5. How Does Up-conversion Match Up Against the HD-A1?

Since a Blu-ray Disc has eluded me thus far, I broke out Fox's Ice Age standard DVD to do a direct comparison between the BD-P1000 and HD-A1's 1080i up-conversion capabilities on a 118" Carada cinema white screen as well as confirm or deny the presence of additional flickering on the Blu-ray player. Thankfully, flickering appears to be limited to the BD-P1000's setup menus in 1080i and does not affect software playback.

Next, I jumped ahead to Chapter 17: Firestarter for a nice balance of character close-ups, dark shadows and bright colors. The BD-P1000 offers a smooth, crisp albeit slightly soft image with no noticeable artifacts. While the fire's color is alive with reds and oranges, the color of Diego's eyes don't seem as bright as they should be. I quickly switched over to the HD-A1 and the faint softness seems to subside a hair. Diego's green eyes also appear a touch more saturated.

After switching back and forth between the two players several times, any minute differences became negligible to the point where I forgot which player was outputting video and which wasn't. The average consumer not interested in scrutinizing every frame will find little to complain about from either player's up-conversion capabilities.

Preparing for Blu-ray Discs

Early word on the initial wave of Blu-ray titles is the MPEG-2 codec chosen to fit the content on 25 GB single layer discs has compromised video quality. This is the codec Sony prefers at the moment, though they are capable of either switching to VC-1 or putting out 50 GB discs - the latter of which is more likely to happen towards the end of this year. On the flipside, the PCM audio tracks sound stellar. If you recall, early word on HD-DVDs were the exact opposite: Warner Brother's first wave was lauded for stunning 1080i video but lambasted for shoddy compressed audio.

In an unfortunate twist, the BD-P1000 apparently - though not verbally confirmed by Samsung - is not capable of playing 50 GB dual layer discs. Page 8 of the instruction manual contains a chart that states only single layer discs will play. Further down on the same page is a compatibility disclaimer noting the format is evolving and all disc types will not work. While no specific mention is made of a future firmware update to support 50 GB dual layer discs, mention is made of updating the BD-ROM version via firmware. Samsung would have to be foolish not to offer a firmware update to support 50 GB, if it's even possible through a simple firmware update. That's a question best suited for the technophiles.

For costing twice as much as the HD-A1, Samsung's BD-P1000 isn't anywhere near twice the machine. Outside of the dual layer issue the problem more resides with Sony and the Blu-ray disc single layer format. The sooner dual layer discs are introduced with improved video quality and a studio puts out a title on both formats concurrently, the sooner we'll be able to properly compare and draw more informed conclusions. Right now it's just too early to declare one format rules them all.

So was I really fortunate enough to stumble upon what will surely be a sold out Blu-ray player by this time next week? Only time can answer that question. What's clear now is the high-def fight is officially underway and round one goes to HD-DVD.

Dan Bradley is Editor in Chief of TheManRoom.com

Republished with permission from TheManRoom. Copyright © 2006 TMR Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved

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