Product features:
USB plug-and-play port allows for connection of MP3 and WMA flash memory or hard drive devices — enjoy your digital audio in sophisticated sound
Built-in surround sound decoders include Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS
Total output: 800 watts (speakers: 134W x 5; subwoofer: 130W)
DVD player supports DVD, DVD-Audio, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DivX, CD-R/RW, JPEG, MP3 and WMA formats
8 DSP soundfields
AM/FM tuner with 30 presets
5 full-range 2-4/5" 1-way bass-reflex satellite speakers
6-1/2" passive 130W bass-reflex subwoofer
Inputs: 2 stereo audio, 2 composite video, 1 optical digital audio, RF antenna
Outputs: 1 composite video, 1 monitor, headphone
Remote included


In my rush to buy an inexpensive HTib system that would complement my ipod, I decided not to wait for the wireless HT-WP38 and check out the HT-P38.

Got this system on sale and quickly found some bugs while testing it all out with some of the best home theater dvds: The Matrix, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King EE, The Lion King Special Edition, and Saving Private Ryan.

Video - picture quality was actually decent on my samsung hdtv, but I noticed the movie jumped from time to time when set to progressive scan - you should note that the same movie on the same tv did not jump on my zenith progressive scan dvd player. What I mean by jump is the picture, for a quick second, would jump to the right, then go back to its original position. I did the THX test included in the lion king disc. Apparently top dvd players have 10 ranges of black bars while lower dvd players have 7 bars...this one had 7. Another annoyance is it takes about 5-8 seconds to load in any disc. The system does match my tv's color scheme however.

Audio - center speaker was weak, but the receiver had alot of options to strengthen the sound of each speaker, as well as set delay time and some other options as well. I'd give the audio receiver portion high marks for this althought I could've used more audio inputs - this one only had 2 regular audio inputs. The speaker wires were well done, they included plugs instead of the cheap clips you get with even more expensive receivers and the rear speakers had plenty of length. The sub woofer, as with all passive sub woofers, was very weak however... the elephants stomps from lion king and lotr-return of the king could've used more..stomp!
The speaker was clear, if a little soft. The scene with neo dodging bullets while the camera did a 360 rang clear in each speaker, as did the bullets in saving private ryan. Something I liked about each speaker was, not only were they small, but it also had a little hole that allows you to screw it to a wall if needed.

USB- The real reason why I decided to buy this system over, say the onkyo everyone's been raving about. I connected my ipod to this system and it played in the 3 front speakers pretty well. However, while music is playing, you cannot surf through the files! I found this to be a pain since, in an ipod, the music files were seperated into many different small folders. In all, it seems this usb connection was an afterthought since it will only play music and show pictures through the connection. Movie files etc will not play through usb.

Set up was easy, as home theaters should be. Everything was color coded. Just plug and play.

In the end...
While I have my own dvd player, the video skipping is an issue for me as it makes me worry that there could be other things wrong with it. I've had bad luck with any first batch of systems (playstation 2 anyone?) and don't plan on having this system irk out on me. I bought this for the usb function, and it really disappointed me that I couldn't surf the files while music was playing. All in all...while the audio was adequate, the video jumping and the sub-par usb functionality is a deal breaker. I'm returning the system.


Let me know if you guys want any questions answered... I'll do my best to answer them before I return them...in about 2 weeks. Hopefully something better will be out by then.

That's a great objective review, we need more of those on this forum.

Best Buy is giving this thing away free with the purchase of any hdtv $999+. I wam stronly considering purchasing a westinghouse 30 inch model (the new one) I think this thing is going to push me over the top, even though i was planning to get the hts770. Your review doesnt sound all that BAD and well hell ITS FREE

When i purchased my samsung 4663, I was able to get a gift card worth 15% of the purchase price from a link on msn.com. In all, I was able to get a gift card worth 350, as well as use the circuit city credit card to get an extra 100 gift card. So this theater was also free. Remember that you are actually able to bargain the price down at circuit city and best buy....alot of people don't know that.

good luck on your new tv! As for the samsung..its not that bad i guess...if you get a good deal on the tv, the home theater is icing on top.

Edit:
By the way, if you could post what you thought of the system here that would be great! I'd sure like to see if people are experiencing the same things I am.

Disappointed to hear about the HT-P38 drawbacks. I was considering the HT-P50 which has an HDMI DVD player as well as the USB connectivity so that would hopefully take care of the DVD problems (also includes better speakers it appears). But if you can't surf through your library while iPod is connected, that's pretty much a deal breaker. My HLR5067W (coming soon) has FireWire IEEE 1394 so I should be able to plug my iPod in there and send to receiver through optical out.

Am now considering the new Sony DAV-FX80 with HDMI DVD player. Can't wait for it to come out, hope it is reviewed well!

I bought a new HDTV from Best Buy, and got one of these included for free. Since I already had my own home theater setup, I gave the HT-P38 to my brother and set it up last night. It's hooked up to a 20-year old standard type TV.

