Samsung HD850 DVD Player - can anyone help me out with a question? [Archive]

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shand754

03-11-2005, 12:07

Looking to buy a Samsung HD850 DVD player which I would get hacked to multi-region.

Most of my DVDs are USA Region 1 NTSC, on my current player I manually have to switch the TV mode between PAL and NTSC for US discs to get the best picture quality.

I was wondering how this works with the Samsung? I will be hooking it up to a Panasonic PV500 plasma by HDMI - will the player automatically pick up and output a NTSC signal for my US DVDs or is there something I need to change manually through the disc menus.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice :)

Andy3105

03-11-2005, 12:56

I have a Philips DVD963SA and as was the case with every multiregion player I had before that it ouputs the signal as whatever the disc is encoded so NTSC to NTSC or PAL to PAL.

The switching of the signal at the television is handled by my Hitachi 42PD5200 Plasma so it will either display the picture as PAL or NTSC automatically.

I should imagine the same holds true with the Samsung as regards the output from the player and your Plasma should automatically show the correct signal format if it's NTSC compatible.

Let me know what the player is like because I want to get something that will output 720p or 1080i via HDMI (I will have to get a DVI/HDMI adapter) and I am keen on either the HD850 HD950 models.

Hope this has helped you mate :thumbs:

shand754

03-11-2005, 13:04

Thanks mate, I will certainly post my thoughts when I get it.

Can anyone who owns a Samsung HD850 confirm how it handles the switch between PAL and NTSC. My current Panasonic definately requires a manual switch via the menu.

shand754

03-11-2005, 15:11

Andy3105

03-11-2005, 15:35

Up

What ? :?:

shand754

03-11-2005, 16:24

Well I was reading about this player on the AV Forums and someone referred to having to manually switch between NTSC and PAL. This would not surprise me as I have to do it on my panasonic player. I just wanted to see if anyone actually has a HD850 that could confirm this.

Andy3105

03-11-2005, 16:32

Finding some information on these players seems to be one of the more difficult things to accomplish AV wise,.

I blag my internet usage at work as I don;t have it at home (why pay for it when it's free at work ?) the downside is that they have a very strict firewall in place and I can't get onto the AVForums website so I don't know if there's anything about the 850 or the 950 on there and a search on google drew a blank too.

:shrug:

shand754

03-11-2005, 16:37

Thanks for looking for me mate. I have a thread on the AV Forums too now - it appears you do have to manually switch between NTSC and PAL via the menus. Still going ahead and ordering one though as most of my DVDs are US so I will just leave it in NTSC output. The good news the picture quality through HDMI is supposed to be stunning.

Andy3105

04-11-2005, 07:34

Let me know what you think of it mate, I was gonna order one of Play.Com as they have the 850 for about £90ish and the 950 for £105ish but it doesn't state that they are multiregion, also can't seem to find one that is multiregion at all (perhaps there's a hack for them ?). :shrug:

FlangeMonkey

08-11-2005, 10:38

Lots of people don't rate these upscaling Samsung player's HDMI output any better (and some say worse) than the marvellous Pioneer DV575's component out...

Just because a technology is new and supposed to be better (HDMI/DVI etc.) doesn't mean it's going to improve on one that has been around for years and years to be developed to the max...(Component)

Component done well (as the Pio 575 does) is often far superior to upscaled HDMI/DVI - it can all depends on the scaler inside your panel, however. If you have a cheap, crappy TV, which uses a cheap scaler then the likelihood is that the scaler inside the Samsung player might be slightly better...

My combo of Hitachi LCD and Pioneer DV575 via component looks incredible - the best I've ever seen from DVD...

manicstreetpreachers

08-11-2005, 11:18

I have a HD850 and a Samsung LCD - you can play either NTSC or PAL (after initial remote hack) but for some reason if you have it set to PAL and watch NTSC it will flicker occassionally. If you manually set it to to either PAL or NTSC prior to viewing you should have no problems. TBH I only use the 850 for watching avi.files at the mo.

shand754

08-11-2005, 12:48

Well I got my Samsung HD850 this morning and have it hooked up to my HD Plasma by HDMI. Very impressed so far with the picture quality.

Boink!

08-11-2005, 19:04

Whta's the difference between the Sammy 850 & the 950?

Andy3105

09-11-2005, 07:49

As far as I can tell not that much other than the 950 will do DVD-A and SACD whereas the 850 cannot. :thumbs:

Andy3105

09-11-2005, 07:51

FlangeMonkey

09-11-2005, 10:34

I'm not the only one. It was universally praised in the press when it was released over a year ago, and a firm forum-favourite on AVForums...:thumbs:

Semps

09-11-2005, 12:13

Sorry to hijack this threa but I have a Toshiba 220. Would an upgrade to the pioneer or similar provide me with a big upgrade in picture quality?

I have a Samsung 32" HIDEF LCD

Andy3105

09-11-2005, 13:16

I have a Pioneer 575A at home which I've never used with my Hitachi Plasma, I'll give it a go tonight with Revenge of the Sith, the PQ looks amazing on my Philips DVD965 as it is but I'm keen to try the Pioneer with regards to your comments mate. :thumbs:

As I remember with my JVC Prog Scan CRT my 575A-S produced a lot of jaggies when it played PAL discs, I was never that happy with it but I'll give it a go anyway over the weekend.

mjpartyboy

26-01-2006, 11:28

I thought this was the appropriate place for my HD850 question, instead of a new thread.

