Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-HD841 Up-Converting DVD Player

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I very rarely write a negative review, but this player is so bad, I felt compelled to write this. I just don't want anyone else to waste their money on this unit like I did.

I have 4 DVD players (accumulated over several years) in addition to the Samsung DVD-HD841: a Sony DVP-NS700 (old, but great progressive scan), Pioneer DVD-563A (universal SACD/DVD-A, prog. scan), and the Toshiba SD-5970 (HDMI, 720P/1080i upconversion), an XBox with the DVD dongle (480i only).

I'm not joking when I say the Samsung is by far the worst player (in every way) that I have ever owned. Here's why:

1. DVI output (any resolution) is terrible. No shadow detail regardless of the brightness setting on my high-def front projector (projecting onto 92" screen). Horribly soft picture which results in very little detail, like looking at the image through a steamed up lens. The DVI output is actually the worst video connection on this unit, and yet most people will buy this unit (as I did) to experience the 720p/1080i upconversion. The Toshiba unit's HDMI video output is wonderful and shows how upconversion should be handled!

2. The Samsung keeps skipping audio when playing DTS soundtracks. I thought it was a dirty disc at first, but this happens with every single disc, regardless of how I clean them, and none of my other players have this issue.

3. Really bad response to the remote control, and limited angle of control. It's tough operating this player as it is slow to respond to its remote control and you really have to point it at the unit.

4. Forgettable sound quality with SACDs and DVD-As - the Pioneer is much better (and it's cheaper too!).

5. As documented by several Amazon.com reviewers (and elsewhere on the internet), the Samsung forgets its settings each time it's turned off, so you have to re-configure its DVI, Dolby and DTS settings all over again. Such a pain.

My advice to you is please do not buy this unit, and save yourself the money! If you're looking for DVI or HDMI 720p/1080i video upconversion, go with one of the other players with this feature that have great reviews (e.g. the Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony, Denon). If you're looking for a DVD player which plays SACDs and DVD-As, there are now many low-cost alternatives too.

I can't believe Samsung could release such a poor product.

I have had this DVD Player for several weeks now and only had one major problem; that was the setup issue that several have had. However, I was aware of this problem and knew how to solve it. But, it should be noted that Samsung has a firmware updated available that solves this problem. I am guess that Samsung will have this firmware updated preinstalled in the near future.

I rent movies from Netflix, the 5 at a time plan, so I watch a lot of DVD's maybe too many. I have not had any problems with a DVD skipping. In fact, I haven't had any problems at all with the playback of DVD's. The sound is great and the picture is perfect displaying the finest detail and the full range of colors. I am using the DVI output set at 1080i. I only wish that I could get the picture to look half as good when watching standard definition TV stations. I have spent hours finessing the color of standard definition (S-Video) and only a few minutes adjusting the DVI settings.

The only gripes that I have are with the remote. You do have to point the remote almost directly at the DVD player for it to receive the RF signal. And the buttons on the remote are somewhat close together making it difficult to press the correct button sometimes.

I am giving this item 4 stars because of the remote control issues. Other that these two issues with the remote, I have had no problems with this DVD player. And the price of this DVD player when compared to the others with the same features almost overcomes these minor problems.

I'm 35 and reasonably electronic literate. I bought this piece of [...] at Best Buy and in short I packed it up and took it back the very next day. The only other dvd player with HD capablities at Best Buy was the Toshiba SD-5970 and the sales floor rep actually told me to go with the Samsung. I couldn't have been more dissapointed with anything I've ever bought electronics wise and it's even more expensive than it's Toshiba counterpart believe it or not. To sum it up I bought this player obviously for it's HD upgrade capabilities. I wanted my dvd's obviously to be viewed in their optimum picture quality and thankfully I did get just that, once I switched out my Samsung for the Toshiba after a trip back to Best Buy that is. The Samsung's picture actually was barely an improvement on the Progressive scan Sony that I already have and for me that was enough. The Toshiba not only didn't have the screen flicker that the Samsung revealed but it has a near true HD signal and the clearness in picture compared to the Samsung is like night and day. Great picture, crisp and clear and truly HD like and it's DTS compatible as well. If you're a fan of the fact that the Samsung can play SACD's then don't let the only difference between these two sucker you into buy it like it did me along with the bad advice I received from the Best Buy representative also. If you're like me and are all about optimum picture quality do yourself a huge favor and do not buy this product. Save a few dollars and get the near true HD picture that you and your HDTV deserve and go with the Toshiba. The difference was huge and don't let their prices fool you either as the Samsung is actually the more expensive of the two. Bottom line; If you care about picture quality and are picky about this sort of thing and want your dvd's to look the very best they possibly can on your HDTV then buy the Toshiba. Enough said.

