Toshiba vs. Samsung - HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray

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The format war is upon us for market share in a hopefully lucrative High Definition Video Disc market. Toshiba has been given the seal of approval by the DVD consortium and are considered the official HD-DVD format. Sony has decided to give their proprietary format the nod with Blu-Ray. Before the first shots were fired in this new format war, Sony found many backers to their proprietary format and looked to be the early favorite. Then, Toshiba and friends caught the eye of Microsoft and came out of the gate first. The standard definition DVD format has a huge foothold on the home video market and they are expected to hold market share dominance for at least the next four to five years. Can either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray make a dent in the sales of standard definition DVDs? Or, will this format war end up with two casualties as DVD-Audio and Sony´s SACD discovered when they went up against the incumbent Compact Disc?

I can safely say that I have bought less than a dozen VHS tapes for my own viewing. Once I was able to afford my own ´things,´ I went out and bought a Pioneer LaserDisc player. I was enthralled by the large shiny discs and knew that LaserDisc was the ultimate in home viewing experience. 1997 delivered a huge blow to us Laser aficionados in the form of DVD. A little 5" disc was promising to be superior with its compressed digital video and native Dolby Digital support. Many of my peers vowed to forever hate the little newcomer and hold steadfast to our 12" gold platters. Then, just two weeks before the arrival of this new format, my Pioneer CLD-D704 shredded its motor and I needed a new LD player. The only replacement I could find was a Pioneer DVL-700, a LaserDisc/DVD combo player. I had no choice but to purchase this unit and enter into the DVD era. After all, how could you possibly own a DVD player and not buy a DVD or two?

My purchase landed me a reviewing position here at DVDTown and then as one of the first reviewers for DVDFile.com. I became an early adopter and a LaserDisc lover that was not afraid to speak out on the benefits of the new digital format. I found myself championing the new technology and slowly saying goodbye to a format that had kept me entertained for quite a few years. Now DVD is the old man and after nearly a decade there are not one, but two newcomers who want to relegate him to the annals of home video history - Toshiba with the HD-DVD format and Sony with the Blu-Ray format. As was the case with LaserDisc, there is controversy as to whether or not embrace the new technologies, not just because of the uncertainty to abandon the old, but now a decision must be made as to which one of the new should be accepted. In the desire to present full coverage to the masses on these new formats, I volunteered to tackle both formats.

Samsung BDP-1000 Blu-Ray First Impressions

John J. Puccio, my friend and colleague here at DVDTown.com, has done a wonderful job of covering the two Toshiba HD-DVD players. I personally own the cheaper Toshiba HD-A1. There is no need to go into any first impressions of the HD-DVD format and I´ll back John´s words on his views towards the format. James Plath has a full article coming on the Samsung BDP-1000, but I will offer up some brief first impressions to wet your appetite until Jim completes his review. So I will apologize for not going deeply into either player, but within the next few days both players will be covered completely and you will be able to learn a great deal about either of them in their respective reviews.

Personally, I find the Samsung BDP-1000 to be a nice unit. Physically, it is a sexy machine. The case is a nice glossed black that just shines. Too bad you cannot see the shiny black surface in my home entertainment center. It is jammed in one space with a Samsung DVD Recorder. The front of the machine is very attractive blending a black upper and titanium bottom that mirrors my Samsung LCD. Odd how a few years ago, a Sony VCR, Sony DVD-7700 player and a Sony Wega television sat in the same spots that are now dominated by Samsung. The Samsung units look nice and the BDP-1000 is by far the best looking piece of electronics in plain view. Turn the unit on and you are given a glowing blue lightshow where the control pad, power button and Blu-Ray logo shine in a luminescent blue light. The display counter is not nearly as bright and is overshadowed by the very bright control surfaces.

