Because, you know, you didn't actually review both versions of MI:III sisde by side or anything, Josh. Sheesh.

Another very happy Samsung owner here.

Mine has been delivered by UPS. Too bad I have about 3 more hours of work.

I'll be very interested to hear your reaction.

Finally pulled the trigger on the Samsung BD player myself. Hooking up this evening. The thing that sucks is I need to each time swap out the multichannel analog cabling into my preamp if switching between HD-DVD and BD and I wish to take advantage of the highdef audio formats.

For movies available to be available in both formats (I will not, yet at least, double dip with stuff I already have in HD-DVD), now I will routinely be faced with the dilemma of picking which one is best....

Is there any good sites that compare titles between both formats directly? Most of the reviews I've seen are for one or the other, with no comparision, except to their SD-DVD counterpart.

The reviews here and at hifdefdigest.com do a pretty good job at comparing the two formats for any given movie. It seems like most discs are pretty much the same on both formats. Some reviewers have said the BD and HD version of MI III are identical, while others saw very slight differences. So you will probably be good with either one.

Mine was shipped today. I picked up Lethal Weapon 2 at Best Buy today. I could not resist the urge.

Any good discounts or coupons out there right now. I know about the 10% off at Amazon and the google check out. Anything else?

meh, i will wait for the playstation 3

Well, I've had a chance to watch a BD movie on my new player. Memento was my first choice. Since my Toshiba is using my only HDMI connection, I'm using component with the Sammy. I thought Memento looked really good. It was definitely high definition. I did notice a few speckles pop up now and then, but in all I thought the picture looked very crisp. Still, compared to HD DVD, it didn't look as polished.

Regarding the player, I think this is a very sleek unit. It's not near as clunky as the A1 and definitely looks closer to a modern dvd player. It took about 23 seconds for the player to load Memento. But I do like that when you hit the power button, the unit comes on instantly. The menu and remote are very basic.

My unit has a July build date and I have the colored dots, which I was hoping to get. So some of the bugs have already been fixed on this unit.

I have not sampled an uncompressed PCM track yet. I just connected with a coaxial cable so I could try it out. The audio was very clear. I threw in Gone in 60 Seconds for a few minutes and I listened to the 5.1 DD track on it and thought it was very aggressive.

In all, I'm happy with the purchase. Gathering all the negative reviews it had gotten, you'd think the player wouldn't even power up. But it's very slick looking and seems to respond fairly quickly to command buttons. It's missing a few bells and whistles, but for an entry level player, it gets the job done.

I have not tried out any upconversion and likely won't. The A1 will take care of that. In comparison, the Sammy has the better looks and faster functioning, but I think the Toshiba is still better overall because it offers a bit more at a lower price. I just hope the software side of BD begins to offer some better selections. In comparing the 2 formats, BD is lacking in terms of titles. Fox should take care of some of those concerns in the next few weeks.

I noticed Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl being featured on the Disney promo. I hope this comes out soon.

Glad you're enjoying it! I just finished watching Unforgiven and it was awesome.

Of course it was. It was originally on HD DVD

I bought two component video switchers and run the analog audio from both players into those (one for the front three channels, one for the surrounds and sub). So long as I remember to switch both units at the same time, it's an acceptable workaround for this problem.

Thanks for the input, Josh, but I consider that a sub-optimal option, as you lose fidelity/add noise with the analog a/b switches, at least with the more cost effective ones (ratshack, etc.).

I could shell out $900 or so for a decent multichannel audio switcher now, but I figure I will wait until high resolution audio decoders used with BD and HD-DVD to become available in preamps and I'll just upgrade the preamp at that time. My current model preamp, the Aragon Stage One, has a 7.1 analog input via DB-25 connector. I have two 8chan analog to DB-25 cables, so I just need to swap out the connection at the preamp. Still annoying, but not painful enough to justify the extra expense associated with getting a decent a/b switch that won't affect the extra fidelity provided by the high res BD/HD-DVD audio formats.