For those that are considering buying this DVD player please understand that I believe the quality of picture you will get depends on what you are hooking the player up to. I have a Hitachi HD 50v500 widescreen LCD. This television has a processor inside that upconverts a normal analog component input (for example a 480P signal) to virtual HD. Therefore on my previous progressive scan player, the picture was pretty good. It was still not as great as a true 760 or 1080 signal, but definitely better than SD signals. This is where you need to know what is happening to a sub-HD signal inside your t.v./monitor. This DVD player upconverts the 480p signal inside and passes this signal digitally via the DVI cable. This player is basically completing the same job that the Hitachi would be doing inside the t.v., resulting in a similar picture quality, which again is good but definitely not HD. If you have a t.v./monitor which doesn't upconvert a sub-hd signal to virtual hd, then this player will noticably improve your picture quality. But what it comes down to is this, how can you create more pixels when the pixels aren't there on the DVD to begin with? There is no such thing currently in the U.S. as an HD-DVD, therefore we are stuck with a computer to approximate and fill in more pixels.
Bottom line, check with the manufacturer of your t.v./monitor to see what it is doing with a sub-hd signal before investing in this player. For me a progressive scan player will suffice until the HD-DVD's come out.

Don't buy this player just because of the DVI. When you use the DVI, the Samsung doesn't render all gradations of black. You can clearly see this in the THX contrast test or by noting how dark the interiors are on the first few minutes of Star Wars Episode IV. Sound & Vision magazine noted it too (January issue). It's a critical flaw, very noticeable, and for me renders DVI unwatchable. That said, the component video output delivers a good picture and I'm happy with the sound, but don't be like me and buy this player because you wanted to check out DVI.

I recently purchased this unit keeping in mind others' concerns with the black crush issue. For those that don't know, the DVI connection mangles dark blacks into a single color, rendering darker scenes nearly impossible to distinguish. I viewed the Return of the King when Frodo was in Shelob's lair and nothing was discernible. Even in Shrek 2, a colorful movie, the backgrounds were so dark that all you could see at some points was the characters themselves. Both movies were viewd on a Sony 42" lcd projection tv. The component outputs work fine, but you might as well by a regular progressive scan if you intend to use those. Basically, for what this player is intended to do, it fails. For a much better unit, for a cheaper price, try the Toshiba SD-5970. It upconverts through HDMI, but I bought a HDMI-DVI converter for $30, it works great, and it's still cheaper than the Samsung 841. Take the advice of others listed here as well and stay away from the 841.

Samsung has made a name for themselves by mass-copying other people's ideas and selling them at deep discounts. Unfortunately most of their efforts come up half-empty -- but their wares are cheap enough (and stylish enough in some cases) to fool many low-end consumers. The DVD-HD841 is one such example.

If you search on teh web, you'll see this player got very low ratings from professional reviewers (e.g., New York Times). My own testing confirmed the negative reviews: surprisingly, instead of "upconverting" your DVDs, this player can make your DVD image quality go down when you hook it up (via DVI) to an HDTV monitor. Picture output from the DVD-HD841 tends to be dark and the details tend to be muddy. Also, red is over-emphasized and leads to bleeding in many cases, especially if you have a "low-quality" DVD movie where the producers did a poor job of transfering film to DVD. If you try the same discs on the superb Panasonic DVD-S97 (a DVD freak's dream machine in terms of quality), you can see the HUGE differene in video quality. The Samsung is just a POS in terms of image quality, period. In fairness, it's probably as good as your $20 Apex or Norcent DVD player, but the latter players cost less than 1/10 of this one, not counting the price of the DVI cable.

