Samsung DVD-1080P8 1080p Upconverting DVD Player Reviews

• You say upconverting, I say upscaling--but DivX settles the matter.

  
  By A6FIAB28IS79 on 2008-04-01
  Despite some viewer's claims, this player definitely will not provide an HD-quality, Blu-Ray image, though if you plan to use it with a screen smaller than 40", it should be close enough to satisfy most viewers' requirements (including this one). Adding to the potential confusion is Amazon's current listing of this as the most popular "upconverting DVD player." I was ready to purchase the Samsung (my 2nd) until I entered "upscaling DVD player" into Amazon's search box, and discovered that the favorite player in this price range was the Sony DVP-NS700, which didn't even appear among the "upconverting" players. (Or simply try entering "DVD player.") The Sony is a slightly newer model with marginally shallower dimensions than the Samsung. If you have a Samsung TV set, you may wish to go with the Samsung player for the sake of compatibility; if your set is a Sony, the Sony player's remote will control most new Sony television sets' significant functions without the requirement of entering code numbers.
  
  As for "upconverting" vs. "upscaling," I have yet to discover any difference other than a semantic one. If "upconversion" is as much a function of your HD set's processor as of the DVD player's engineering, "upscaling" may be a more accurate even if less "techno-dazzling" term. Of primary importance is an HDMI connection on the player to assure optimal scanning of the disc by your HD set.
  
  However, the Samsung does offer a feature that, while increasingly rare, is important to some computer users: the capability of playing DivX-encoded discs--which is lacking on the Sony player. If you have such discs or prefer to download and record video files with DivX encoding and then screen them on monitors other than your computer's, then the Samsung is definitely the better bet, whether you call it an upconverter or an upscaler.
  
  

• HD at a bargain price!

  
  By A3IR834T7AROBT on 2008-05-14
  Hooked this up to a Samsung HL61A750 using HDMI and the 1080p resolution setting. Ran fiber optic to the amp.----The video and sound are fabulous, looks as good to me as Blu-Ray that I have seen in the stores. It appears to me that the problems that have been encountered are due to not taking the time to set up the player correctly. Have played several of my older DVDs, the picture never looked this good. I'm not sure how much the HDMI and the up-conversion contribute to this big improvement to picture quality, but it certainly is big over my older player. Was considering Blu-Ray, but I have a large collection of DVDs and just did not want to start all over again. The Anynet feature will turn on the TV and select the correct input for playing a disc, making an easy switch from TV to dvd or cd. So much for my experience.
  
  

• Some improvement but not much

  
  By A2Q763NY6NPTDS on 2008-04-07
  Got this DVD player through the deal along with my 56" DLP. Hooked up the player with component cable first and it'll allow you to force output up to 1080i. After switching back and forth between 480p, 720, and 1080i, I can only tell the difference between 480p and 720p, but not 720p and 1080i. Then I replaced the component cable with HDMI, forced the output to 1080p, color seems to have more depth but resolution looks the same as using component cable. Remote control reaction is pretty slow compares to the other 7 year old Toshiba DVD player I have. Load time is a little bit longer I guess it's because the player supports more format than just regular DVD.
  
  Overall it does ok job on "upscaling" but don't expect magic.
  
  

• Samsung has horrible warranty service.

  
  By A1VCD1E221YXHW on 2008-05-20
  MY EXPERIENCE OF HORRIBLE WARRANTY SERVICE FROM SAMSUNG: Warning: Product purchased from Samsung and needing warranty service will require many time consuming phone calls. You will be required to call MANY TIMES and be placed on hold for long periods of time. Once it is determined your product is needing service you will need to fax or send your receipt in MULTIPLE TIMES and CALL MULTIPLE TIMES for a return authorization. SAMSUNG WILL NOT FOLLOW UP ON RETURNS AT ALL. Once your request for return is received and is FINALLY authorized you will need to send your product in for service. AFTER YOU SEND YOUR PRODUCT FOR SERVICE, THEY WILL NOT COMMUNICATE WITH YOU. After waiting for SIX WEEKS when promised 10 day turnaround, I called again and waited on hold again and was transfered around again. Finally I was told they could not fix my product and could not replace it so they would refund my purchase price minus tax and shipping. I told them not refunding full purchase price was THEFT, so they reluctantly agreed to refund the tax and shipping too. MY POINT OF ALL THIS IS TO WARN YOU THAT SAMSUNG HAS THE WORST SERVICE OF ANY MANUFACTURER I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH.
  