With that setup, you are already using a poorer cable than most audiophiles would want. DB25 is hardly a great audio connector. I never understood why some companies went with that setup.

You could look at a parallel cable switch, see if there are any decent electronic ones in a decent price range. I haven't really liked the manual ones, even worse than Josh Z's solution. And that was just for printers. Too many connections, I think, for the manual mechanical switch.

I downloaded the firmware and unzipped the file. But I don't have Nero. I use Sonic for burning. Don't you have to burn this as an image or something? Not sure how to do that with my current software.

http://tinyapps.co.uk/isoburn/

I disagree.

The DB-25 interface, while somewhat unorthodox, is part of the THX spec and has been used quite a bit with THX certified products. The reason why manufacturers used it was obvious - it saved precious real estate on the much crowded a/v receiver/preamp back panel.

The cables I have, while definately a step down from the Nordost Red Dawn IC's that I use elsewhere in my system, are no slouch and might be hampered by lesser expensive A/B switches in the line.

That said, I did stumble upon a reasonably priced DB-25 switch box that I think I will try out and see what happens.

One thing I do like about Blu-ray is there are no combos. I hate combos. If I spend money to get the high-def version, I don't want to be forced to own the inferior standard-def version. I may get Superman Returns on BD just to avoid the HD DVD combo. It should look identical to the HD DVD version since Warners uses VC-1 for both. I'll buy a combo if I have to (King Kong) but prefer not to have a dvd attached.

Got the Sammy on Thursday night and downloaded and installed the firmware upgrade. On Wednesday I went out to Best Buy looking for a title to buy. I was dissappointed to see how expensive they were compared to Target and online, but did find a semi bargain and picked up Lethal Weapon 2 for 21 bucks. Friday night I popped it in and jumped around to a variety of scenes. I have LW1 on order, so I didn't want to watch part 2 first. It looks good, but I was not incredibly impressed. Saturday I used a BB coupon and a reward zone coupon to get Monster House for about 20 bucks. Watched it with my daughter that night. It looked amazing. Today I hooked up my Sony 400 disc changer to do a side by side between the BD and DVD versions of MH. There was a difference, but not huge. I am currently watching Underworld Evolution (from Netflix). Before I started the movie I turned the black level off. What does everyone else have this set to? So far it appears to look better with it off. My display is a Sony HS-51 projector on a 106" screen.

Sometime this week my copies of Mission Impossible collection, Corpse Bride, Tears of the Sun, Lethal Weapon, The Devils Rejects, and Into the Blue should arrive. Next weekend is looking very "Blu"!!

I have my black level on. I may turn it off and see if I notice a difference. Some good exclusives coming up. Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, Speed, Fantastic 4, The Descent, Enemy of the State, etc. I'm very eager to see how those Fox titles look.

Be sure to check out some of those uncompressed PCM tracks, especially Tears of the Sun.

My receiver is a Sony str-de995. Can it pass through the uncompressed PCM tracks?

With HDMI or the 5.1 analog inputs. That's what I'm using, since my Denon receiver isn't HDMI. Sounds incredible.

so 5.1 analog out of BD player into 5.1 analog in on my Receiver will allow the uncompressed PCM to pass through? What type of cables? Digital audio coaxil? Does it matter?

Yes, the analogs will be fine passing the PCM signal. You can just use the RCA style red/white cables. I got these at monoprice, they are a bit thicker than the standard ones.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=

You will definitely notice a big difference. The PCM tracks are much fuller and deeper sounding. Dialogue is boosted as well. Sony has them on all of their titles and I think Disney does as well. LionsGate will soon and Fox has decided to add the DTS HD Master audio tracks, but nothing can decode those yet.

The Lethal Weapon movies have transfer and mastering issues on both formats. They're not among the better looking High Def discs.

The black level setting shouldn't have any effect on the HDMI output.

Lethal Weapon 2 looks much better than Lethal Weapon 1, though.