The player starts up fairly quick and gives a Samsung Blu-Ray screen on the HDTV set. The HDMI interfacing is very smooth and fluid. The tray opens and blue light fills the front of the unit. Then, we come to one of the troubling elements of the BDP-1000, the remote control unit. Small buttons, no backlighting, a cheap feel and unmarked buttons are all negative strikes on the remote. A thousand dollars and I get a remote that looks like one of those universal jobs you get at the dollar store. Still, the remote has most of the necessary functions and with a little bit of practice, it is fully usable. Within days it will be replaced by my Logitech Harmony remote, but for the fairness of writing this article, I stayed with the factory remote.

Configuring the machine took a few minutes, but some who may not be as tech savvy or familiar with Samsung equipment may stumble around a bit. The default output for my unit was set to 720p. I had to change it to handle 1080i. The player itself will also output 1080p, but my television is none too happy when you try to get it to display that level of detail. Two issues I have discovered with playback is that a couple times during playback, the picture will stutter for a brief second or the sound will drop out. I´ve seen a few very quick blackouts as well. After five discs, the problems happen two or three times per viewing. There is also this little animated hourglass that lives to taunt me. It appears a lot and the player seemingly takes a long time between functions.

Standard DVDs can be upconverted to glorious high definition with the BDP-1000. Well, unless something happens to both my Toshiba HD-A1 and my Pioneer Elite DV-47A, I do not think the Samsung will ever see a standard definition title. The player barely surpasses my Pioneer in clarity. 4:3 or non-anamorphic titles are stretched to fill the screen. The image lacks any great amount of clarity and the upconverted DVD image just does not excite me much. Given the slower loading times over the standard definition player, I do not see much need to use the BDP-1000 as my primary device for the older discs. For those who are looking to replace their DVD players, the Samsung is adequate for the job. I just have better options available.

The Samsung provides memory card slots. I found these useful after my trip to the Camaros at Carlisle show. It was great fun pulling the memory stick out of my camera and showing off the Concept Camaro in glorious HD. I was amazed at how much detail my camera is capable of when I have a steady hand and I applaud Samsung for giving me this browsing capability. The downside is that getting a picture to display without the graphical display bar over top if it was cumbersome. You select the picture, then choose to play the slideshow and quickly hit pause. You must also deal with the hourglass between every button press. Hunting and pecking at your pictures can be tedious and is a slow way of showing off just selected photos.

My overall feelings towards the BDP-1000 are hot and cold. I think it is a great looking piece of electronics that has a wide range of uses. You can play MP3s, show digital camera photos, play DVDs and Blu-Ray titles. However, it appears a little bit buggy in the Blu-Ray department. I hope a firmware update via the memory card slots (no Ethernet connection) will fix some of the problems. For a thousand dollars, the player is a bit costly for the problems it has.

How does the Toshiba and the Samsung compare?

After spending a week with the Samsung BDP-1000 and now having the Toshiba for over a month, I feel pretty confident in pointing out the pros and cons for each unit. Both players have a few weaknesses and both players have a few things they do better than the other. HD-DVD, the format, seems to be walking proudly in its early days and even though it is far from maturing, the format is showing hints of greatness. Blu-Ray, on the other hand, looks like it was rushed to market solely for the purpose of getting on shelves. The format is forced to live on single-layer discs until they can master the manufacturing process of dual-layers. Supplements are almost non-existent. Blu-Ray should have been left in the oven a bit longer. HD-DVD players seemed rushed, but the format at least appears ready for the limelight. Blu-Ray is offering nothing but a better picture than standard definition for a higher cost.

1. The players and their price tags: The Toshiba HD-A1 was the inaugural HD-DVD player and debuted with a wallet friendly price of $499. This is very cheap when compared to even the initial DVD players or the ill-fated launches of DVD-Audio and SACD. The Samsung BDP-1000 has the designation as the first of Blu-Ray and it costs twice as much as the Toshiba at $1000. This mirrors the early costs of DVD, but when its chief rival is half the price, Toshiba certainly takes the price comparison. The players themselves are both fairly large. Especially the Toshiba, it is a beast. If Toshiba is the beast, then the Samsung is clearly the beauty. It is a fine looking machine. It is not as heavy as the Toshiba, but it looks and feels better constructed. The flip down door of the Samsung stays closed and isn´t poorly fitting like that of the Toshiba. The Toshiba is clearly the better value, but the Samsung is the better built and looking unit. Each player has similar hook-ups, but the Toshiba has a nice little Ethernet connection that has already proven helpful when updating my firmware.

