BD-UP5000 Universal Player Samsung [OFFICIAL OWNERS THREAD] & FAQ - Page 39

The thing that makes me laugh about this player is that people who were HD-DVD exclusive before owning this player seem to have problem playing Blu-ray disks, and at least one previously blu-ray exclusive guy had troubles playing HD-DVD discs, but the blu-rays played fine.

Priceless.

Just another quick impression as a follow-up to the many detailed and valuable initial reviews and comments that have already been made:

System details:

Pioneer Elite 50 Plasma: Pro 1010HD
Pioneer Elite A/V Receiver: VSX-59TXI
Pioneer Elite DVD/CD Player: DV-59AVI
Def. Tech. Speakers: CLR2500BK, BP7004BK,
BP7006BK and BP2XBK &
M&K Subwoofer: V-125 (7.1)

Connections/Settings:

HDMI to Pro 1010HD: 1080i (haven't tried 720p yet)
Optical to VSX 59TXI:
Bitstream (Audiophile)
PCM Down Sampling (Off)
Dynamic Compression (Off)
Speaker Setup (Large/LFE: On)
VSX 59TXI set to: Hi bit

I received my 5000 last Sunday from Best Buy in Westminster, California (they had 5 of them sitting on the floor). I haven't posted earlier, simply because it took a few days to get some HD material to play. (All my previous HD experience with my system has been television programming either OTA or from satellite, so this is my first experience with real HD content.)

About 10 days ago, I watched POTC-3 in SD that was upscaled by my DV-59AVI. It was wonderful. Super picture and great sound (the DV-59AVI was connected to the Pro 1010HD via HDMI and to the VSX-59TXI via firewire.)

So, what better than to try POTC-3 in HD as my first disc in the 5000, to get some idea of the comparison. First off, the picture was definitely clearer and the colors were more vibrant. Almost like a very fine mist had been removed from the screen. I recall one particular shot of Geoffrey Rush, (Barbossa), and I was literally counting his nose hairs in great detail! I experienced no problems playing the disc. While the PQ certainly met and exceeded my expectations, what really amazed me was the audio! Don't get me wrong, the SD version sounded great going through the firewire connection, the HD was even better through the optical connection. Go figure? To my ears, there was more detail, separation, and bass presence. I tried the following surround-sound modes with the VSX-59TXI: THX Cinema, THX Surround EX, DD Pro Logic IIx Movie and THX Ultra2 Cinema, and all 7.1 speakers were firing. (I ended up settling on THX Ultra2 Cinema). My wife even commented that she thought the audio sounded much better on the HD disk (what do they say about women's hearing?)

Next I looked briefly at Apocalypto. I understand this film was shot in several different formats: 16mm, 35mm and high definition video. You can certainly tell what was shot in 16mm and what was shot with the higher formats. (I think the dream sequences were probably shot in 16mm.)

This afternoon I watched disc 4 of Planet Earth, (Seasonal Forests and Ocean Deep), and I was literally taken back with the quality of the BBC cinematography. Although my plasma is several years old, I thought to myself, this is why I spent that kind of ridiculous money way back when to enjoy this is kind of visual experience. Unfortunately, it has just taken me this long to get there!

I have read each and every post before my making these comments. I know others have experienced and reported picture noise and other abnormalities. In addition, many people are not satisfied with the basic audio set-up/capabilities of the 5000 and the apparent fact that Samsung may have released this product a bit too early, in the hope that future firmware fixes would make things right and satisfy their beta-testing customers. I am sure that all of these comments are valid and must be given serious consideration.

However, I have sat on the sideline in this BD - HD DVD debate way too long in the hope that one format or the other would win out. It doesn't look like it any time soon. Like many others, I suppose I could have both players, (nothing wrong with that I suppose, if I had the room). At least for me, this is what I have been waiting for. Is it perfect? No, what is? Will it be replaced by something bigger, badder, better, and cheaper? I hope so but when? Maybe we will have more choices after CES? Who knows?

As things stand, I am more than pleased with what I have seen and what I have heard so far with the 5000. With my present set-up, and to my eyes and ears, it was worth the price. But, as with most things in life, your mileage may vary.

Hey all...been following the BD-UP5000 for a while now...thanks to lurking around these threads I finally got one from Best Buy. Its a cool player but unfortunately I am going to return it. I have played with it for 2 days now and believe I will be better off with seperate players. I seem to be getting this film grain problem noted in SlieasResearchs FAQ and I also have the Onkyo 605 but I get no advanced audio. Or when I do it only comes out of my two front speakers.

