Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-HD941 Up-Converting DVD Player

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

When I purchased my new 61" Samsung DLP 6163W set a month ago I knew that the HD-941 DVD Player was a must have because of the HDMI Connection. Well I finally got it at Harvey's in NYC and as soon that I turned it on I noticed a significant difference in the quality of the sound and video compared to the HD-841 model. After watching DVD's for the pass 4 days I am 100% satified with this DVD player and immediatly returned the HD-841

My 941 is region free and HD security free at last. To avoid video problems get the latest firmware update from Samsung. Then go to ebay and buy an Aiwa RC-6AS14 remote control for <$15.00. This is required. Use the Aiwa remote. Hold the shift button down while hitting repeat,prgm then clock. ADJUST appeared on the LCD screen of the DVD player then I turned it off and turned it on again. Bingo! For HC Copyright Protection disable:
1. HDCP-Free: Requires only DVD Remote.
2. Power On DVD player, wait until "no disk" display
3. Press "Angle"
4. then number on the remote "4", "3", "2", "7"
5. TV Screen displays "HDCP Free"
6. Press "Angle" to turn off the "HDCP Free" display
7. Try 1 more time from step 1-6 (HDCP Free will display)

Good luck

I researched many upscaling players--including others from Samsung, including the 841 and 950--and decided on the HD941. I've only had the player for a few weeks now, but am very impressed and happy with it. PQ is excellent, even on an HDTV that supposedly does its own upscaling (the Samsung HL-P5063W).

A bonus was being able to make the player region-free using (sometimes conflicting) experiences found elsewhere on the Internet and some of my own ingenuity. I'm posting my detailed experiences here so that others can make their player region-free. The steps may appear long and complicated, but they took less than five minutes to peform.

The most-recent experiences indicate that an Aiwa remote is required to make the 941 region-free. That worked for me! I would love to know why an Aiwa remote is able to do this and how anyone could have stumbled upon this discovery!

Actually, I programmed my Harmony 676 remote to *emulate* the Aiwa remote and then used the Harmony to make my 941 region-free. Talk about multiple levels of indirection!

The Harmony requires the model number of a *device*, not a remote. Not knowing which Aiwa device(s) use the RC-6AS14 remote, I Google'd for "Aiwa RC-6AS14 remote control". One of the hits took me to http://www.dvdremotecontrols.com/Mfrs/Aiwa/AiwaAudioDVD/RC-6AS14.htm--which not only provided a screen shot of the remote, but also listed the Aiwa devices that the remote actually controls!

I programmatically added the first Aiwa device (the CX-NA10--a "Mini System (DVD)") to my Harmony, and then I performed the following steps:

Note: Make sure the 941 is off. Make sure there is no DVD in the drive.

Using the 941 remote:
1. Turn the player on.
2. Press the OPEN/CLOSE button. The drive door will open.

Using the Harmony remote:
3. Press the DEVICE button.
4. Press the NEXT button until the "Mini System (DVD)" device appears next to one of the soft buttons.
5. Press the "Mini System (DVD)" soft button.
6. Press the NEXT button until "Repeat" appears next to one of the soft buttons. (I had to press the NEXT button seven times to cycle through the choices.)
7. Press the "Repeat" soft button.
8. Press the NEXT button until "Program" appears next to one of the soft buttons. (I had to press the NEXT button eight times to cycle through the choices.)
9. Press the "Program" soft button.
10. Press the NEXT button until "Clock" appears next to one of the soft buttons. (I had to press the NEXT button three times to cycle through the choices.)
11. Press the "Clock" soft button.

The player's LCD will display "ADJUST". There was also a brief mention of something about a 'servo adjustment complete' on the TV.

I used the 941's remote to press "9" (as others have instructed), but this didn't have a visible effect. The drive door did not close. Doesn't hurt to do it, I suppose.

12. Using the buttons on the player, close the drive door and power it down.

Upon powering up the 941, I could play other regions' DVDs. I also double-checked that my own region's DVDs still played ok.

I added the 941 to my Harmony remote and both it and the player itself have been working great!

Notes:
-I just purchased my 941 from Amazon.com; not sure which firmware version I have, but I assume it's a relatively current one.

-Other people's experiences said I would need to press a SHIFT button on the Aiwa remote prior to pressing the Repeat, Program, and Clock button--in order to generate the appropriate signals. Since the Harmony emulated the *functions* of the Aiwa remote and not the actual *buttons*, I did not need to emulate or press a SHIFT key.

