Samsung DVD-HD850 Up-Converting DVD Player
Worry about digital, not upconverting; 768p is misleading!
First, let me say that I actually have a DVD-HD850 connected to a Sharp LC-32D5U (which I also reviewed). My brother has the same DVD player plugged into his Samsung HLN507W (50 inch DLP). I've noticed many reviews (in general) are from people who haven't bought or even seen what they're reviewing. Rest assured; I've been playing with my DVD payer for four days and I've tried everything there is to try. <br /> <br />The Good... HDMI looks great. I played The Matrix simultaneously on my old DVD player and the HD850. All five people who watched thought the HDMI picture looked better. The digital signal gives a noticeably clearer picture. I changed the display when people weren't looking and everyone was able to identify analog vs. digital. <br /> <br />The Bad... All the upconversion stuff is hype. First, I was annoyed by the false advertising of 768p. It turns out to be 1024x768 for using a 4:3 computer monitor, not a 1366x768 16:9 TV like my Sharp. I played The Matrix and toggled all three modes: 480p, 720p and 1080i. They all looked exactly the same. All the gains come from the digital signal, not the upconversion. <br /> <br />As for all the other complaints about the remote and other issues listed in the other reviews...  I haven't noticed any of them. I hooked the HDMI cable from the HD850 to my Sharp TV and everything worked from the start. One of the other guys said there were problems with dark scenes. That is probably his TV, not the HD850. My Sharp has the same problem. I ran a THX Optimizer and I can only see 7 of the 10 shades of black. The darkest shades all blend into one color regardless of the color settings on the TV. The Samsung's manual talks about RGB color pallet. It has a selection for full range (0-255), so if you don't see it all on the TV, it's not the DVD player's fault. You could use the analog component video output and get all 10 shades of black (but you'll lose the advantage of the digital output). <br /> <br />A minor problem is that you have to stop the DVD player in order to change modes (component vs. HDMI or different color settings for HDMI). It would be nice to do it on the fly so you can directly compare different modes back to back. <br /> <br />The case does look nice, but I'd prefer black (not enough to pay an extra $50 for the DVD HD950) and I hate the bright blue light that surrounds the power button when the DVD player is turned off. <br /> <br />