Very unhappy but thems the breaks. I have heard the HD DVD A35 nad Panasonic DMP-30K was a good combo for audio and video. Can anyone here attest to this?

I really wanted to love the BD-UP5000 but I guess it was not meant to be. I feel like I wasted the last 7-8 months holding of for this player only to be dissapointed.

I received the BD-UP5000 earlier this week, but I didn't have time to set it up until today.

I'm connecting it to an Optoma HD80 via an Onkyo 605, using HDMI. This setup worked well for my PS3; however, there's a problem (which also occurs when connecting directly to the projector and bypassing the receiver): The image is magenta. At startup, the Samsung logo is properly displayed (i.e., the colors are correct), but the image immediately degrades into a pink-hued nightmare on the next screen.

I'm using Close Encounters as a test disc.

Any recommendations or does this unit need to be returned?

I can confirm that it happens on the Director's Cut version at timestamp 14:33, which is in the middle of chapter 2. The machine stays in play mode, it does not indicate pause, the movie just freezes. Hitting play/pause again will go to pause, and again willgo back to play and the movie continues. There is a scene transition right there. It does not happen on the other two cuts, but I only tried each of those once.

It only happens if you start the movie at the beginning. It will not happen if you fast forward to that time stamp, nor if you start playing at the beginning of chapter 2.

Given the characteristics of the problem, I couldn't begin to speculate what the problem is.

Hooked mine up today. Looks fantastic. A bit quirky when loading discs. I will be testing it all weekend. SD DVD looks very good. No Peppering or video artifacts.

hi guys,

can anyone try to play a SD DVD PAL?

I know that the Samsung has region 1 for DVD's and that means that you have to test a Ripped PAL DVD without region. I'm curious because the Toshiba A1, A2... simply can't play PAL material region protected or not.

Thanks in advance.

I guess now it makes 3 of us that saw the added grain issue... What I wonder is if we're the only 3 with good vision or if we all have a defective unit.

I already answered this.

Trust me, my vision is fine and I don't have it.

It's almost sounding like an interaction issue based on different noise reduction characteristics with different displays in combination with the 5000 -- that's the only thing I can think of that would explain such diametrically different observations from different people.

Did we ever figure out if there was a pattern to the displays that show this issue?


I seems like it could possibly be a matter of "opinion," but I don't think it's a matter of "vision." I wish that one of the people who says that don't see this could view one of the "problem" systems -- this is the only way we'll ever know what the deal is.

Larry

Ok, sorry about that, sometimes I can't read everything here. I searched your posts and found it:

For whoever was asking about PAL region 0 DVDs : it's a no go. "Disc can not be played. Check TV system".


Thank you very much.

I agree that makes sense, but I can't then explain why eurotrance is seeing them big time and I am not at all. We have both tried it with the JVC RS1...

Unless my processor is helping or his switches are hurting somehow? I doubt that since my processor should be doing nothing but stretch with 1080p24 both in and out. We are both feeding HDMI and mine thru a rather long (30 foot), although high grade, cable.

Ya got me stumped, just happy mine is to my liking and works with my setup. Too often these days that is not the case with new stuff!

well, i plugged her in real quick, wired her into the Qualia 006 setup; Yamaha RX-Z9 receiver (no HDMI therefore HDMI to the Qualia via a Zektor MAS7.1 switch); i didn't plug in the analog outs yet, only coax s/pdif.

so far i really don't understand why anyone is knocking this player...love the interface and operation...very quick (compared to the XA1 it is meant to replace/augment).

video seems identical to what i get from the XA1 on HD DVD and identical to what i get from my PS3 (hasn't been connected to this set in some time so my memory could be off, especially since i only viewed one or two movies with PS3 connected to the Qualia before relocating it to my Pio Plasma).

as for audio, maybe i'm not that demanding, but my Z9 is configured with a 9.2 setup (7.1 plus another sub and what yamaha calls "presence speakers") and using the s/pdif out and selecting bitstream reencode, it sounds sweet!