Connected this player to a 26" Dell LCD. WOW, picture quality is amazing! Colors and clarity of the picture will have you scratching your head. When I saw it on Amazon for $149 I thought it was a mistake. Comes with HDMI interconnect as well as a HDMI to DVI cable (I used the HDMI to DVI cable as the Dell is only DVI compatible). Plays both Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio. Haven't used it with either yet so I can't speak to sound quality for home audio use. However, I can tell you that DVD's sound amazing. Unit is real sleek looking. Housing appears to be aluminum, rather than the cheap plastic that most players are made of. LCD on unit glows a bluish white while the power button has a glowing bright blue ring around it when on. Will have to break out the manual to understand all the functions on the remote. Highly recommend this unit to anyone wanting a top quality, reasonably priced HDMI/DVI DVD player.

After reading numerous reviews about the Samsung DVD-HD941 and its counterparts, my expectation level was to hopefully notice somewhat of an improvement over playing DVDs on my HDTV with a conventional, non-HDMI digital-video type player. I did not want to spend a small fortune on the high end players like Denon and Integra. To my surprise the picture quality was far better that what I had been expecting for the price. I was very happy with the picture quality in all 480p, 720p, 768p, or 1080i modes. I hooked it up to my RCA HD61LPW165 and my Sony KF-42WE610 HDTVs and did not notice too much of a difference in picture quality, both being very clear. The sound level dropped somewhat on the RCA HDTV but maintained itself quite well on the Sony. It appears as though the player is limited to the response of the type of HDTV. I would definitely recommend this player, espectially due to the price. I will be ordering a second one to complement my other HDTV.

I'm using an hdmi connection from the dvd player straight to the media box of a Pioneer 5040 Plasma.

There's a night and day difference in quality between 1080i/HDMI and 480p/YPrPb(component).

I haven't had any audio problems whatsoever. I'm using an optical link between the DVD player and an old Yamaha receiver.

Bottom line: good value for the money, great picture quality, rich feature set, unexciting remote and user interface.

I have a Sony KP-57WS520 rear projection CRT television. I have heard that with CRT displays, an upconverting dvd player will not make much difference, and I'm going to have to agree with that. Maybe, when used with an LCD or DLP set, this dvd player would shine, but with my tv, I actually prefered using the component outputs to the HDMI output, for two reasons:

1) The HDMI output was super dark, so much so that details would simply be lost in dark backgrounds. It couldn't be cleared up by adjusting the tv's brightest or color levels either. THe dark background would get lighter, but the details would stay hidden.

2) My television does a much better job of upconverting the 480i dvd signal than the dvd player did. The Sony has a nice DRC circuit that produces a very good picture when fed a 480i signal. When given an upconverted signal from this dvd player, the DRC circuit is disabled. So I'm forced to either choose the component outputs with the tv doing its magic, or the HDMI output with the dvd player doing its magic. The component outputs option was clearly the winner, and when I compared the picture using this dvd player's component outputs and the picture I got with my previous dvd player's component outputs, there was no noticeable difference. So I decided to return the unit.

Another thing to note, which makes me glad I don't have to stick with this unit - the remote sucks, the menus are terrible, and the settings kept being reset to the defaults. For instance, there is a setting for turning off this annoying message that pops up when the HDMI is connected (even if you're using the component connection), saying that HDMI audio is disabled. It pops up every time you change the chapter or start a title. You can turn it off in the settings menu, but it kept coming back the next time I used the dvd player, and (one other annoying feature) you can't even change the setting unless the dvd player is stopped. So I kept starting a movie, only to find the setting was switched back to ON, and then having to stop the movie, change the setting, and restart the movie (or just live with it). Very lame.

As many have probably done, when I bought my HDTV I was a little dissapointed in the quality of my dvd's when compared to HD broadcasts. However, after buying the HD-941 I will be happy with my dvds for a long time and will be able to wait and see who wins the next generation hd-dvd vs. blu-ray war. The Faroudja DCDi chip in this unit makes all the difference. Sound artifacts and other remanants of dvd downscaling are GREATLY reduced with 480p,720p,768p,1080i upscaling using the INCLUDED HDMI or HDMI to DVI cable. On well mastered dvds the picture is about an 8 out of ten vs. a high def broadcast. Which is pretty freeking good for a dvd.It also has Samsungs EZ View which allows you to get rid of letterboxing with minimal picture loss.A big plus for me. However if you don't have a t.v.larger than 32' or dont have an HDMI or DVI interface I wouldnt bother with this unit as the upconversion only works with them and you won't notice much a difference between a normal progressive scan unit on smaller T.V.'s. All in all, great sound and great picture 9 out of ten........there's always room for improvement.

This DVD player works fine but as with many of the other reviews it has a few flaws. As for one after the unit is setup it will lose the setup features when you turn it off. It has a good picture and works well with SACD and DVD Audio but the remote needs direct pointing at the unit to operate. For the price and what you get it really is not bad.

Great images, great sound...lousy, unresponsive remote. Make sure you talk to Samsung tech and get the firmware update.