  

• DVD refused to work with my Samsung 32" 1080p TV

  
  By A24WETRYJXY04L on 2008-07-21
  I had bought a Samsung 32" 1080p TV and decided to get the Samsung upscaling 1080p dvd player, thinking they would talk nice to each other. Boy, was I wrong! Every time I played a dvd, every few minutes the video and audio would cut out, saying that it lost the signal and was searching for it. This happened continually.
  
  First thing I tried switching HDMI cables. I tried 3 different cables, no luck. Next, I sent the dvd player back to Amazon for a different model, same behavior. Finally, since I had a 30-day return, no questions asked, from Best Buy, I had them come get my Samsung TV and exchange it for another of the same model. Still the same behavior.
  
  A sales person at Video Only told me he had a customer who experienced the same abnormality that I did -- Samsung dvd player cutting out when playing through a Samsung TV. He brought back the Samsung and bought a Sony dvd player instead. Perfect picture and no signal problems.
  
  I finally did the same. Bought a Sony DVP-NS700H/S and hooked it up. Worked perfectly with my original HDMI cable. Now I have a Samsung dvd that I may give to my daughter to see if she can get it to work. I love my Samsung TV but I will never buy another Samsung dvd or other component again.
  
  
• I'd Recommend Avoiding This One
  By AY605F7U50W1C on 2008-07-01
  Picked up this DVD player when I purchased a Samsung LCD, which I connected via HDMI cable. There were problems instantly, in the form of a "Searching for Signal" message. I'd lose signal on the menu screen, the title screen, and roughly once every couple of minutes while watching a movie.
  
  I switched the HDMI cable between three different ports on the television, and had the same problem. I switched to a different HDMI cable, and still had the same problem. Even watching DVDs at 480p produced the same problem. I exchanged this DVD player for another Samsung (same model), and was still cursed.
  
  Finally switched to a Sony 1080 DVD player (same cost), and have had no problems at all. Strange that Samsung would apparently produce a DVD player that was not completely compatible with their own HDTV, but that was definitely my experience, with two of them.
  
  
• meh.... not happy yet....
  By A16FV37LJXIV4Q on 2008-03-28
  i have the samsung 40in lcd widescreen so i figured everything would pretty much match up. i decided to get this dvd player b/c i have alot of sd dvds but had never seen anything that was in an "upconverted" player. i would usually just put a dvd in my mac and watch it via dvi to hdmi. i wanted to see if an upconverting dvd player would make the picture look more "hd" without having to re-buy all of my dvds to bluray. Dont get me wrong, the computer quality is fine. i just assumed that an "upconverting" dvd player would make it look even better.
  
  1st complaint is the tv remote does not work for all functions on the dvd player. example: i can skip chapters but i cant pause or play the dvd with the tv remote... i have to use the dvd remote although they are almost identical. Samsung shouldnt sell two products that are meant to work together and then have the remotes only do certain things... I know for a fact that it is not just my remote b/c i actually have 2 remotes for the tv... so its not like i only tried with 1 remote.
  
  
  2nd complaint is that the dvd player is loud sometimes. it has this ticking noise. that doesnt go away. very frustrated. it doesnt do it all the time. i tested the majority of the file types (dvdr,rw,divx,cd,mp3) while playing "Gladiator" it made this incessant ticking noise... any1 that has the same tv as i do would know that on low volume the lcd screen has a low humming sound. this added to the dvd noise makes it very irritating. sure you can turn up the volume but the fact that you have to is kind of disappointing.
  
  3rd complaint is that they dont include a cheap hdmi cable. they arent expensive and yet they give you composites instead.
  
  ive ordered another hdmi to hdmi cable and see if the image is any better, but it hasnt been delivered yet. i know that it will obviously be better than the composites, but if i cant tell a significant difference between my computer's dvi to hdmi dvd player and this one's "upconverting" im going to return it.
  