i've only popped in a few titles thus far but one thing i came across that was of note, on batman begins, when i selected dd-thd, i got the warning, every time (i didn't tell it to stop warning me). now, when i popped bourne ultimatum in and i switched from dd+ to dd-thd, no warning...btw, when using s/pdif and bitsream reencode, i still get the full multi-channel (i think this is because on hd dvd there actually is a "core" on dd-thd?? i know that was the thinking in the beginning and was even confirmed by roger dressler of dolby but then this might have changed...in any event, even with dd-thd selected, warning or not, i was still getting the dts reencode in full multichannel). i'm very happy with that.

ok, sorry for the quick post but i was never good at thorough, exhaustive reviews all in one post...

i'll post further observations if i come across anything of note.

i don't see any issue with grain/dot crawl but admittedly not sure where people are seeing this and on my Qualia, as it is a 1080p display but only accepts 1080i input, any pausing of the movie doesn't really give you a true representation of the image, IMO.

oh, i recalled in my early days having a slight "pause" very early on when playing serenity which when i would rewind and play again the pause would no longer be there...the samsung did not exhibit this behavior.

i did mess around with some of the IME, etc. features on batman begins and bourne ultimatum and it all seemed to work and work smoothly.

i like very much the "info" button on the remote which brings up an overlay that gives you current playback info AND lets you change things from that menu...

bbfb shipped two of these to me and now i'm considering keeping both so that i won't have to use a ps3 to watch movies anymore...

Can anyone comment on load times?

I have the Sony BDP300, takes a while to load BR disks.

i had that sony, briefly, and from what i can remember, and only with reference to pirates, dead man's chest, the 300 was slowest, the ps3 maybe a bit faster or the same as the 5k...but i haven't timed it...

maybe tomorrow i'll try to time the pirates title on the ps3 and the 5k

i'm very impressed at how quickly it turns on and loads discs, both hd dvd and bd

I've had the benefit of LASIK and I see grain as well (46" LNT4665 from Samsung)...but I'm not so sure there is anything added compared to the 360 add-on. I need to do some quick switchback comparisons but don't have any copies of the high def films that I do own at this time. I did view the computer animated TMNT and the picture was breathtaking (no artifacts...only some banding in the sky, which is a reported problem in the reviews of this disc).

After a year with a cheap HD-DVD solution (X360), I finally found the multi-format player I've been waiting for. I picked up my BD-UP5000 at Best Buy tonight and I'm now happily purple.

Setup went very smoothly. I've got audio connected to a Denon 3805 via multichannel analog. The speaker settings menu is very spartan, but does everything I need it to do (my 3805 remembers my per-channel volume calibrations even with the analog audio pass thru - just no delay setting).

Video is HDMI directly to a Samsung HL-S6187 DLP (1080p). Just finished sampling "Troy" HD-DVD (first issue). Couldn't discern any PQ difference when compared to my X360 add-on. LED on 5000 read "1080p". Don't have any BDs yet to test.

I tried selecting the TrueHD audio track and I got a pop-up saying that no support was detected and that I should select DD5.1. But it still does in fact output stereo (TrueHD 2CH) over the analog outs. This mode sounded much brighter and the gain higher than with DD5.1 over analog. I haven't tried DD5.1 over optical.

My wife finished the movie and it got her seal of approval. No problems reported. She also preferred the TrueHD 2CH track, and I have to agree. I hope the SQ stays the same after the multichannel support is added.

But even if the firmware update for audio codec support never materializes, I won't regret this purchase. I just need some BluRay test material before I decide whether this box hits the mark or not.

Thanks to everyone for all of the helpful posts.

Forgot to mention that I already had the "071108" version of the firmware. The player found nothing to update.

Also tried the interactive features on "Troy" which uses PIP at various points showing talking heads and production materials. Never had a hiccup.

Just picked mine up from BB.
Mitshubishi DLP 65-732 connected via HDMI input 2
Older Kenwood receiver not hooked up yet. Tommorrow

So far looked at SD of Polar Express. That is what was last watched in the DVD player. Looks pretty good upconverted.

Popped in Superman Returns (BD) made sure I was at 1080p/24. First thing I notice is it is not filling up the entire frame. Still looks like widescreen viewing but the picture showing is amazing.

Now and this is why I am on the Forum right now my daugter wants to watch High School Musical 2 (BD) and the first thing I notice is it uses the whole screen. And PQ is awesome.

I am not new to HD as the 65-732 is 1 year old (no problems at all) and I have Dish HD. I am however new to BD and HDDVD. This is my first HD player.

Why is Superman Retruns not filling the screen and High School Musical does?

I am more interested in PQ than audio problems.

Thanks in advance.

