t have the DVD on hand to compare it with, there’s no doubt in my mind that the DVD could never come close to matching this sort of resolution, not even on a modestly-sized, 50-inch plasma.
While this experience was not necessarily conclusive—at the end of the day I always like to make such judgments on my own systems—it did strongly suggest two things. First, MPEG-2 can exceed the best image quality we’ve seen from it up to now. And second, the Samsung BD-P1000 may need some revisions in order to realize its potential—though keep in mind that the Pioneer will cost half again as much and won’t be available for at least two months. But it’s also possible that a firmware update to the Samsung might be all that it needs. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Conclusions
My early impressions of Blu-ray, based on this evaluation, are hopeful but not yet fully positive. If HD DVD did not exist, we’d probably all be happy just to have high definition on an optical disc. If the high definition Blu-ray I see now on the BD-P1000 is sometimes bettered by the best HD I can get from cable or over-the-air (I don’t have satellite), at least it’s high definition that promises to give us what we want, when we want it—at least when we get more titles!
But I want more than conventional HD sources offer. And unfortunately for Blu-ray (but fortunately for the consumer) better images than anything you can get from any other consumer sources are available right now- on HD DVD.
I’m not taking sides in this format war. Two months ago, if I had to name the eventual winner, the obvious choice would have been Blu-ray. More storage, more studio support, and more hardware companies behind it, including several computer industry giants.
But Blu-ray has gotten off to a shaky start. If I had to spend my money today assuming the title selection was to my liking (and that’s always a priority), I’d lean toward HD DVD.
That may well change, and the race is far from over. From what I saw on that visit to Pioneer, Blu-ray at its best is not yet available to the consumer. Better quality is coming. Soon we’ll see better software, though I have to ask why we don’t already have at least a couple of titles to challenge the quality of that “mystery” title I saw, or the best on HD DVD. Better players are coming, too, hopefully including updates to the Samsung.
But Samsung has stuck its neck out to be the first, and deserves a lot of credit for that alone. For now, it’s the only Blu-ray game in town.
Highs and Lows
Highs
• Good performance overall, but does not currently produce the best pictures we’ve seen from Blu-ray discs
• Functionality comparable to a good DVD player
• Easy setup and straightforward operation
• Plays CDs
Lows
• Images look softer than they should
• Possible QC concerns (our component output did not work)
• New audio formats not yet offered
• Limited setup options on the 5.1-channel output
• Non-dimmable blue lighting on the front panel is attractive but intrusive
Review System
Display: Yamaha DPX-1300 720p DLP projector
Marantz VP-11S1 1090p DLP projector
Screen: Stewart Studiotek 130, 80″ wide, 16:9, gain 1.3
Video cables: XLO HDMI
Preamp Processor: Anthem Statement D1
Amplifier: Parasound A51
Loudspeakers: Pioneer Elite EX Series
Audio cables:
Interconnects: Madrigal CZ-Gel, Tara Labs, XLO VDO, Monster
Speaker: Monster M2.2
Power Conditioner: APC S15
Dateline 07/20/06: Additional Hot Details
According to a statement just released by Samsung, the reason for the softness we reported on in the preceding review of the BD-P1000 is an incorrect default setting in the noise reduction on a Genesis chip used in the player.
This is not a user-accessible setting. Samsung will revise the chip programming in the next production run of the players, and is also working on a firmware update for existing players. The update may be downloaded from the Samsung website onto a CD-ROM, which is then used to transfer the update to the player.
But don’t expect it soon. A Samsung representative estimated that it might be September before the update is available, and likely September as well before the second batch of players, incorporating the change, will hit the shelves at your local dealer. We will report on the effectiveness of the update as soon as we receive it.
So it looks like another couple of months before we’ll see a properly functioning Blu-ray player from any source. It appears that Samsung’s first out of the gate status deserves less praise than I gave it in my conclusion.
On another subject, the BD-P1000 player does not decode Dolby Digital in surround mode for the 5.1-channel analog outputs, and does not decode DTS for those outputs at all. In the review, I stated that it does. This has been changed, but I note it here for those who may have already read the report.
According to two relatively obscure notes in the manual (they’re a little more prominent in the Quick Setup Guide). A Dolby Digital soundtrack will be decoded into the 5.1-channel analog outputs only as a two-channel signal in the left and right front channels, and DTS will not decode at all. I tried it through the Anthem D1 processor used for the review, and it’s clear that the player is simply folding down a 5.1-channel Dolby Digital source into the left and right front channels. This is true whether the Audio setup menu is set to PCM or Bitstream.
With DTS, however, the situation is more serious. The notes in the owner’s manual and Quick Setup Guide state that if you “play a DTS DVD disc, no sound will be heard.” Through the Anthem processor, what I got instead was a dangerously loud broadband hiss, much like white noise, in either PCM or Bitstream. This same noise was a problem in the early days of DTS when a DTS track was played through a processor that did not have a DTS decoder. Fortunately I remembered that before I ran the test and had the volume on my pre-pro turned down to -30dB, where the hiss was still very audible. Caveat emptor.
Because of the above, the only possible application for which I can recommend the 5.1-channel outputs on the BD-P1000 is to play the 5.1-channel uncompressed PCM tracks offered on some Blu-ray releases (primarily from Sony, so far). And when you’re done, switch your pre-pro or receiver back to another input so you or someone else in your family does not inadvertently pop in a DTS disc the next day and run screaming from the room. If you want to listen to the DD (in surround) or DTS tracks, you must access them from the player’s digital outputs and decode them in your AV receiver or pre-pro.—TJN
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