2. Their god-awful remotes: When I first laid my eyes on that polished aluminum I thought "Wow, how retro." After a few seconds, I decided it was oversized, heavy, ugly and practically unusable. The gloss black face hides the text for the closely spaced and identical buttons and during ideal viewing conditions (lights out), it required a halogen flashlight that would not wash out in reflection the button text. To use it best, you have to memorize the button locations. To HD-A1X has backlighting to it. The remote is also horrible in responsiveness. Using the direction button is a mess. I know it is the remote, because my Logitech Harmony works like a charm. To Samsung also suffers from no backlighting or glowing text. The buttons are small, but differently shaped. It is slightly better in low lighting, but it feels very cheap. The remote is more responsive and if I had to pick a winner, I´d take the Samsung, but I hate both remotes. Thank goodness for universal remotes.

3. Operation and Load Times: I typically turn on the Toshiba when I get an inkling to watch a movie. Then, by the time it turns on, I have made my decision of what to watch. If I buy a new movie, I come home, turn on the Toshiba and then I remove the shrink-wrapping and security stickers. I have found ways to reorganize my viewing habits to fit the Toshiba´s start up schedule. I just have nightmares about double-pressing the Open/Close button and having a three minute wait to press it again. The Samsung starts up much faster. However, between most operations, it makes up for its quick start by introduction a little hourglass animation that is cute the first dozen times, but taunts you the next few hundred. I´d have to say that I like the Samsung´s start up timing and its own menus look very nice when compared to the Toshiba´s low resolution and horribly uncreative menus, but the Toshiba responds better once the film starts. Both players are about even in the performance category for standard operation and load-times. The waiting periods are more spread out in the Samsung, where the Toshiba hits you hard early.

4. Standard DVD & CD Performance: As I´ve mentioned earlier in this article, the Samsung is not my choice for being my upconverting DVD player of choice. I´d rather use my older Pioneer Elite unit to handle the DVD tasks than the Samsung. The Toshiba is, however, a great upconverting DVD player. The image is very clear and detail approaches HD quality. I did some A-B comparisons between my Pioneer and the two players with "Jarhead" and "Alf: Season Two." You could see many more details on "Jarhead" on the Toshiba. It was quite impressive how it handled the standard DVD presentation. The Samsung was slightly better than the Pioneer, but much of the film the picture was about identical. The old Alfer really showed how far superior the Toshiba is. The colors and details were remarkably better than what the Pioneer or Samsung could handle. Additionally, the Toshiba player pillar boxes the 4:3 image. Nice. I hate having to always change my display settings on the television when using the Pioneer and the Toshiba does it for me. At $499, even if HD-DVD fails, the Toshiba is perhaps the finest DVD player I have seen yet.

5. Next-Generation Performance: Here it is, the part where we can talk about how Blu-Ray and HD-DVD compare where it counts – High Definition. Sadly, this comparison is not entirely accurate for a few reasons. First and foremost, Blu-Ray is currently saddled with space limitations on the media. They are having a difficult time mass producing dual-layered media and are not expected to deliver dual-layered films until after the holiday season. Because of this, the Blu-Ray titles are being presented in near ancient MPEG-2 conversion. I hope this is the cause of my player´s hiccups and they will go away through time. I have a five year warranty, just in case. The HD-DVD films utilize Microsoft´s VC-1 compression. The films are being released in Dual-Layer. Here is the sentence you are waiting for: At the current time, HD-DVD offers a superior picture to Blu-Ray. Once dual-layer Blu-Ray discs become available, that will change.