So far so good, mostly, but I ran into a weird problem with the DVD player. It shows DVDs in 4:3 or 1.85:1 aspect ratios normally, but when I put in a widescreen 2.35:1 ratio DVD (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers expanded version), it didn't display right. It was basically putting the 2.35:1 image into a 1.85:1 box, so all the characters looked taller and more "elongated" than they should be.

The weird thing is, I can't find any way to change that (there is a menu option for aspect ratio, but it's always greyed out), and the user manual worryingly seems to be written with the implicit assumption that 1.85:1 and 4:3 are the only two aspect ratios in existence.

Anybody know what might be going on here?

ITs probably with your hdtv, I haven't seen any problems with my theater since initial viewing so I decided to keep it. I dont recall any settings on the actual dvd player that would cause the movie to display as you are descriping. I do remember having to do something to set up the progressive scan...see if there are any other options on the tv.

Hi,
I have had the P38 for a couple of months now. It has been nice. However, yesterday the voice track suddenly got really quiet when playing in dolby 5.1. I called Samsung's customer support. They had me initialize the unit again. (With no discs in the unit,Push the stop button until you see initialize on the LED's and then the unit will shutdown and the unit is returned to factory defaults. But still a weak "echo" sound to the voice. Music plays fine in 5.1 and in 2 channel stereo the voices and music play fine (and with prologic 2 the surround on the unit its a pretty good experience) However, not all discs have the 2 ch english,( 2 ch es and 2 ch fr) seem pretty common. I am concerned as time goes on that more of the discs I want to watch will not have the 2 ch en and I won't be able to hear the movie. Also, I feel somewhat cheated that I am not getting 5.1. Has anyone else had this problem. If so how did you fix it?
basementhts

i bought the HT-P38 to hook up to my new Syntax Olivia 32" LCD HDTV monitor, i hooked up the player put in a movie, and it wouldnt play, tried another and it played tried a 3rd and it wouldnt.. Problem is it wont play DVD's with DVDrom features IE the games that come with kids movies. It should play the movie and ignore the games, per their tech support. Now im am going to take it back and get another one. will post the results..

I bought a new HDTV from Best Buy, and got one of these included for free. Since I already had my own home theater setup, I gave the HT-P38 to my brother and set it up last night. It's hooked up to a 20-year old standard type TV.

So far so good, mostly, but I ran into a weird problem with the DVD player. It shows DVDs in 4:3 or 1.85:1 aspect ratios normally, but when I put in a widescreen 2.35:1 ratio DVD (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers expanded version), it didn't display right. It was basically putting the 2.35:1 image into a 1.85:1 box, so all the characters looked taller and more "elongated" than they should be.

The weird thing is, I can't find any way to change that (there is a menu option for aspect ratio, but it's always greyed out), and the user manual worryingly seems to be written with the implicit assumption that 1.85:1 and 4:3 are the only two aspect ratios in existence.

Anybody know what might be going on here?

Just realized I never updated this thread with the answer I received elsewhere.

Turns out what you need to do to change the aspect ratio setting is operate the menus *without* having a DVD in the unit. Unless it's "empty," the aspect ratio settings are apparently greyed out.

i have a question about this system, it says it plays mp3s, is that just off cds or also dvds?

It can play mp3s off of DVDs as well. Nice to see that this thread is still alive...

Navigation on CDs and DVDs are a bit better than using the USB cable.

-Ballz2

Anyone have problems playing DVDs with this player? I just bought the HT-P38 from BestBuy and can't play many of my DVDs. The loading screen progress bar goes to 100% several times then just moves on to the next disc..

You are having problems loading the dvd? I've never had a problem like that with it and its been 8 months. I've only have a prblem with the picture alignment breifly...in which case it cleared itself up.
You should try to exchange it back in for another one.

I have the P50 and I am having the exact same loading issue. It'll take forever to load some DVDs and no time at all to load others, and sometimes it'll just say "no disc." anyone else having these problems?

Curious here if I can replace (upgrade) the speaker wire on this system since it uses Samsung's plastic speaker plugs to connect into the back of the receiver. The pre-wire I ran in the walls won't be very useful if I have to use the wiring provided in the box. And also the provided wiring appears to be very thin and can't be to good. Any suggestions?

Okay, like others, one of the main reasons for buying this system was because I though I could hook my ipod up to it. Well, when I did this, the system only recognized about 15 of my songs. Basically, anything on my ipod that originally came from a CD of mine or bought from itunes did not show up. Only the few songs I got from LimeWire showed up.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem so I can get all of my songs to play?



~~Second Question ~~

I want to hook my laptop up to the home theater system because my wife watches TV shows, through the internet, from her home country (Slovakia). Is there a way to buy a cord that is USB on one side and a headphone jack on the other side? (My hope is to make the speakers act as a headphone, playing out loud whatever is showing on the laptop.)

