blu ray dvd recorder

1. Posted: Jul 15 2008

   Although the LG also plays HD DVD, I got it primarily for Blu Ray and DVD. - Very fast to load Blu Ray (much faster than my previous Sony and Samsung Blu Ray players). - Excellent DVD upconversion (leaves the Sony BDP 300 and Samsung 1200 (the ones I owned) in the dust) - Decodes all the HD audio formats (I make the player convert it to DTS and output to my receiver via optical - sounds great) - Nice form factor and excellent build quality. Only the Pioneer Blu Ray player is in the same league when it comes to build quality. - No 5.1 analog out (but not an issue for me since my receiver only accepts 5.1 via optical or coax). - remote should have been backlit from this price point. This is an excellent if somewhat under appreciated product. This is a great looking and performing product.

2. Posted: Jun 28 2008

   Our old dvd/vcr combo was driving us nuts. We are delighted to have an efficient, hi-tech, and good looking replacement.

3. ( 4 of 4 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 23 2008

   I've had this product for about a month now (I also have the BD-UP5000) and it's been great. Personally, I like this boxier design than the more round-edge Samsung player, and gotta love the buttons. The bottons do not stick out much and it's pretty much level with the front plate of the player so it functions almost like touch operated. The blue lights on the buttons are very modern too but it will not turn on while you watch the movie so it won't be a nuisance. Depending on the format you are watching, either the bluray or HD DVD logo will be on. If you are watching DVD, no logo will be available. This player uses QDEO chip for upconversion. It's not as great as the REON chip but some say it's comparable. Personally, I found the upconverted material to be a bit softer at the edges compared to the REON so it may seem a little less sharp. And with the preset QDEO selected rather than using the user defined settings, it has a hint of bluish tint. Unless you compare the on and off side by side, you wouldn't notice when you first use it. So far, I have had no problems playing any of the discs except for loading T2 Ultimate HD DVD import from germany. It doesn't recognize the interactive mode that uses Dynamic HDi. But all american movies, I've had no problems with. This player also plays PAL DVDs and can be made into region free for DVDs. It was mentioned in the manual that it has USB port for expandable memory, most likely in the event LG plans to upgrade it to profile 2.0 (not yet confirmed). It's currently profile 1.1 compliant (via firmware update) and bitstreams all audio. There were reports of some audio dropouts and is limited to 2 analog channel output, but overall, the player's been great (I've been using HDMI only). LG did announce the discontinuation of this model starting in the 2nd half of this year, so if you want a DUO format player, it's recommended to pick one up soon before it's gone.

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1. Posted: Jul 28 2008

   Samsung has discontinued this product but at the same time updated the firmware on 5/30/2008 making it Blu-ray 1.1 spec. It handles DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray disks without problems. The issues with Dolby Digital playback have been resolved. I had read Fox titles were particularly hard for this player to handle and that "Sunshine" was the acid test. I pushed it to the top of my Netflix queue. It played it perfectly.

2. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 23 2008

   I went from the Toshiba 3 HD DVD system to this one, keeping the Toshiba as a back up for HD DVDs and I could not be happier with this system. I've only been using it for about a month, but the quality of play is excellent, the start up time for the machine is faster than the Toshiba, and I have had no DVD issues with random pausing like I a little bit with the Toshiba. Oh, and it plays Bluray discs? Ye-ah.

3. Posted: Jun 23 2008

   Samsung BD-UP5000 1080p HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc Combo Player This is the Samsung combo HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc player released earlier (and since discontinued, as I understand it). When it was introduced, it bowed to glowing reviews about its video performance, but general dismay about its limited advanced audio codec performance. I have owned this player since February, 2008. The first week of June I became aware of a firmware update (dated May 29, 2008). After I downloaded and installed it, the full multi-channel "audiophile bitstream" for both DOLBY DIGITAL TRUE HD and DTS HD MASTER AUDIO now pass through to my receiver (the Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH). In additon, the firmware appears to have brought the player to full Blu-ray "Profile 1.1" capability, as features on certain of my Blu-ray discs (for example, the historical trivia game on National Treasure 2) are now functional. Samsung seems to have kept its promise to provide those capabilities by May. I no longer feel that my money was wasted on this player, since I now enjoy first-class audio along with the first-class video. I have rated it a "4" rather than a "5" only because its internal hard drive is too small to allow a potential future upgrade to "Profile 2.0". If you have a collection of HD DVDs, or are hankering to take advantage of some of the "fire-sale" liquidation specials on discontinued HD DVDs which are not yet available on Blu-ray, I highly recommend this player if you can find an example at a reasonable price.

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