Because now only can guess, what will happen with Blue-Ray and HD-DVD disc and devices I will shortly introduce you their main parameters and advantages.

At this moment with absolutely certainty we can say that the physical dimensions of new discs will be the same as the current known CD and DVD disc. The main difference is in the smaller wavelength of the laser which is used to read and write data on the disc.

By specifications, in Blue-Ray and HD-DVD disc is used laser, who emits light with wavelength of 405 nm (blue-violet color). For example, by specification all DVD devices use 650 nm (red color) wavelength to read and write information on discs. No doubt, this difference of wavelengths mean larger capacity of Blue-Ray and HD-DVD disc.

The thickness of each standard optical disc is 1.2 mm (CD, DVD). It could be summarized that there are 3 layers in the disc. Transparent layer (bottom site of the disc – protection layer), middle layer (in which you can look like in a mirror) and top layer (where you can place your labels). In standard DVD disc, the middle layer (the mirror) is positioned on 0.6 mm deep from the bottom layer. In Blue-Ray disc the middle layer is moved closer to protection layer – on 0.1 mm from the surface. Many people say that the Blue-Ray optical disc is more sensitive to incidentally scratch of protection layer than any other optical disc. Except that, people think that the laser will be positioned very hardly to read the data. In new Blue-Ray players the laser is positioned closer to the disc surface, which treats like risk for scratch. At the end this problem was solved with TDK and their new protection layer. The company specialists think that this new technology give to disc better protection from today’s DVDs.

In HD-DVD disc the middle layer is positioned on 0.6 mm from down surface (protection layer), the same structure like DVD disc. That means that new players for HD-DVD can be vice-versa compatible with current DVD discs.

By capacity factor of Blue-Ray disc will be offered in three variants: BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE. Each of the discs will have two different types – single layer (23.3, 25 and 27 GB) and double layer (46.6, 50 and 54 GB). Except this, by specification the technology will offer multi layered discs, the largest of which will be 100-200 GB (for four and eight layers). For owners of digital cameras will be available 8 cm discs with 15Gb capacity.

Like Blue-Ray, the HD-DVD disc will be offered in three main variants also : HD-DVD-ROM, HD-DVD-R and HD-DVD-RW. The capacity of HD-DVD disc will be smaller than Blue-Ray disc. For single layer disc – 15GB and 30 GB for double layer disc. Pity, but multi layered disc will not be available.

The founder of Blue-Ray technology is Sony Corp. Sony says that main target of the company is to lay standard among the film companies. Till now, Sony gained Walt Disney Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20-th Century Fox, Warner Bros, etc. The list includes also other companies – leading PC providers as Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Dell, LG, etc. Microsoft say that they will not develop the Blue-Ray technology with these companies and will not join the alliance.

HD-DVD founders are Toshiba and NEC. They say that will invest in HD-DVD devices. Movie producing companies like Warner Bros, New Line Cinema, Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures also support and joined Toshiba’s and NEC’s concern. Giants like Microsoft and Intel work together for advancing the HD-DVD standard.

Only the time will show which technology will win larger market share. Don’t forget that the destiny of one or other technology depends mostly on the end user mood.

I bought this product a couple weeks ago. This player is nearly a year old now, but the HD-DVD playback was an important feature to me. When HD-DVD officially called it quits, I picked up an Xbox 360 HD-DVD add on for and lots of HD-DVDs on clearance. I decided it was time to jump over to Blu-Ray, and for simplicity I wanted one player. I compared this against the LG BD200, and this one turned out to be an excellent choice. It has analog audio out, which I wanted so I would not need to update my receiver to take advantage of HD audio, this is something the LG player did not offer. HD-DVD playback has been flawless so far, and SD-DVD upscaling is great. Blu Ray movies look excellent as well, the only problem is firmware updating. This is the only reason I gave the player 4 stars and not 5. Samsung tends to take a couple of months to release firmware after problems, luckily they released an update for this player on Nov. 7 which fixed playback issues. From what I can tell, Sony players do better with the updates, but the PS3 is the only player that seems to have no problems with compatibility. I’m not a huge fan of Sony and definitely did not want a PS3, and I managed to pick this player up on clearance for 0, which I found to be an EXCELLENT deal. If you have an HD-DVD collection and want to switch to Blu without having multiple players in your house, this Samsung is the way to go. If you are just wanting to jump in to HD for the first time, I would suggest some of the great deals with newer Blu Ray players, which will be upgradeable to Profile 2.0