I dont care about sound quality, just getting it to come out of the speakers.

irish...
if the laptop has a standard audio output ("headphone jack") and the Samsung has standard RCA stereo inputs... and I believe both probably do... you could try one of these:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=3.5+mini+plug+to+stereo+rca+connectors&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ff&oi=froogler


landlocked...
You certainly can splice your own speaker cables to the Samsung connectors. Cut the Samsung speaker wire as close to the connector as possible... leave only enough Samsung wire attached to the connector to make a clean splice to your cable.

Dave,

Thanks. I though of that, but I only get two RCA lines and one is the playstation and one is (hopefully) the TV.

What about an RCA spliter? If they exist, would I lose tons of sound quality?

P.S. Check my other post on Samsung HT-P38...please...I'm having major issues here!

You could try a splitter... 2 female/1 male... like this:

http://www.casecooler.com/rcasplitcab1.html

You'd need 2 of course. I don't know how that'd affect your sound quality, but it's worth a shot. I'd connect the PS and the computer cables to the splitters, as you wouldn't be using them both at the same time. Leave the TV cables alone, on their own input.

What's on the optical digital input? Can your PS2 or laptop use that?

I have some stupid newbie questions, sorry. I am considering this since it is so cheap and I have some DVDs that don't offer 2 ch audio so watching them without a 5.1 system is painful. Anyway, if your TV has ample video inputs why would you want to plug your device's video into the receiver? Just to force everything into one input on the TV? I noticed it doesn't have component in so my HD cable box will need to send its video directly to the TV, is that a problem? Are there any audio synching issues since the video is going to one place and the audio to another?

I don't know about that. I'll have to check but I think the newer PS2's do have an optical port in the front of the unit. I don't believe my laptop does.

I'll look into a spliter, but would prefer to split the white into two whites and the red into two reds (split L/L and R/R, not L/R and L/R). Doesn't that make more sense?

Anyway, most importantly is to get that darn TV to work through the receiver!!!

And get the receiver to recognize all of my songs on my ipod!!!

I have some stupid newbie questions, sorry. I am considering this since it is so cheap and I have some DVDs that don't offer 2 ch audio so watching them without a 5.1 system is painful. Anyway, if your TV has ample video inputs why would you want to plug your device's video into the receiver? Just to force everything into one input on the TV? I noticed it doesn't have component in so my HD cable box will need to send its video directly to the TV, is that a problem? Are there any audio synching issues since the video is going to one place and the audio to another?

If your TV has plent of component inputs use them and avoid the HTIB receiver. Just connect audio to the receiver.

If your TV has plent of component inputs use them and avoid the HTIB receiver. Just connect audio to the receiver.

thanks temple, had the same question.

Just wanted to see if anyone had any news on the Ipod connection issues. In the market for a HTiB, and wanted to see if anyone was more successful here. For example, does the receiver have a line in that you could just plug a stereo jack from the Ipod into the receiver?

I haven't been able to get my Ipod to connect to my Samsung HT-p50. Samsung technical service says they are not compatible, but I see here that some people have had success (if perhaps limited). Does anyone have a workaround for USB host play connectivity issues with the ipod.

I have tried several file formats (mp3, jpeg, etc) and nothing shows up. The unit acknowleges a USB connection but the file search mode never shows up.


Thanks!

Anyone plugging their Ipod in with a RCA adapter? Seems to be the way to go with the USB issues.

RCA connection works fine, but it's not as cool.

Yeah, hoping to get the Ipod to work. Setting mine up in a couple days. I had a question for those here. Getting the wireless rear speaker version in a couple days, and wanted to ask a setup question.

Have a 42 in plasma Samsung, Xbox hooked up at present with their HD component pack, Direct TV DVR for my SD channels via S Video, OTA antenna for local HD via coax into the TV, and a DVD player via HDMI. Sooo, what would be a good setup here for me. I'm mainly worried about the OTA input for HD, and the DVD player in 5.1. I've purchased an optical cable at present, and it would seem that this would need to go from the DVD player to optical in on the receiver. Same for the DVR. But what about my HD locals coming in from my OTA antenna. Am I screwed here. The building I live in is currently upgrading to HD from directv, so eventually I can replace my set top box with their HD DVR, but that may be a while. Any thoughts from anyone here, really would appreciate it.

ktabel01,

This unit may not be the best thing for you. You need a real receiver with multiple optical inputs. You need one optical in from your Xbox, one from the DirecTV DVR, and one from the TV - it sounds like your TV has an HD OTA tuner so it will output audio to your receiver. The P38 would work if you only planned on watching DVDs and didn't mind not having 5.1 for OTA, Xbox or satellite.

I found this thread because I just bought one of these systems for my in-laws. They have a VCR, crappy cable and a 27" TV. This unit is more for that type of user. You would not be satisfied with this system, IMO. Plus it doesn't have the kind of inputs you need for your multiple 5.1 sources.