If you want a real, high-quality upconverting DVD player, steer clear of this poor choice. Consider the Panasonic or, like an earlier reviewer recommended, the Toshiba, which is very good and cheaper, too. I also liked the Denon 1910 (and its Denon 755S twin) which is also much better and somewhat cheaper.

Feel free to e-mail me with any DVD player or HDTV questions.

I had difficulty with this unit. It would play DVD's I made myself, but not any store bought DVD's through the DVI Cable. I called up Samsung support and found out that unless your TV is HDCP compliant then it will not play store bought DVD's through the DVI Cable. This unit only up converts through the DVI cable, so unless your TV\Monitor is HDCP compliant, do not expect it to work properly. (HDCP is a copy protection built into your hardware to prevent copying of the Movie).

I don't understand all the negative reviews on this player. I bought it recently to replace my Pioneer 563A that had suddenly decided to only play DVDs in black and white. I found the setup easy to use, except for figuring out how to start the setup menu. That confused me for about 15 seconds. Once it was connected to my Denon 2805 receiver and the analog output cords were all attached, I ran it through it's paces. Played beautifully with all of the DVDs I've put in it, including some Netflix rentals. Color was superb using the compenent video connections(my TV doesn't have a DVI connection). Sound was amazing. I then switched over to my SACD sampler disc and everything there sounded wonderful, as did a Fleetwood Mac DVD-A. I do agree with the complaint about the narrow targeting range of the remote and the layout of it is a bit much. Could have been done much simpler with a better result. I had a tough time finding the Eject button when I first started using it. All in all, though, this is a terrific player and well worth the money for an entry level player.

I was initially drawn to this player because of the sleek design and the upconversion functionality, and i decided to buy it because it plays DVD-Audio as well as SACD. I've owned this unit for about 3 or 4 months now, and i'm not entirely thrilled about it.

For the first months, i used it mainly as a SACD player, and it did an OK job. The sound really was no more lively than a standard CD, and it didn't have the same OOMPH as my DVD-A player. I figured it was a difference of the individual recording, until i played the same DVD-A titles. For some reason, the multi-channel outputs aren't as "hot" as my other DVD player, and the sound was the same as the SACD playback - pretty thin. Obviously there's going to be a difference between this and a player with Burr-Brown processing, but i didn't think it would make THAT much of a difference. It does.

So, a month ago, my primary DVD player decides to die on me and i have to use this as my main DVD player. Well, to be honest with you, if i had watched DVDs on this the first day, i would have returned it and saved my money for something with Faroudja. One very annoying issue i have with the DVD-A playback is that there's a colored bar that blocks out the upper portion of the screen on my Porcupine Tree and Beck discs - something that wasn't there on the other player and is really irritating me because it's blocking out the menu on the Porcupine Tree disc.

THIS PLAYER HATES DVDS.

It's incredibly annoying to be watching a movie, and then have the screen to freeze for a second in two-minute intervals. This happens on a hundred percent of my movies, new, used, rented or whatever. Also, as other people have noted, the upconversion is fairly useless. I can see no difference in all the DVI modes compared to component output on my 61" DLP. I really WANTED to, but i can't say there's anything remarkably different. The picture quality IS different compared to my other unit, considering that my other unit is a standard progressive scan with Faroudja and clearly outperforms this unit in all the DVI modes.

Granted, this player will play almost anything you put in the tray, in fact, it will even play .avi files and show you the folders of the disc you burned. This player will play everything except DVDs.

I can't recommend this player, as any functions that justify its price point are either mediocre compared to a more conventional setup, or are just plain poor.