  
  
  
• The proper cable would have gotten it five stars
  By A1JYQVP71WHBTL on 2008-04-15
  The thing works fine. It does come with cables. The wrong kind. I had to go out and buy an HDMI cable. I had to spend a few hours online trying to research why the picture quality looked so bad - I needed a cable. The manufacturer should put an HD cable in with the DVD player, which is intended to be plugged into an HDTV.
  
  
• disappointed
  By A34QKB8YTJWGZD on 2008-06-30
  Bought this DVD player to go with a new Sammy 58" Plasma and take advantage of the "Anynet" feature. Almost from the beginning the player made more noise than my garage door opener.
  Without exception at some point in every DVD I put in it the player would stop. I would have to wait for it to begin playing again. There were some DVD's that it would not even load. Not the DVD's as I would put them in another player and they would load and play without problems. I have returned it to Amazon and now await my refund.
  
  In addition to the mechanical failures I found the player to be extremely slow not only with loading but in responding to commands sent from the remote. In some instances the delay was so lengthly that I thought the command had not been recieved by the player but finally it would react.
  
  The Sammy "Anynet" is not as effective as I thought it would be and required that you keep the DVD remote handy for certain commands.
  
  Have since I sent it back, I purchased another DVD upconverting player. It is much faster to load and react to remote commands. It has not failed to load any DVD's nor has it stopped during play back even once. The remote on the new player gives me as many options as the "Anynet" feature on the Sammy so I lost nothing there.
  
  I would not recommend this player however must note that it may just have been a lemon.
  
  Disappointed for sure,
  
  
• Works, but slow in ways that affect usability
  By A2QV067OTKNUX0 on 2008-07-01
  Overall: don't stress if you bought it, but if you haven't bought it yet, if you can find something different in the same price range, you might want to try it.
  
  Positives:
  1. works.
  2. I love the feature when you turn the power off, it remembers where you were in the movie. When you power it back on, it takes you right back there!
  
  Negatives:
  
  1. Reacts very sluggishly to the remote control. Not sure what the problem is. Not only do I need to be pointing exactly at the device to get it to register, I really have to jam the buttons down and hold them to get the action to take. As a result I will frequently hit the pause button and have nothing happen. Then I have to back up and try again.
  
  
  2. Takes a long time to load the first time. Thankfully if I power down the dVD while watching it, it remembers exactly where I was, and takes me straight to that, so it's less painful when you are continuing.
  
  
  
  
• Meets my expectations
  By A36EX8X44TAE2J on 2008-04-05
  I've had the Samsung DVD-1080P8 for 1-2 weeks and it has been great so far. Connection was a breeze with an HDMI cable. The picture quality is outstanding (viewing on a Samsung 4061f). The Anynet feature has worked like a charm and I've had no problem using my TV remote to function the DVD player. This seems a perfect option for those who may not wish to jump right into a pricier Blu-ray.
  
  
• Great Picture
  By A31U7AZF7OIII5 on 2008-04-28
  Great picture from this unit. I rent from netflix, and sometimes the movies are not in too good shape. This unit plays right through the scratches. I highly recommend this DVD player.
  
  
• It's what they DON'T say ...
  By A1W1ITSWEYWRVP on 2008-06-27
  I bought this device as my thrid upconverting DVD player, to fit into a closet-based bedroom system featuring a 37-inch 720p LCD screen. I self-installed the screen and mounted the set-top box in an adjacent closet, using a Uneversal Remote programmable unit and a Niles Audio infrared (IR) repeater system. I thought the Samsung DVD-1080p8 would be the perfect addition to the system, upconverting appropriately at the right price point.
  
  Everything went fine until I tried to find an IR code to use in programming my remote. Not only was there none mentioned in the manual, there was no citation of an IR receiver on the front-of-the-unit graphic in the manual. Hmm. Curious. So I completely covered the front, top, sides, and bottom of the unit with masking tape to see if it operated remotely with the Samsung-provided device. It did.
  
  So, on to Samsung's website. Again, no direct citation of anything useful. But buried in the FAQs for their DVD product line was some doubletalk about how they don't provide remote codes 'cuz that's the univerals reomote manufacturer's responsibility. Except every other maunufacturer provides them when they're asked.
  