Here's some suggestions of what could do:

$250 Athena 6.1 speakers at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007USO3S/sr=1-5/qid=1133818502/ref=pd_bbs_5/104-2731508-3659945?%5Fencoding=UTF8) credit goes to lynesjc

Sony 7.1 receiver with 3 optical inputs at onecall.com (http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?FromURLMapper=1&sHist=12-127&Sort=lowPrice&Page=-1&id=26914) since you have 3 sources (Xbox, HD OTA, satellite) with optical outputs

Sony DVD player with upconversion over HDMI at onecall.com (http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?sHist=12-53&menu=true&Sort=lowPrice&Page=-1&id=26843) had coaxial digital output since your 3 opticals are already taken

Monoprice.com - the cheapest place to buy cables (HDMI, optical, etc.) (http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp) I'm running HDMI, optical, VGA and SVideo from these guys in my HT - no complaints

These are merely suggestions I threw together from reputable retailers and decent equipment. The system I've thrown together here is over $700, but it would blow the P38 absolutely out of the water. Don't skimp on the other equipment when you have such a nice display.

Thanks Wally. Through my own tribulations and yours and others posts, I've opted out of the Samsung. Definitely too many inputs. And I love monoprice, put in a huge order today for cables. Looking at either the Sony receiver or several from Onkyo. Much better all around, you're right. Thanks again.

Just realized I never updated this thread with the answer I received elsewhere.

Turns out what you need to do to change the aspect ratio setting is operate the menus *without* having a DVD in the unit. Unless it's "empty," the aspect ratio settings are apparently greyed out.

I had similiar issue, but found if I hit the Stop button to stop the DVD, and then the Stop button again, I then got full access to all menu options.

Overall, I am happy with this, but with this being my first real taste of a home theatre system, I have little to compare it to.

One bug I get fairly often is if I hit the Prologic II Mode button on remote several times quickly, experimenting with different surround-sound modes, the unit seems to crap out on me, going to non-stop loud static, that requires turning unit off and then back on to stop the static.

I also found my way to these forums, looking for a working method/code to get my Dish Network 625 DVR remote to work with this Samsung HT-P38. No luck so far with any Samsung codes(VCR, DVD, Receiver, combo codes), nor with manual code scanning. The search continues...

If I could ask for some help please. I have this system and for some reason, I can not get the PII Mode button to work. I'm hitting it in DVD Mode with no disc in the dvd. My system is not putting out any sound. I have checked every hookup multiple times. Only the left and right speakers are in the led. When I hit the PII button, nothing happens. Everything has been checked from making sure I am in Recevier Mode to making sure my inputs and speakers are all correct.

Thanks for any comments,

David

If I could ask for some help please. I have this system and for some reason, I can not get the PII Mode button to work. I'm hitting it in DVD Mode with no disc in the dvd. My system is not putting out any sound. I have checked every hookup multiple times. Only the left and right speakers are in the led. When I hit the PII button, nothing happens. Everything has been checked from making sure I am in Recevier Mode to making sure my inputs and speakers are all correct.

Thanks for any comments,

David


Its nice to see my thread is still alive...

I have some answers to the many questions open in this thread:

the PII logic is mainly used to "fake" surround sound. I found out that the audio inputs will not display 5.1 surround sound and this is just one way to "fake " it. In other words, it will display sound on all speakers..and I think there is some logic to determine what sound goes to what speakers. So to use this option, you will need to hook it up to the audio jacks.

The Ipod question: My ipod mini worked fine using the USB connectivity feature. It was able to play both mp3 format as well as the format from itunes. It splits all the files into different directories so you will have to use the menu to navigate back to the root directory and select other directory to get a different list of files to play. Unfortuneatly, these directories are not named well at all, so you will have to randomly guess which files are in which directory. As I described in my review before...it Sucks

After a year of using it and figuring out its quirks, I would only suggest this system if you only want to play dvds on it. The system cannot play real 5.1 surround sound from the external audio inputs.

Just a question...I have the Samsung HT-P38 and find it is not too bad for my small family room except for the passive sub. I have an old powered sub (not sure of make), and was wondering if there is any way possible of connecting this to the P38. Thanks.

I think this htib has great features - wireless rears, divx playback, and the usb hookup to play mp3s/upload backgrounds. I ended up sending it back though, because the sub didn't sound that good and the rear speakers had a constant hissing noise that was very annoying.

I bough used unit after set it up and try. The DVD player does not work.
The problem is: when i put dvd in the unit (position on disc #1), unit try to load the disc, and moving next position (disk # 2) and so on. Finally, it said: NO DISC . I try many time with different position (Disc #1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). It happen the same. CDs player works very well
I don't know how to fix it. Please help.

Thanks a lot for your time,
LN

I have the wireless version (WP38) and have a couple questions.

1. Is there a way to turn off the welcome and goodbye message when the unit powers on and off? While it's displaying its little spiel, nothing can be done with it. Sure, it's only 10 seconds, but this is my life we're talking about!

