Samsung DVD-1080P9 1080p Upconverting DVD Player

My first concern when I buy equipment is how well does it perform what it's supposed to do and a DVD player should be about as simple as an electronic device should be. Connect it, plug it in, turn it on, - play a disc. This Samsung easily answers all this with a short set-up due to the choice of television options available today. Some may not like the compact size of the remote, but it suits my needs. I'm sure this model can be programmed into most Universal Remotes and since it's a DVD player it doesn't require any unique control. Additionally, it has controls for Samsung TVs on the romote, but I cannot say if it works flawlessly since I don't have that brand TV. The console has minimal controls on it, Play/Pause, Forward, Reverse, Stop on a round panel an open/close button and the power button so searching menus or any other tasks will have to be by remote. Again, very simple to operate. Now for my last consideration; Appearance. I like the simple smooth line with no flashing lights to concern you when you're trying to watch your recording. The size is compact without looking small and dinky (like a toy that belongs in a child's room) and the minimal control buttons gives it a sleek elegant facade. I think it is a more than adequate machine, sensibly priced with any features that one needs to watch a DVD or listen to a CD.

Echo all the other reviewers comments about excellent picture quality on SD DVD material. Even highly compressed stuff that I've recorded off the TV on a DVD-R recorder looks a lot cleaner, played back on this unit.My DVD-R unit burned out, so after reading lots of reviews I bought this Samsung. I read reviews of older, similar Samsungs and saw that they were region-hackable. About 50% of my DVD collection was purchased in the UK and the other half in the USA after I moved here. Region-hackable is therefore a necessity for me. As of yet, nobody on the Tinternet has posted a region hack for the USA model of this player. Grrrr! I took a gamble, and it didn't pay off.I am not an advocate of ripping off copyrighted material but this region encoding thing is a pain in the butt. Movies seem to get released to all regions almost concurrently nowadays so why can't they just disband this silly, crippling, big brother idea? (rhetorical question - don't flame me please). I will now have to buy an el cheapo, non-upconverting DVD player from Wal*Mart to play my region 2 movies on - they're always hackable.That's the only bad thing about this player. Good points are:* Very minimalist. No flashy chrome or bright lights to distract the eye* Very small. Less deep than any other player I've owned* Remote is compatible with Samsung TV remotes* Doesn't get hot at all, even after being left on all day* Remembers DVD resume point over a (front panel) power-off event* Relatively quick to start up and load a DVD* Slide show from USB socket is useable and "hi-def". Haven't tested that extensivelyNot-so-good points are:* Because it's so lightweight, kids pushing the buttons repeatedly push it further and further back into the TV furniture* Vacuum fluorescent display is very dim. Unreadable from a distance at daytime* Menu rendering is a bit cheesy. Very low res menu screens.* Can't seem to have "raw" digital audio out of the SPDIF connector and decoded data from the HDMI socket concurrently. One menu setting affects both sockets. I can't remember the exact terminology from the menu but if I set it so that my Yamaha HT receiver can understand the audio data stream, the TV can't (and vice-versa).* Saw it in Wal*Mart for 5 bucks cheaper than Amazon, the day after I bought it. D'oh!

I am extremely happy with this DVD player, which I've been using for about a month now. All my DVDs look fantastic using it with it my new HDTV. I especially like that it plays DVD-R discs without any problem.I rated it 4 stars because the user manuel is way to confusing for me to understand! I'm sure the DVD player is capable of more functions but I have no idea what the descriptions & instructions mean.When it arrived, I looked at the user manuel to see how to set it up. After the instructions several times and still not knowing what to do, I just used some common sense and hooked it without any problem.DISREGARD ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!!!! This is a piece of junk. I've had it 11 months and it just died. After a couple months of great performance, the skip forward and skip backward functions started acting up. Then the picture sometimes got fuzzy and out of focus. Oh yes, the sub-titles would not go away. Finally the other evening I was watching a DVD and half way through the picture froze and would not unfreeze. Turned it off and re-started, but got a message that the player could not read the disc, check your disc! Won't play anthing so my disc is fine thank you!!