Samsung DVD-HD860

**FlashJim** · **05-22-06, 09:43 AM**

I'm thinking about grabbing one of these this week to test it with my setup. I figured it might be a cheap upgrade until the format "war" settles a bit.

Any thoughts or warnings?

**Sonnie** · **05-22-06, 10:35 AM**

How much are those things running price wise now? Seems like when I bought my Zenith DVB318 that I researched that player and the Zenith was more favored. I think they are floating around for about $150-175 in a few places.

I remember there being some issues with the Samsung but I can't remember exactly what they were... maybe someone else will.

I do know that at that time I was a dealer for Samsung and I could get it at cost and chose to buy the Zenith instead.

Denon has some nice upscaling players that are very inexpensive too.

Then there's the Oppo Digital - OPDV971H that's pretty inexpensive and it's rated tops at Secrets.

**FlashJim** · **05-22-06, 12:10 PM**

MSRP ... a whopping $99. Circuit City and Best Buy both have it. I heard a few good things about the older 850, but this one just came out.

**Sonnie** · **05-22-06, 12:55 PM**

Yep... actually the one I was referring to was the 850 not the 860. The numbers got me on that one.

100 bucks is pretty cheap if you are just needing something to tie you over. Unless you could find a used OPPO for about the same.

**FlashJim** · **05-22-06, 01:07 PM**

I'll have to take a look at that site. I have it opened up, but I haven't checked it out yet. Thanks!

**Quant** · **05-24-06, 12:29 PM**

Apparently, Kris at "Secrets" does not think too highly of the scalar/de-interlacer/processor used in the Samsung, which is why it is inexpensive, I guess. The Faroudja scalar/de-interlacer in the Oppo is regarded better, and is used in many budget dvd players, but causes Macroblocking (MB) with some plasma displays. I borrowed the Samsung dvd player for a while and liked it, and might be looking to buy this one soon, since I own a Panasonic Plasma that is known to have really bad MB with most budget players.

Another player I tested was the Sony NS75 which I liked. The Sony does not scale the picture to fit a screen, though, removing all black bars. I know many purists like to watch a movie in the original aspect ratio, but I like having the option to scale if needed. Samsung has a one-button option to do this scaling (my plasma gets locked to the source aspect on HD signals, so I need the dvd player to do the scaling).

**FlashJim** · **06-12-06, 02:23 PM**

I bought one of these to try out with my Sony 50A10. The A10 does it's own upconverting to a point. The Samsung via HDMI cable gave me nothing over what I had.

I'm taking it back and waiting for HD-DVD.

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