2. Related in a way to Q1. When I power on the unit after it's been off for an hour or so, it doesn't get a connection to the wireless receiver. If I power the WP38 off and back on, it unfailingly makes the connection on the second try. Anyone else have this bugaboo? Probably not worth getting in a huff over, or having to send the unit off for warranty work. If I could get the power off/on cycle to happen more quickly (question #1) it wouldn't be much of an issue at all.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Are there any tone controls for the unit or fixed EQ settings?

Does anyone know if you can actually play movies from the USB port? Or is it audio only? My Sister has one of these and I was thinking it might be nice to be able to load an Xvid movie onto my USB key and be able to watch it when I'm over there rather then burning disks. However I can't seem to find anything that says if that's possible or not.

Edit: Nevermind, just noticed it says right in the first post that it does NOT play videos via the USB port. :(

Dan

I just bought one of these yesterday. So far so good. Was able to adjust the AV sync delay to 0ms to match the sound coming off the tv speakers from the SA800HD DVR. I have an older CRT RP HDTV and the standard 50ms delay was too much. When the HT was on and I turned the tv speakers up there was a mismatch in the sync between the dolby digital signal from the DVR to the HT and the DVR to the TV. Pretty cool feature to have. My older KOSS HTiB always had some lip sync issues.

I have not done a full test with music CD's or a movie yet.

The only thing I wish it had was support for VCD and SVCD. I will have to see about making some DIVX discs too.

This is a nice HTIB for $250. Has good sound and good features. A few niggles for sure but having a convenient to use all in one package that the wife can use is a plus.

Plays my DVD +R's fine so far. I do wish the remote had separate FF/REW buttons. Trying to hold the SKIP buttons down to FF is a pain.

The Optical input for my SA8300HD DVR is great for decoding Dolby Digital from cable. Seamless transistions from DD to Pro-Logic when the locals splice in to the network feed.

The disc tray feels solid and moves smoothly unlike some of the cheaper HT's that have changers. Didn't really want a changer but the price was right.

I got the WP-38 6 months ago and love it. It works perfectly with my Sony HDTV and DirecTV H10. It works well with DVDs, Divx CDs, USB drives, etc., but my favorite feature is DVD-Audio. The discs sound outstanding, especially for a system this price.

Just got the P38 unit for my Dad this week. He got it in a bundle deal with a Samsung HDTV. For his purposes this system is plenty. Wish it was the wireless but I can easily run some wire for the rears.

Also agree that the lack of FW/RW buttons on the remote was a real shortcut on Samsung's part. Anyone using this with a Harmony remote? Can it be configured to FW/RW?

Thanks!

For a $250 HTiB this is a great system.

I tried a couple Divx disks and the quality is better than the SVCD discs I used to make. Playing Digital audio from the cable box via the Optical Input works great.

I never thought I'd want a 5 disc changer but I kinda like it now. I can leave a tv series disc loaded until I finish watching it over a week or two and pop in movies when I want to play one.

I'd `like to try a DVD-Audio disc.

Just a question...I have the Samsung HT-P38 and find it is not too bad for my small family room except for the passive sub. I have an old powered sub (not sure of make), and was wondering if there is any way possible of connecting this to the P38. Thanks.

No, you cannot. There is no analog out for a powered sub.

Are there any tone controls for the unit or fixed EQ settings?

After buying the unit I found that there preset EQ and soudfield settings for the stereo mode.

Curious here if I can replace (upgrade) the speaker wire on this system since it uses Samsung's plastic speaker plugs to connect into the back of the receiver. The pre-wire I ran in the walls won't be very useful if I have to use the wiring provided in the box. And also the provided wiring appears to be very thin and can't be to good. Any suggestions?

You would just cut the samsung wire off the connectors leaving a couple inches of samsung wire and then splice into your other speaker wire.

A note on DTS:

I was playing FLIGHTPLAN which has both DD5.1 and DTS. The DTS sounds great!

Just purchased a used Samsung HT-DS610 that has the same style speaker plugs.

But I didn't get the speakers, or the plugs.

Where could I find the plugs for this to use with my existing speakers?

Thanks!

Just purchased a used Samsung HT-DS610 that has the same style speaker plugs.

But I didn't get the speakers, or the plugs.

Where could I find the plugs for this to use with my existing speakers?

Thanks!


You can buy replacment cables at:

www.samsungparts.com


Part Number: AH81-01432M
Description: 6 SPEAKER WIRES
Our Price: $16.06

Supported Models:
HTDS610, HTDS610B, HTDS690, Other Home Theater...

You can buy replacment cables at:




Part Number: AH81-01432M
Description: 6 SPEAKER WIRES
Our Price: $16.06

Supported Models:
HTDS610, HTDS610B, HTDS690, Other Home Theater...

Awesome, thanks telemike.

