Samsung DVD-HD860 Up-Converting DVD Player

by Samsung

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 17 x 8.1 x 1.9 inches ; 4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000EIEEYG
• Item model number: DVD-HD860
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,457 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Enjoy your favorite DVD movies in high definition without having to wait for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players with the affordable Samsung DVD-HD860 single-disc, progressive scan DVD player--the perfect partner to your HD-capable LCD or plasma TV. Where standard DVD players (even progressive scan models) provide just 480 lines of resolution, the DVD-HD860 will "upconvert" the picture to 720p or 1080i--taking full advantage of your HD television's sparkling resolution. This elegantly slim unit can also play a wide range of disc and file formats and offers a number of playback convenience features, including bookmarking, multiple camera angles, and folder accessibility on MP3/WMA-formatted discs.

The DVD-HD860 upconverts a standard DVD's native resolution (480p) to output close to high-definition formats (720p/1080i). To achieve that higher resolution, the player fills in additional image data by assessing existing pixels and intelligently predicting what the surrounding pixels should look like. Because the upconversion process occurs in the digital domain, no data is lost (compared with analog conversion) and the resulting image is close to pristine. To produce an upconverted picture, your high-def TV must have an HDMI connection (and HDCP support)--the 720p/1080i choice is only available when using the HDMI cable (which is not included). Also note that the DVD-HD860 is not a high-definition DVD player (i.e., not to be confused with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players, which play specially formatted high definition discs), so it will work with your existing DVD library.

This player is compatible with a wide range of disc formats, including DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-R/RW, VCD, and SVCD, as well as MP3, WMA, and JPEG file formats. Compression rates supported for MP3 are from 128-192 kbps and for WMA from 64-192 kbps. JPEG files can be seen in a slide show with intervals of 6, 12, or 18 seconds between images; and you can zoom in (2x or 4x) on an image or rotate it 90-degrees clockwise.

The bookmark function lets you mark and store up to three scenes at a time for easy recall. Instant replay shows you the previous 10 seconds of the movie again--in case you missed something important. Instant skip jumps ahead 10 seconds--in case you want to miss something. And parental control lets you set a password that must be given before a password-protected disc can be viewed.

It features the following video and audio connections:

• Composite AV Out (RCA): 1
• S-Video Out: 1
• Component video Out: 1
• HDMI AV Out: 1
• Coaxial digital audio Out: 1
• Optical digital audio Out: 1

Tech Talk
HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver) with your TV--all over a single cable. HDMI supports standard, enhanced or high definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It supports all ATSC formats--standard (SDTV), enhanced (EDTV), and high (HDTV).

HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) is a system for protecting DVD content outputted via DVI/HDMI from being copied. It provides a secure digital link between a video source (PC, DVD. etc) and a display device (TV, projector, etc). Content is encrypted at the source device to prevent unauthorized copies from being made.

High Definition Formats: The most common high-def (HD) video format is 720p, which displays video at 720 vertical by 1280 horizontal pixels. The "p" denotes that it is progressive scan, meaning that all video lines are filled at the same time. The 1080i format displays video at 1080 vertical by 1920 horizontal pixels, and the "i" means that it is interlaced (the old-school way of presenting video where the screen scans the odd-numbered video lines first, then the even-numbered lines). The 1080p format has the same pixel resolution as 1080i, but it is a progressive scan format and thus has a constant vertical resolution of 720 lines.

What's in the Box
Upconverting DVD player, remote control (with batteries), AV cable, printed operating instructions

Warranty
1 year parts, 90 days labor

Product Description

Samsung DVD-HD860 Up-converter DVD Player. This super slim Up-converter DVD Player ofer its consumers a simple, single-cable connection of uncompressed digital video, thanks to HDMI outputs. It also boasts of HD JPEG playback for viewing crystal clear photos in the comfort of your home theater. This DVD player fits the bill perfectly.With the Samsung DVD-HD860 Hi-Def Conversion DVD Player, you'll get the very best in Digital video. Get a better entertainment center experience, with its 720p/1080i conversion; you'll get incredible picture quality from your DVDs. The HDMI connection makes it easy to hook up your Samsung DVD-HD860 without facing a mess of tangled wires.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multi-Regional Review--Not A Hack Job (well yes it is), December 9, 2006

By 

Dr.Scooter (St.Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung DVD-HD860 Up-Converting DVD Player (Electronics)

I picked up a refurbished job from Tiger (I like Amazon but the deal was just too good) Works great for the short time I've had it. Got a new big HDTV that does the 1080 thing so I'm impressed. You can set it up to just come on at that rate but it has a botton to "toggle" through the options. The only minor complaint is the on light the BRIGHT blue on light is a bit much. Put a little round sticky thing to tone it down. Should you care, I'm going to give you a little "hack" information should you play disc from other than Zone One (you know who you are) It worked like a charm first time for me so I pass it on. I have the Alley McBeal complete set from the UK (can't get it in the US) plus a few DVD I pick up on vaction.

