Behold The Beauty of HD

Last weekend, I finally caved and invested in a Blu-Ray player.  And an HD-DVD player. 

Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to computers and electronics, I’m usually a first adopter.  The growing pains don’t really bother me.  I’d waited this long on Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, though, because initially I wasn’t sure which format would win the format war.  Then, I decided to go with a combo player to get the benefits of both (and knowing me, preventing me from ending up getting both in separate players, eating up space and TV inputs).

I’d had my eye on the Samsung BD-UP5000, which I initially saw through Instapundit, and which received some good early reviews.  For the last month or so, my local Circuit City has had the empty space on their shelf, with a tag giving the specs, but no units.  Well, last weekend, I got lucky—they had a new shipment come in, and I got my hands on one.

So, I picked it up, along with my first Blu-Ray, 3:10 to Yuma, and brought it home.  I hooked it up, reprogrammed my universal remote, put in the movie, and…

Nothing. 

The movie hung at the “Loading” screen.  Crap.  Many of the early Blu-Ray and/or HD-DVD players have been having problems with new releases.  The standards for the discs (and the players) are not set in stone, and some of the studios’ copy protection schemes and cute little interactive features still throw the players for a loop.  It’s a constant gave of catch-up for the manufacturers.  They keep releasing new firmware updates for the players to fix any bugs that pop-up as new movies are released.

Luckily, Samsung has made updating the firmware a breeze.  The UP5000 has an ethernet port, and it’s as simple as selecting “Update” on the player’s menu.  Yesterday evening, a new firmware update was released, and guess what—3:10 to Yuma!

I was a little skeptical of the difference I would see between a regular DVD upconverted to HD, and a true HD disc, but WOW!  I’m convinced.  Like night and day.  This weekend, I test with an HD-DVD.

UPDATE: It’s a shame HD-DVD is going to lose the format war.  I’ve been watching BSG Season 1 on HD-DVD, and the interactive features kick ass.  I’m loving the ability to access interviews, commentaries, and BSG encyclopedia entries in a PIP window, while still watching the show.