One question --- I googled the part and found that partstore(dot)com is selling it -- they list it as:

Samsung Part Number: AH81-01432M

* This part requires a lead connector (p/n: AH39-00555A)


Is that true? Do I need the additional part as well?

Although, an additional search led me to AH81-01432K --

(can't post the link, but ProductSKU 7580664)

The picture looks promising. Does the "K" make a difference?

**EDIT**

Nevermind, the samsungparts(dot)com site says this, on the K part --


AH81-01432M *
(*This is a new part for AH81-01432K which is discontinued by manufacturer.)


Thanks!
Chris

I would call them and verify that the connector is on the cable......

What i wish the remote had:

FF/REW buttons

Direct access buttons for each disc instead of the disc skip button

What i wish the remote had:

FF/REW buttons

Direct access buttons for each disc instead of the disc skip button

Telemike. Doesn't the manual say to hold the advance/skip button down to FF? My dad has this set and I'll try it out today and report back.

Telemike. Doesn't the manual say to hold the advance/skip button down to FF? My dad has this set and I'll try it out today and report back.


Yes it does FF when you press & hold the skip. If you aren't careful you accidently start skipping chapters......

Yes it does FF when you press & hold the skip. If you aren't careful you accidently start skipping chapters......

Press and hold it again, it goes from 2X to 4X. Again, from 4X to 8X. :cool:

Has anyone been able to prevent the video jumping? I have tried everything.

Thanks

I have two Ultra Noob questions. I'm an extreme noob when it comes to HTiB's in general.

#1. Seems like a fair amount of people are having problems with the DVD player. If something does happen and the DVD is no longer working, would it be easy to just hook up a different DVD player to this system? Thus, only really using the P38 for the speakers and receiver.

#2. If I wanted to upgrade to a standaone receiver in the future, lets say a Sony one, could I still keep these speakers and sub and would it work with a different receiver??

Sorry for the noob question. :)

Has anyone been able to prevent the video jumping? I have tried everything.

Thanks


Turn PSCAN off

I emailed Samsung about the pscan issue....maybe we'll get a firmware update

Has anyone tried any DVD-AUDIO discs on this unit? I tried the DVD-A of pink floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (EMI quad mix) and the surround left rear channel is very very low. The dts track plays just fine.

Acccording to Samsung's website, the P50 uses a DCDi (Faroudja) scaler/de-interlacer which a very nice scaler, if true. The DVD quality should be excellent, especially through HDMI/DVI.

how would a firmware update be applied?

Hi,
Any news about the progress scan fix? I'm having other kinds of problems with this device also, in some movies the subtitles suddenly disappears... or the system change the subtitles color to blue after the screen saver.
It seems that this equipment has a lot of bugs… :mad:
Thanks.

Acccording to Samsung's website, the P50 uses a DCDi (Faroudja) scaler/de-interlacer which a very nice scaler, if true. The DVD quality should be excellent, especially through HDMI/DVI.

it is very nice. i have the p50 and it is very very good through HDMI.

the one annoyance is that it may have somewhat poor compatibility with burned discs. i have ritek media, as well as some tayio, and a couple other brands, and some will work, some will not, or stop working halfway through a movie.
there seems to be no pattern. I suspect it may be an overheating issue as well, since i can usually eject the tray with a "stuck/stuttering" movie, leave it for 5-10 seconds and then continue playing without issues for another half hour of the movie or so.

i have two other dvd players and they all play all the disks just fine.

i would have gotten a different machine but my wife loved the speaker design and so she prety much made this choice for us.

is there a way to use the 3 ohm speakers with a regular amp? probably not.

i hope theres some sort of firmware update to hopefully adress some of the issues. they can have it cd burnable like many other non network connected dvd players.

how would a firmware update be applied?

If it is like the Apex player that the HT-WP38 replaced, you slap it on a CDR/RW and put it in the machine and power cycle it.

Had to give up on the apex after the 3 disk changer would make disks jump out of the caddy (1/2 to 3/4 inch deep caddy!) and into other disk tray. Not cool...got a few very badly scuffed DVD's.

I've wondered if there are any resources out there for this make/model (wired/wireless)?

I ask, because I still have no Idea what the disk changer's make/model is, as I recall finding updates for various samsung appliances a while back, but when you can't ID the unit, applying updates is like Russian Roulette.

I purchased this on sale yesterday and was excited to set it up. It soudned decent enough but was disappointed to learn that i can't make the most basic of treble or bass adjustments. The many dsp and effect settings do work well however. For the $125+tax that I paid, it seems pretty good.

However, I am having difficulty with the sync issue. Is this normal for mos surround processors or unique to this system? i hooked up my satellite receiver to this and tried to watch but noticed a definite delay in audio compared to picture. I trimmed down the AV sync to 0ms, which made it a little better but was still noticeable when comparing with my TV speakers. I know that dvds played in the unit shouldn't have a delay issue but I was hoping to use a separate HDMI dvd player with 1080i but connecting the optical audio. has anyone noticed the syns issue through the digital input as well? Also, someone mentioned in another site that 5.1 only works through the built in dvd player but not for external digital inputs. Is this true?