  Suddenly, the light went on! This unit doesn't use IR at all. It is, instead, a (rare) radio frequency (RF) controlled unit. And Samsung doesn't have the guts or honesty to put "includes RF remote" on the box. If they did, they could also correctly note that RF remotes penetrate walls and floors and have a range of about 100 feet, as opposed to the 15 to 30 feet ususally associated with IR remotes. That would be useful, and honest, and probably would sell more units for those reasons. But, then, in the interest of full disclosure, they would have to point out that the product only works remotely with other Samsung units employing RF remotes
  
  So, back it went. That's it for me and Samsung. I'm sticking with the good stuff from now on.
  
  An honest disclossure of a little pertinent information would have saved the day.
  
  BTW, the picture and sound were OK. My Sony units are better, though, and they work with all my programmable remotes, thank you very much.
  
  
• not good at all
  By A3OC1POYY1BVNB on 2008-05-08
  After about 2 months of moderate usage the player became very particular about the disc quality, and only played new DVD's. Now it barely plays them. I would not buy another Samsung DVD Product.
  
  
• Bargain price offsets this player's tiny flaws
  By A3357DTKMQNXL4 on 2008-09-03
  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.
  
  
• It does work!
  By A28JE1K2R6STBT on 2008-09-08
  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.
  
  
  
  
• amazing
  By A1TBIICGJVDNUT on 2008-09-17
  i bought this item to go with my samsung 37" 550 series hd flat panel tv. after i bought it i thought that maybe i should read the reviews! that's when i became concerned.
  areas of concern were audible noise and losing signal. thankfully i don't have these problems withg this unit. when i first hooked it up i attached the hmni cable in the "hmni/dvi" socket. i got no signal. then i plugged the cable into a dedicated hmni socket and have had no problem since.
  i must say that i'm amazed with the picture quality with this dvd/tv combo. my favorite movie of all time was made in 1966( the blue max) and i have it on dvd. when i played it on this dvd/tv combo the picture looked equal to when this movie was released in the theaters all those years ago. on my computer and my old tv the dvd looked very dark. now i'm seeing many shades of colore that i forgot were in the movie. i'm seeing stained glass windows in the background of a room and seeing the colors that i've not seen before. i just can't say how impressed i am with this dvd player and also the tv.
  forget about blu-ray. it's not necessary!
  
  
• dvd player
  By A3EP5A7JDC5K6F on 2008-04-22
  Got this DVD player. Hooked up the player with component cable first and it'll allow you to force output up to 1080i. After switching back and forth between 480p, 720, and 1080i not different 720p and 1080i. Then I replaced the component cable with HDMI, forced the output to 1080p, color seems to have more depth but resolution looks the same as using component cable. Remote control reaction is pretty slow. The player supports divx and other format,more than just regular DVD player.
  
  
• Disappointed
  By A16FUU8WW76QFY on 2008-06-07
  I purchased this Samsung item as a replacement for a Toshiba DVD player, which finally bit the dust after nearly 10 years of reliable service. I purchased the player from Sam's Club with the idea in mind that I would have upscaling capability when I'm able to afford a true HD LCD set. I am returning it due to very poor interface between the remote and the player; it just does not seem to receive commands properly. Multiple presses of function buttons get either no response or very delayed response. I give the Samsung 2 stars because the picture is of very high quality on my 36" Toshiba CRT; I cannot comment on any upscaling features due to the fact that the TV is not equipped with HDMI or component inputs (it is not HD). Considering the 4 star average review this product received here on Amazon, I am disappointed to say the least.
  
  I have decided to try my luck with a Sony DVP-NS700H, an upscaling DVD player with similar performance features to the Samsung. I have always had good fortune with Sony products, and this model has an S-Video output-something the Samsung lacks.
  
  
• Works good so far - easy setup
  By A1K0S6E4QRPLP1 on 2008-09-05
  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!
  
  
• Decent Upconverting Player
  By A29LKWWC107YLF on 2008-04-08
  It's a decent upconverting DVD player. I got this product for free after purchasing the Samsung LNT5265. I really can't tell the difference in picture quality between 480, 720, 1080i, and 1080p. They all seem pretty sharp to me. I use an HMDI cable. I love the Anynet feature on this device compatible with my Samsung LCD TV. My only real complaint is the slow reponse on the remote to the tv.
  