Feature

• Playback Media BD-ROM, HD DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R
• Playback Formats MPEG2, VC-1, H.264, HD JPEG decoding
• Video – A/V Quality DVD Upconversion Selectable DVD upconversion via HQV
• Unit Dimension 16.9 x 3.1 x 12.8 / 9.3 lbs

Overview

The BD-UP5000 Duo HD player is positioned as the flagship in the company’s growing line of high definition players. Offering the same playback capabilities as the BD-P2400 including HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) processing, the BD-UP5000 supports both Blu-ray and HD -DVD formats as well as their interactive technologies, BD Java and HDi. Consumers can now enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage.

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Customer Reviews

Good And Bad ? – Andrew D. Vande Poppe – Beaumont, CA USA
Good picture on all 3 formats. I have it hooked up through my Pioneer VSX 1018 reciever. As far as the sound goes i have it set up so that my reciever decoeds all the audio signals DTS HD, Dolby True, Dolby Digital Plus, Etc. Reciever does an awesome job there. I have had no problems with it for about 6 months and then all of a sudden when im watching a HD DVD movie thats Dolby Digital Plus the sounds everyonce in a while stops for a brief second. It’s the weirdest thing. The problem on occurs with dolby digital plus on an hd dvd. Took mine back to best buy and of course they couldent find anything wrong with it and i havent contacted samsung yet about the problem. Also my remote to the unit has stopped working ?? Go figure.. I was able to get a replacemt for the problem. Other then those two problems the unit is great. I also own another samsung blu ray player a PS3 and two Toshiba HD DVD players. Of all my other players this is the only unit that gieves you the option to send the raw audio bitstream signal to your reciever. I love that my reciever dispays the audio signal DTS HD and so on. Never hooked it up the other way so i dont know if mine has the same problem as some other reviewer about not decodeing dolby true hd. I would recommend this play for sure to anyone needing or wanting a dual HD player.. Go Samsung !!

A must have – Daniel Powell – Washington,DC
Samsung BD-UP5000 1080p HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc Combo Player This DVD Combo player is what every movie fan should have, If you don’t know what Blue-ray or HD is go to your nearest Electronic store and see for your self. The bigger the T.V. the better the experience, my whole family loves this player. My five year old loves to have movie day, who can blame him, once you have seen the picture from this player you willn’t go back to standard. It is a little pricy but if you can find one at a nice price,I recommend you buy it. I prefer HD over blue-ray, that’s just me, it doesn’t matter which format you buy (HD-Amazon.com), they both have great pictures. Some movies have better pictures than others, so be mindful of that. At first it didn’t play Wanted, Beowolf, Rambo; after I recieved the firmware it plays every title that I own (25 Blue- ray & 30HD). No problems, great player.

Wonderful player if you have all the right stuff! – J. LoCicero – Alexandria, VA
I would like to add this most recent review to let everyone know that since the most recent firmware update and many long days trying to figure out how this component works, I actually got the player to play the full HD audio resolution on my VSX-94TXH Pioneer receiver I purchased recently. Wow, what a difference that made to my system! That receiver is amazing, especially because of its high amperage per channel, and believe me, that particular aspect is more important that wattage. Do not always rely on wattage in a amp/receiver component. Anyways, I was able to access the other audio by changing the settings on the player under audio to Bitstream(Audiophile) and that did it! I see the TrueHD and DTS Master Audio in the panel of the receiver. You really need the right stuff to fully benefit from this player. One more thing is that you need to have it all through HDMI to do this. Hope this helps anyone out there!
Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 12, 2009 16:04:04