A great deal on a decent system for casual movie watchers, but the sync is starting to bother me :(

After owning this for the past year, I thought I would comment on this unit again.

As a first-time Home theatre purchase, I am overall satisfied with it. But about 6months into owning it, I started wishing it had some more power. The passive sub does decently, and most people should be happy with it, but the speakers and the sub will not chase anyone out of the room. For big events with a room full of people(like PPV fights), I end up having to crank all volume settings to the max to just barely hit the desired volume/bass levels. The unit could use more bass.

The remote is a real pain. It often takes a minimum of two seperate button presses to get to a certain feature(like to change from TV control to Receiver control) or to hold down buttons for a certain amount of time before getting the desired effect(hold down FF for a few seconds to get DVDs to start fast forwarding instead of chapter skipping). The remote would be somewhat forgivable if I could get a Universal remote to work with this unit, but saddly I cannot find any code that will allow my Dish network DVR to also control this Samsung Receiver/DVD unit.

A few other smaller issues are that the Receiver menus have no control over bass/treble, the DVD load time is somewhat long(but then again many DVD players out there also suffer from this), opening the DVD tray instantly causes the unit to go into DVD-audio mode even if you want the AUX audio to remain playing unti the DVD loads up, and minimul input/output ports.

Overall, the two killer issues for me are:
1) Bad remote, with inability so far to find a working code to get my Dish DVR and this unit working from same universal remote.
2) Average bass and volume levels.

If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would invest the $200 spent on this into a dedicated Receiver. But since this was my first home theatre system purchase, and was educational, I am satisfied with this.

someone mentioned in another site that 5.1 only works through the built in dvd player but not for external digital inputs. Is this true?(

can u send a link to that site (or e-mail me)? this doesn't make a lot of sense. if it has digital optical in and dd decoding, what the hell is the dig-optical-in good for? 2 ppl in this thread say it works great, 2 ppl say it either doesn't (or may not) work or only "fakes" it.

i am considering using this model as a temporary receiver until the new HD sound formats come out and HDMI becomes the commonplace connection. believe it or not, i consider these older models infinitely superior to the new samsung models with HDMI, improved USB and XM, for 1 reason: the old ones have AM tuners (the new ones don't) and I listen to talk radio every day and i ain't paying for it.

but if you're saying i can get dd5.1 from my xbox via digital optical input, screw this model. if anyone can comment on that, it is infinitely appreciated...

can u send a link to that site (or e-mail me)? this doesn't make a lot of sense. if it has digital optical in and dd decoding, what the hell is the dig-optical-in good for? 2 ppl in this thread say it works great, 2 ppl say it either doesn't (or may not) work or only "fakes" it.

i am considering using this model as a temporary receiver until the new HD sound formats come out and HDMI becomes the commonplace connection. believe it or not, i consider these older models infinitely superior to the new samsung models with HDMI, improved USB and XM, for 1 reason: the old ones have AM tuners (the new ones don't) and I listen to talk radio every day and i ain't paying for it.

but if you're saying i can get dd5.1 from my xbox via digital optical input, screw this model. if anyone can comment on that, it is infinitely appreciated...

they do have dd5.1 for inputs. my p50 has my ps2 and cable box feeding it optical signals, and it all works just fine.

they do have dd5.1 for inputs. my p50 has my ps2 and cable box feeding it optical signals, and it all works just fine.

okay, that's the p50. what about this one, p38?

You can play divx from a USB device, you just have to rename the file with a .mp3 or .jpg extention to fool it. I have done this a few times and it works fine. This probably also works with the other samsung usb models.

You can add an active sub if it has high level inputs on it. I added an Energy 8.3 sub, I just cut the sub wire and conected it to the 8.3's high level input. It is a huge improvement over the included passive sub.

Does anyone know if there are any direct access remote codes for the AUX1-AUX2-Digital IN-USB inputs? I am trying to use a Harmony remote and it has no way of tracking which aux was last used. Also the USB IN dissapears from the rotation when it is not connected, making it more confusing.

I recently bought the subwoofer only on clearance at Target. The plastic connector will not work with my Kenwood receiver. Is there any way to alter the wiring so that I can connect the sub to my unit (the sub jack on the back of my receiver is a normal A/V-in/out).

Thanks!

hi, i have a wp38 and burn copies of my movies in dvd-r, this movies freeze finishing movies, somebody have this problem?

Please help me.

I use DVD +R with no problems in the HT-P38 excpet for when I have a dvd with some bad sectors from burning or factory defects. The P38 handles them pretty well. The remote isn't that good. My main problem is the pet rabbits eating my speaker cables if left unattended! I have not seen any firmware updates.

After owning this for the past year, I thought I would comment on this unit again.

