Product Description

Samsung DVD-HD870 - Region 2 - DVD Player With HDMI and Upscaling to 1080i

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16260 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: DVD-HD870/XEU
• Released on: 2007-03-05
• Dimensions: 1.04 pounds

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Review
A true budget king, the ’HD870 offers excellent detail, motion-tracking and colour balance. A great unit.

Manufacturer's Description
Samsung's Hi-Definition DVD Players convert standard DVD image quality to High-Definition—for an audio-visual experience unlike that you've experienced from an ordinary DVD player.

Up-Conversion (1080p/1080i/720p)
High Picture Quality.
Samsung's HyperVision DVD Players up-convert the resolution of ordinary DVDs to 1080p/1080i/720p High-definition—which means you'll experience the video and audio quality you didn't think was possible from a DVD player.

HDMI Output
Best Picture Quality.
HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) transfers hi-definition video and audio from your HyperVision DVD Player to your TV,Home Theater or other digital AV components without loss of any digital signal. Simply connect your DVD Player to your Home Theater System with a single HDMI cable for high quality pictures and sound.

DivX PlayBack
Enjoy DivX Movie with Wider and Bigger TV Screen.
Samsung's HyperVision DVD Players deliver high-quality DivX movies. Insert DVDs & CDs that have DivX movies downloaded via computer and enjoy watching them on the large-scale TV!

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Too good to be true?
I hesitated for some time before buying this item: the reviews were fantastic but I couldn't quite believe that a product would be as good as this is supposed to be for such a low price.
But sixty quid or so (you do need to buy a separate HDMI lead to get the best from it) isn't a huge amount of cash to risk and I'm delighted that I did. I had a decent one box home cinema set up before (Panasonic SC-HT530) and this little beauty gives me a considerably better picture quality at 720p, the resolution which my TV is most comfortable at. It's not quite the quality of a Blu ray or HD DVD set up, but it's only a fraction of the cost.
My DVDs have never looked as good as this before.
As other reviews have mentioned the 'Ez View' button provides a simple way to deal with the sometimes complex business of adjusting different ratio pictures to fit the screen.
It can be made multi-region fairly easily by following the simple instructions below, though it took me a few attempts because the remote control supplied isn't the most responsive. Well, they've had to cut some corners, and I'm happy to use my TV remote for the DVD too.
If you're looking to get high quality pictures from standard DVDs onto a modern, high definition TV at a budget price this does the job superbly.

Seems like a great package
I would mostly agree with what Mr Leach said. This is simple, easy to use and the upscaling is impressive, even on a 19" TV.

I heard stories elsewhere that the 1080i mode did not work with some buyers' screens, but I myself had no problem. So I assume they were using an old HDMI lead (pre-v1.3) or they had a TV that didnt support it. I haven't had my player long, but I have tested it and it works fine for me.

There's not much difference between 1080i and 720p, at least not on my screen. I myself would settle for the latter mode for most watching, as fast-action looks better in progressive scan mode. But for some films, for instance a drama, viewers may wish to opt for the 1080i mode, especially if you have a bigger TV and there's not a lot of fast-moving action.

Another saving grace which I am most impressed with is the EZ-View function. My TV only has two picture modes, 4:3 and 16:9, i.e. there is no vertical stretch mode for watching my non-anamorphic DVDs (some of my early Criterions, for example). However, the Samsung player has a function called EZ-View that vertically stretches the image, allowing non-anamorphic widescreen films to be viewed in their true dimensions. Very, very impressive!

Finally, for those wishing to make it multiregion, which is entirely safe and does not void the warranty:

1. Switch on with no disc in and let the "No disc" sign appear
2. Press Repeat (the no disc sign disappears)
3. Press 57538 on the remote, and the current Region apears in the top left of the screen (in this case, a 2 appears)
5. Press 9 to enable all Regions (a 9 now appears where the 2 was)
6. Press Power Off on the remote, wait 10 seconds, and turn back on
7. Insert a different Region disc and away you go

Good Performance for the Price
Have used this with a Hannspree 32" LCD TV using HDMI cable and agree with most of the comments on the performance and build of the player. I would agree that the 720p is probably the best setting for DVD.

Have not tried DivX yet, will try out and give my thoughts on that later.

Don't expect every DVD to be 'transformed' - some older DVDs ( original Aliens for example)are failry average in quality, somewhat 'grainy' but still watchable, however, more recent DVD material does have an improved appearance in detail and colour.

Recommended for the price and capability.

UPDATE: As I said, here is an update on using the Samsung for Xvid playback.

Used DVD-RW for playback of Xvid avi - quality is fairly good considering it is being played back on a 32" LCD. Reduced zoom to get a better quality picture as full screen was just about acceptable but not ideal (smaller screen would probably be much better).

Usual pixellation during fast moving scenes which you get with Xvid/DivX but again I think the performance is good considering the price and I would recommend this DVD player as a good all rounder and am more than happy with the product.