Early on in life, my Toshiba HD-A1 had some hiccups too. It was more unresponsive and there were some odd HDMI handshaking problems (the Samsung handles HDMI handshaking better, by the way). I connected the player via the internet and downloaded a firmware update. Since then, that player has been superb. The BDP-1000 is having hiccups too. I hope they too will be resolved. HD-DVD currently offers a very stable and consistently high quality image. Blu-Ray, on the other hand shows brief minutes of brilliant before stepping back into a lower quality image. It is still better than Standard Def DVD, but at this point, HD-DVD looks incredible, save for a bad release or two such as "Full Metal Jacket". So currently, the Toshiba player delivers the best visual splendor of the two, as the Samsung is hobbled by the current state of Blu-Ray and possibly some technical problems.

Audio-wise, the tables turn a bit. There has been a lot of discussion on the sound presentation of the Toshiba. Dolby TrueHD is currently not being supported by the format and the Toshiba downcoverts the Dolby Digital Plus signal to DTS. A few of the early releases had soundtracks with very low volume levels and the best sound clearly was delivered from the analog outputs. The Samsung is not without its problems. Dolby Digital is supported from the digital output, but you must play with the settings to get multi-channel surround sound. I found this to be a frustrating experience. Instead of Dolby TrueHD, Blu-Ray is using uncompressed PCM 5.1 audio. The sound is again, remarkably better through the analog outputs. Unlike HD-DVD and the Toshiba, the uncompressed PCM soundtracks have all been consistently of high quality and "House of Flying Daggers" is one of the finest soundtracks I´ve ever heard. Where the Toshiba and HD-DVD gets the visual nod, so far Samsung and Blu-Ray get the aural nod.

Closing Thoughts:

The formats are young and immature and the two inaugural players are far from perfect. Toshiba has corrected some of the early faults with its behemoth unit via a firmware upgrade. The Samsung is currently hobbled in ways the Toshiba saw, but firmware updates may not be as easy. HD-DVD is showing superior compression and has more living space than Blu-Ray and at this stage is much more poised for center stage. Visually, HD-DVD is ahead and where HD-DVD is providing a fine number of supplements, Blu-Ray is decidedly bare-bones. With the state of the formats today and Toshiba´s firmware update and especially considering the price, HD-DVD and the Toshiba player looks like quite a bargain when compared to the sexy, but troubled Samsung and its not-quite-ready-for-prime-time Blu-Ray format. If you are looking to test the waters of HD video discs, my personal decision would be to take a serious look at HD-DVD. If you want to jump into to the Blu-Ray water, you may want to wait a little bit until Samsung corrects their problems and Blu-Ray can offer at least what DVD can. Presently, it cannot.

Here are five pros and cons for each player:



Toshiba HD-A1 (HD-DVD) - SRP $499
Pros:
* Great high definition picture
* Incredible HD Upconverting for SD-DVD
* Attractive pricing point
* Upgradeable Firmware via Ethernet
* First out of the gate

Cons:
* Very slow load times
* Horrendous remote
* DTS conversion of Dolby Digital
* Somewhat lacking hardware design
* Poor HDMI handshaking



Samsung BD-P1000 (Blu-Ray) - SRP $999
Pros:
* Great looking player
* Incredible PCM sound
* Value added memory card slots
* Good HDMI handshaking
* Pretty blue lights

Cons:
* Frequent playback hiccups
* Inconsistent visual presentation
* Slow processing time & the hourglass
* Poor HD Upconverting for SD-DVD
* Expensive pricing point

P.S.: For those interested, I like the blue Blu-Ray packaging more than the maroon HD-DVD cases. It´s the minor things in life, eh?

Go here to read our full review of the Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player.

Go here to read our full review of the Toshiba HD-XA1 HD-DVD Player.

For a complete list of announced HD-DVD titles go here.
For a complete list of announced Blu-ray titles go here.
For all articles and reviews of HD-DVD and Blu-ray go to HDDVD.org.

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