As a first-time Home theatre purchase, I am overall satisfied with it. But about 6months into owning it, I started wishing it had some more power. The passive sub does decently, and most people should be happy with it, but the speakers and the sub will not chase anyone out of the room. For big events with a room full of people(like PPV fights), I end up having to crank all volume settings to the max to just barely hit the desired volume/bass levels. The unit could use more bass.


The sub is too loud for my brother's family, though in part this is due to the layout of their house, which is unusually "open." If everybody's listening to the DVD at the same time, it's OK, but if they're not... well, they're *still* all listening to the DVD, if you know what I mean.

Is there any hidden way to turn down the subwoofer? It seems to me (though again this might be due to the unusual acoustics of my brother's house) that when you turn up the volume high enough for dialogue, the bass and sound effects are way too booming, but turn it down to reduce the boom, and you can't hear much.

The remote's pretty awful, too. Every time I use it, I have to hunt around to relocate the "change DVD" button.

I'd say it's probably worth what I paid for it (i.e., "Free" when I bought my own HDTV set), but my brother's thinking about getting an HDTV set himself, and I've recommended that he get a different audio system then.

Is there any particular problem or awkwardness getting this unit to work *just* as a DVD player, with some other receiver?

There are no outputs on the system except to speakers. There is a way to adjust the sub volume. Read the manual. It's there.

I tried using a flash drive with an DIVX movie renamed to .mp3 and it sorta worked. I got some jerky video but that was probably because it was 25fps which works fine on DVD but maybe not USB.

I tried using a flash drive with an DIVX movie renamed to .mp3 and it sorta worked. I got some jerky video but that was probably because it was 25fps which works fine on DVD but maybe not USB.


You have to keep the bitrate as low as possible when using the USBfor media files. I believe it is not a USB2 device so it has limited bandwith.

The remote is a real pain. It often takes a minimum of two seperate button presses to get to a certain feature(like to change from TV control to Receiver control) or to hold down buttons for a certain amount of time before getting the desired effect (hold down FF for a few seconds to get DVDs to start fast forwarding instead of chapter skipping).

Good lord, is that how it works?!?!

I've been watching DVDs with my niece and nephew lately, and actually came to the conclusion ("when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth") that Samsung created a remote with every conceivable feature except fast forward!

Amazing.

Good lord, is that how it works?!?!

I've been watching DVDs with my niece and nephew lately, and actually came to the conclusion ("when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth") that Samsung created a remote with every conceivable feature except fast forward!

Amazing.

I also happen to have a Samsung TV, and I use that remote exclusively. When set to DVD, the channel up and down skip chapters, and FF and RW do just that. The lack of easy FF and RW was a real bummer on those big gray remotes (they fixed the problem on the next years models, the Q ones with black long remotes).

Hello!

I have the same problem.

How can I engage the 5.1 digital optical input on a samsung? (HT-UP30)
I send from my computer 5.1 signal (6 real channels) but I can only recive the stereo + subwoofer:(

I've been having good success using a Flash Drive to play DIVX videos by renaming the files to .mp3. Sometimes it gets jerky but probably since USB is not fast enough for the data rate.

good pdsting.

Good lord, is that how it works?!?!

I've been watching DVDs with my niece and nephew lately, and actually came to the conclusion ("when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth") that Samsung created a remote with every conceivable feature except fast forward!

Amazing.

It took me a little minute to figure out the fast-forward and fast-rewind feature. It's still crappy though, if you don't hold it down long enough it skips to the next chapter...shouldn't be that hard to invest in separate buttons.

Overall I'm very happy with the purchase, going on 2 1/2 years now...but I think it's dead. My DVDs no longer load and it doesn't make sense to pay to have it fixed ($160 flat fee). Shame, because everything else works fine.

During a move 18 months ago I stupidly forgot a couple dvd's in the tray and transported it upright. I occasionally encountered loading issues since...but now it flat out won't load any DVD. Anyone have any ideas on what may be wrong or how I can fix this myself?

Much appreciated.

My apologies if this has already been addressed in this forum. I have a new room that is pre-wired for rears. I received this Samsung HT-WP38 as a gift and would like to use it in the room. I'd like to avoid using the wireless antenna for the rears but am not sure if I can hard wire them. The back of the receiver has what appears to be outputs for the right and left rears. They are unmarked with plastic caps covering them directly underneath the right and left fronts. I'd like to splice the wires and run them directly from the back of the receiver to the speaker but the manual states that plugging the rears directly into the receiver may cause damage. But why else would they have the outputs....?

Has anyone tried this? Any insight?

Thanks in advance.

Just realized I never updated this thread with the answer I received elsewhere.

Turns out what you need to do to change the aspect ratio setting is operate the menus *without* having a DVD in the unit. Unless it's "empty," the aspect ratio settings are apparently greyed out.

I just wanted to thank you for this post- I had been tearing my hair out over this all day!