I know the player can be hacked, but does it play RCE DVDs (my six year old chipped Sony player does)?

shand754

26-01-2006, 11:42

Yes no problem with anything RCE.

mjpartyboy

26-01-2006, 11:50

Yes no problem with anything RCE.
Thanks. :thumbs:

Was the NTSC/PAL switching question ever answered, my Sony did this automatically and I haven't been able set the HD850 up yet to check?

allan

26-01-2006, 11:52

mjpartyboy

26-01-2006, 11:58

As far as I know this and HD950 won't automatically detect whether the source is PAL or NTSC and set accordingly. This is ridiculous to be honest, as you can get PAL and NTSC discs from the same region and it seems like such a simple thing to do. Even my Pioneer dvd player I bought back in '99 could do this.
That's a shame, something else to remember, likewise my Sony player is from 1999 and does it automatically too. I guess it's a small price to pay for an otherwise excellent DVD player.

allan

26-01-2006, 12:05

That's a shame, something else to remember, likewise my Sony player is from 1999 and does it automatically too. I guess it's a small price to pay for an otherwise excellent DVD player.

I'm sure it could be fixed with a firmware upgrade though. Similar to other things, it only needs enough people to complain to Samsung enough for them to do it.

shand754

26-01-2006, 13:17

Yep the PAL/NTSC switching is a pain, worse though is the fact that you get a message saying "HDMI sound not supported" when watching a DVD through HDMI. The only way to get rid of the messages is to switch on screen messages off through the setup manual. Unfortunately though you have to do this every time you switch on the player as it forgets the setting you have made.

I have decided to live with these niggles though as the picture off the player is fantastic.

welshmatt

26-01-2006, 13:29

Whats the multi-regional deal with this player? Just ive seen a few sites stating it as R2 only and some as MR. One site even has two versions listed, with the MR version costing £10 more than the R2 only.

Im sure I read somewhere about it being handset hackable, so are they basically charging you £10 to press a few buttons on your remote?

mjpartyboy

26-01-2006, 13:41

Im sure I read somewhere about it being handset hackable
Correct, this and HD950 use the same hack.

allan

26-01-2006, 13:44

When I bought my 950 from Richer Sounds, there was a label on the box telling you how to make it region free. Was just a case of putting some numbers on the remote and voila, multi-region. I've also read that this enables upscaling via the component out as well.

mjpartyboy

02-02-2006, 11:32

Has anyone noticed how little difference the upscaling makes?

shand754

02-02-2006, 11:42

I disagree, through HDMI on my HD panasonic plasma the picture is fantastic.

mjpartyboy

02-02-2006, 14:45

I disagree, through HDMI on my HD panasonic plasma the picture is fantastic.
Compared to what?

I compared it to RGB on the LCD and the improvement was very apparent, but compared to my non-progressive scan Sony player through RGB scart on my CRT TV, it didn't look any better. :(

This is another reason why I think the Samsung LE32R41BD is either poor quality, but lots say it performs well, or I have a faulty set. :shrug:

mjpartyboy

06-02-2006, 11:32

For anybody that's interested, the HD850 is £74 again at Amazon.co.uk and you can use free UK Super Saver Delivery:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007YQO18/qid%3D1139227853/202-9111381-8629411 (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007YQO18/thedvdforums-21)

mjpartyboy

20-02-2006, 08:06

I finally set my HD850 up last night and the blue ring light around the power button when it's off is very annoying in a dark room when trying to sleep, it's like a lighthouse beacon!

I wish it turned red when off, like most other things do, and blue when on, if they really wanted a blue light.

I may have to put some tape over it as it's too bright at night. :eek:

mjpartyboy

03-03-2006, 07:49

HDMI Audio Not Supported

The problem with turning Screen Messages off is they are back on again after the player has been turned off and on again, this happens on my HD850 at least, so seems like a pointless option.

My Sony DVD player was connected to my old CRT TV using RGB scart and a digital optical lead to my amp, all settings for Dolby Digital and DTS were set to on, so when I watched a film the amp decoded the digital signal, but if I just wanted to watch the special features or film without the amp on, the TV would play the sound through its speakers whatever audio option was selected on the DVD.

I have set the HD850 up to my LE32R41BD using HDMI and left and right out to left and right in, then digital coaxial to my amp. I did this hoping that when bitstream is selected the amp decodes the Dolby Digital/DTS signal and the TV would output through its speakers via the analogue left and right connections, but it doesn't. It only plays through the TV (HDMI) if PCM is selected and then the amp doesn't decode Dolby Digital/DTS. It doesn't matter what audio option is selected on the DVD, no sound through the TV when bitstream is selected. It's quite annoying, especially as you cannot access the setup menu while a DVD is playing.

It seems silly having a HDMI input on these HD Ready TVs when they can't support HDMI audio, surely they should be made to at least filter the sound to stereo. Isn't the point of HDMI that it can carry both digital video and audio? Will we see similar messages on our screens from other components that use HDMI: Sky HD, HD-DVD players, Blu-ray players?