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Originally Posted by crossg  In all fairness the Blu ray players are more expensive yes but the are full of options that the A3-D3 and below don't have. One they are 1080P/24p and HDMI 1.3 compliant (deep colour), most have coax, optical and analog 5.1 outputs and that costs more$$$. My Samsung BD-P1400 has way more hardware options than my Toshiba A-30 and it doesn't even support HDMI 1.3. To support 1.3 HDMI you have to buy a A-35 which is not that cheap. The Samsung BD-P 1400 was on sale here for $270 over the holidays. Can you program the Toshiba remote to control any other hardware??? I like them both and hope they are here to stay but they do have differences. |
To be truthful though, how many people can honestly benefit from 1080p/24? Some people such as myself are stuck with true 1080p sets but they were made just prior to the 1080p/24 or HDMI V1.3 spec so to many folks such as myself 1080p/24 is worthless. Furthermore it really only benefits those with 46"+ screens that fit into the category and only the 1080p models that were first introduced within the last year or so actually fully support 1080p/24 or HDMI V1.3. That and when you consider the large number of 720p/1080i sets that are out there and are still being sold in good numbers even today, it makes you seriously question how useful it is. Also you are incorrect about something else. The Toshiba A30, which is the middle range model between the A3/D3 and the A35 does in fact support HDMI V1.3 or 1080p/24. Amazon.com has it right now for just under $250 shipped with the 10 free
HD-DVD offer still in place so it still beats out the best deal on the Sammy you mentioned and comes with 10 free movies to boot:
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HD-A30...9134195&sr=8-2
That and when you combine it with the following facts:
1. The Samsung is stuck with V1.0 spec which means that at the very least you won't be able to access special features when the new blu-ray discs are released towards the beginning of 2008 and I still have a hard time believing the claim that the new V1.1 spec discs won't have some general playback issues on the V1.0 hardware. That and as many reviewers have pointed out, updates are not really much of an option with the Sammy.
2. While HD-DVD fanboys and Blu-Ray fanboys have defintiely done mudslinging on both the Toshiba players and the Sammy, the overall consensus is that the odds are greater of getting a bad unit with the Samsung than any of the Toshiba models, yet it is more expensive (now the cheapest it can be had for is $300).
So IMHO outside of a PC drive the only blu-ray player even worth considering is the PS3 (since it seems to be the only one that can keep up with the times) and that can't be had for less than $350 or so. Even then that kind of investment is only worth it if you can make use of the PS3s other features.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but for the reasons listed above, I believe that both of the cheapest Blu-Ray standalones are a poor investment. They are still too expensive, have too many complaints and just don't have much in the way of options for future updates.