This just sets you DVD to Region "Free"--Region code hack posted by

Silver Surfer, November 05 2006:
DEAR FRIENDS, IT TOOK ME A LOT OF TIME AND PATIENCE, BUT I DID IT
GOT A SAMSUNG HD860, JUST HACKED THE REGION WITH THE SAMSUNG
REMOTE 00054D, I BOUGHT DVD PLAYER ON USA, REGION 1, I DID THIS, NOW
I CAN SEE ANY REGION DISK ON MY DVD PLAYER. . . SO HERE IS HOW
FIRST SET HDMI SEL BUTTON TO 480P, THEN OPEN TRAY NO DISK ON IT,
PRESS INFO BUTTON, AND PRESS NINE, UNTIL NUMBER 9 APPEARS ON LEFT
CORNER OF TV DISPLAY, THEN, TURN OFF DVD, THEN ON AND. . . . ENJOY
FREE REGION LIFE. . . BYE BYE!

You have to hit the number 9 repeatedly to get it to show and it will appear on the upper left corner of your screen (be careful the #9 shows up "over" the other information on the screen) but the whole things pretty groovy. Tiger had them for about $40 but even at twice the price it's very cool. The HDMI works great I put that into my HDTV then run the Optical sound from the the TV (it has optical out) to the Receiver for my "Surround" sound. Actually due to that blue light its gets just 4.5 stars but I rounded it up to 5! It does require the HDMI hook up to benifit from the Up-Convert feature, works for me my Toshiba HDTV has 2 in HDMI and wth the "Optical" sound out from the TV makes for a very good set up for me.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Despite the contrary this device can playback DivX video files, September 30, 2006

By 

Clarence Smith "digitally inclined" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung DVD-HD860 Up-Converting DVD Player (Electronics)

Okay so I just bought this item but I am feeling the need to write up a review so here it goes. I picked this player up from Best Buy after examining all the other players they had, the deciding factor for me to go with this Samsung DVD player is because my HDTV is also a Samsung. I wanted a good HD-upconverter and this was priced for $98 at Best Buy and was the only player I saw of this brand so I figured this is probably the best what Samsung had to offer so purchased it, but it was only until I got home and saw on BB's website that they sale a higher model HD-960, but the only difference I could tell is that the HD-96- can do 1080p and play back DivX which this player (HD-860) is not advertised to do. Although if you look at the middle of the HD-860 manual you will see in the section it describes the formats it can play by logo it also has DivX logo there. I later discovered that this player actually DivX support its hidden and has to be accessed a certain way and it doesn't require a hack to do it. Just create a video CD containing DivX files on there, you have to create folders and place the Divx video files in those folders so don't put DivX files just on the top level of the disc. Burn and close the disc when you've finished and insert it into this player. It will show a menu displaying the content on the disc (the folders), just select a folder you put your videos under and then the menu will display the list of video files it contains. To watch the video move the selection back up to the top in the folder where it will show "..." and just click the PLAY button on the remote there and it will play back all the videos in that folder. Pretty cool isn't it. I figure Samsung must have disabled the function to auto-play or playback any video files on disc thats a DivX file when selected, but they forgot to disable the ability to hit PLAY on the "..." folder itself.
Now I would have gave this 5 stars but this player like a lot of new players that are starting to come out I notice wont allow you to do HD (720p/1080i) over Component connection. Usually this feature is there but not openly available in the menus and it has to be unlocked through a hack code with the remote. It seems that the previous Samsung DVD players could easily be hacked to do HD over component, even my last DVD player a CyberHome could do it, but this HD-860 does not, I searched the web but couldn't find any info on how to unluck it, and my guess is that Samsung just hasn't leaked how to do this to the public yet or was forced by the Movie industry to remove the feature.

I really dont see why the movie industry is being so tight on only allowing HD via HDMI. Most TVs only have one HDMI and if they have HD digital cable like I do, then that one HDMI is probably already occupied. Most HDTVs have 1 or more component connection. Component connections can do HD so I dont see why consumers have to go the hassle of this, I just wish somebody would really do something about this cause I see it as a really unnecessary copy protection trend.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great deal for the price, May 18, 2006

By 

Scott Whyte (Troy, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung DVD-HD860 Up-Converting DVD Player (Electronics)

If you need a nicely priced up-converting DVD player, without all the bells and whistles, this is the player for you. You can definitely notice the picture quality increase (when using the up-convert setting) compared to the usual picture quality provided by standard def. progressive scan (480p) DVD players.

The higher the quality of the DVD transfer, the better it looks with this DVD player. With my old Sony standard-def player, it didn't make much of a difference whether the transfer was high quality or not. Now I can tell which DVDs received a good treatment or not.

I have this DVD player matched with a Samsung HL-S5086W 50" DLP HDTV and the picture quality is excellent. It pays to use an HDMI cable rather than the component video as the picture is sharper and seems to have deeper color saturation. I'm very pleased with the purchase.

In summary, this is a great low-priced player and does exactly what most people would need from it: up-converts your standard definition DVDs until you are ready to upgrade to Hi-Def DVDs and it doesn't bog you down with a lot of unnecessary options or complex menus.