  
• very crisp picture
  By A48BDOFR226UB on 2008-04-18
  The nicest, cleanest picture I've gotten fron any DVD player yet. (don't own blu-ray yet though - soon!) Works perfectly with my Toshiba Regza 47".
  
  
• A Warning
  By A3TYRITV5M6D7O on 2008-05-15
  I listen to both movies and music while I'm at work, and I came close to purchasing this. It's definitely one of the sexiest players on the market, and I have no doubt that it offers excellent picture and sound. There's just one thing, and this may be of no concern to many of you, but, when playing CD's, the unit does not show the track no. It shows the time counter, but, alas, no track. This was a deal breaker for me. The problem with this unit is that if you're listening to a new CD and you're several tracks in, you're not going to keep count of which track you're on (especially if you're at work and doing other things). What if you want to know the name of the song? Too bad, so sad. This unit may be at the low end of how much you could spend on a DVD player, but c'mon Samsung, it's not cheap enough to expect a dumbed-down counter. (The unit does show the chapter no. for DVDs.)
  
  Ironically, other DVD units I saw (by different manufacturers) did the exact opposite; they displayed the CD's track no., but not the time. Go figure.
  
  
• Free?
  By A2N34KCZHT805O on 2008-05-25
  I got two of these players from Amazon with the purchase of Samsung HDTV's and have had the same problem with both players. The TV does not always receive the signal from the players!!! Strange. Sometimes they work alright, but too many times I'll put in a disk (new disks)switch the TV to HDMI and nothing happens. The TV says there is no signal from the player. I got these players for nothing and that's what they're worth. I'm looking into getting a different brand player. Any suggestions?
  
  
• Good Upconverting DVD PLayer
  By A2958IGWMRMRA0 on 2008-07-07
  I purchased this upconverting DVD Player along with the Samsung LN46650 Flat Panel LCD. I know some reviewers have said there is no difference when watching their old DVD's, but I beg to differ. I see new colors I never noticed before in DVD's we have watched many times on our old DVD Player. Lord of the Rings is a good example. I know that series of movies is dark, but the detail and color when watching them with this new DVD Player and the New LCD are incredible. The other big bonus is the sound. I do not use the TV sound, I run through an old Carver (analog)reciever that is 20 years old. The sounds is incredible. I hear words and dialogue that I have never heard before in movies I have seen many times.
  
  On the down side.........I havee had this DVD player for about a month and started noticing that it stops occasionally in movies that it worked fine with before. It is like someone pressed pause and then relesed it. Does not happen alot and not on every movie.........but just something I noticed. For $70, I can live with it though.
  
  Overall, a great product for the money.
  
  
• Do Not Buy. HDMI Intermittent output.
  By A18SVYN1RPCOR on 2008-07-08
  Have always liked Samsung products but this one is crapola.
  
  Have received 2 and both have intermittent HDMI output. Units were tested on several TV's and cables that other HDMI equipment worked fine on.
  
  I'm guessing Samsung has little or no Quality Control.
  
  
• A great little wonder for the conventional dvd blues
  By A2TKF4YDKJPOIU on 2008-09-13
  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.
  
  
• Nice player for the price
  By A2ZA6DRL0A1LNZ on 2008-09-19
  I've owned this player for about 4 months. I am using it with a Samsung 1080p DLP TV. This player does a very good job of upscaling dvd's. When the DVD is encoded well (good bitrate, anamorphic 16:9), the results are outstanding. Upscaling an older DVD with a poor transfer will show the limitations of the DVD (blocky, poor shadow detail). When you watch animated movies (Like Pixar's Cars) the upscaling results are *very* impressive.
  
  
• Nice but not as good as Bluray
  By AR5B7MSVRYKXY on 2008-04-13
  For those who think that you'll get 1080p Blu ray quality w/ a DVD upconverter, think again. If you have a DVD collection you don't want to replace, this is for you. I've pretty much given up on DVD and am going Blu ray for which PS3 is the only sensible choice right now (sine it's firmware upgradeable).
  
  
• Noticeable difference versus regular DVD players
  By A1ZANGDDORF9O8 on 2008-04-25
  This thing is awesome. I feel like I'm almost watching Blu-ray without paying that much for DVDs!
  
  

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