As far as picture quality (PQ) is concerned there seems to be 2 groups of owners. One group has good or great PQ and the other group has bad or horrible PQ.

This might have something to do with the build date and/or firmware versions. No one has looked at this and I was wondering if these owner's could tell us what versions they have and whether they have good or bad PQ. There might be a trend that we could track in the FAQ page.

I personally think a lot of PQ problems have to do with the display and its ability to process these high-definition signals but everyone seems to want to blame the player.

There is a mix of build dates and original firmware revisions. There is no pattern.

Does anyone know of discrete P-ON and P-OFF codes? I didn't see anything posted at remotecentral.com and the 1400 device codes from the HTM database don't have them either. I'm guessing they don't exist.

I am guessing you are talking about the black bars? top and bottom? The movies you are watching are in OAR which means anything wider then your TV (about 1.78:1) will show black bars.

First set-back: experienced loud pops and crackles during battles scenes in Fellowship of the Ring EE DVD (among others places, I heard this throughout chapter 1 and during the fireworks at the very start of chapter 5). Had DTS 6.1 ES audio selected. Heard similar distortions, though less frequently with DD5.1 EX. This was over analog outs.

I finally worked around it by setting my front channels to SMALL in the 5000 menu. Not sure why I would need to do that. I need to re-test over digital outs.

The solution I found works fine, but it takes away some of the punch where there is a lot of energy in the soundtrack.

Can anyone confirm this using a different receiver? (mine is Denon 3805)

For owners of this player, I wouldn't worry about TrueHD - the core chipset the BD-UP5000 uses supports it in hardware. Probably just a matter of getting the firmware right.

I've searched too and didn't find any.

There appear to be two power commands -- like someone was thinking about separate on and off, but the both toggle power.

But...

1) PLAY and EJECT turn the 5000 on

2) After something like 45-60 minutes of no activity and not playing a disc the 5000 powers down automatically.

3) Turning the 5000 on will play a disc if there's one in the drive.

4) You can issue a POWER command immediately after a PLAY command.

So you can essentially forget putting power commands into your system on/off macros or use sequences like I did:

Since pressing the POWER button on the 5000 or it's remote plays a disc, I just use the PLAY command as "power on" in my system ON macro.

I use PLAY followed by POWER for "power off" in my system OFF macro. If the 5000's off, it says "HELLO" followed by "GOODBYE" and shuts down without attempting to play a disc. If it's on, starts playback but powers down immediately. If a disc is playing, it pauses, then powers down.

There is one minor snag: If you are playing a disc and you run your system ON macro, the 5000 will pause since PLAY and PAUSE do the same thing (except that PAUSE doesn't power on).

Turning the 5000 on as part of SYSTEM ON means you don't need to wait for the player to boot before you can insert a disc or play one that's already in the drive. Buy you're only saving 10-15 seconds.

EDIT: There's one other snag: If there's no disc in the 5000 when it powers up via the PLAY button, you can't open the tray until after it's determined there is no disc in the drive. That's about 40ish seconds.

Both DTS HD (HR and MA) and Dolby TrueHD include a standard 5.1 core but you'd need a way to tell the player to send the core rather than the entire bitstream. In some cases this would be a no brainer: "Bitstream audiophile" mode should result in DD 5.1 out the optical. The 5000 may very well do that WHEN it fully implements TrueHD. Right now, it's downmixing all TrueHD to 2.0.

If your receiver doesn't decode DTS and doesn't have multichannel analog or HDMI inputs, you may be stuck. If it decodes DTS from the optical in, you can have the 5000 (re)encode the selected track to DTS. That's the "bitstream reencode" mode.

I just had three audio/video glitches with The Simpsons Blu-Ray. Two of them are completely repeatable and happen every time I play these spots, while the other one did it once and did not repeat when I played the section again. I was listening to the DTS track over optical on a Lexicon DC1, so I was only hearing the core DTS track and not the full MA track.

Here are the details:

1) Chapter 3, 5:03 during the minister's speech. Audio dropout and VERY slight video glitch (the video glitch was BARELY noticeable.) This happens EVERY time I play this spot.

2) Sometime during the dome coming down -- didn't repeat on subsequent viewings so I'm not sure of the exact time.

3) Chapter 17, 56:17 after heart-shaped ice breaks. Again, audio dropout and VERY slight video glitch that is almost unnoticeable.

Larry

Pity. It sounds like you didn't have your settings right.