Samsung firmware upgrade unveiled

[3dguy]

Does anyone know the current status on the firmware fix for the Samsung BD-P1000? I registered at the Samsung software upgrade site and have not heard a word.

[BillM]

Check out the postings here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=737529

[3dguy]

Hey thanks a lot...I downloaded the firmware & instructions. I can't find any explanation of what the firmware "fixes". Any idea where I might find that info?

[jed]

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news...ray_Player/310

After months of consumer complaints and mounting bad press, Samsung has issued a firmware upgrade for its first-generation Blu-ray player... with a slight hitch.

The first Blu-ray player to hit the domestic market, Samsung's BD-P1000 has received less-than-stellar performance reviews, both for the perceived clunkiness of its user interface and a widely-reported "faulty noise reduction chip" which some say hampers the deck's video quality.

So Samsung's release today via its website of the BD-P1000's first firmware upgrade is good news indeed. Unfortunately, so far there's a little glitch -- Samsung makes no mention on their website -- nor with the PDF documentation that accompanies the upgrade -- just what exactly it does.

[3dguy]

I'm a little reluctant to install software on my $1000 player not knowing exactly what it does...and if it can be changed back again.

[txfilmguy]

I've just updated the firmware on my Samsung. It IS disconcerting that there is no explanation as to what issues the firmware addresses or what to look for, but here is what I've found this evening since updating the firmware:

1) Start-up time appears to be faster. I tried Sony, LionsGate, and Warner discs and they all seem to load the menu or logo screen in about 6 seconds, give or take. Also note that the hourglass is gone, replaced by the colored dots described by some on AVS forum on the units that have been modified.

2) DTS and DTS-ES playback on Blu-ray discs no longer cause stutter. I gave both Crash and T2 a test drive. I had seen Crash look jumpy when using the DTS-ES track before and switched over to Dolby Digital EX. However, I am happy to report that is no longer necessary for DTS fans.

3) 4:3 SD segments played back on BD discs now are presented in pillar-box. Before the update, the standard-def featurettes on Warner Bros.' Corpse Bride played back stretched to fill the 16:9 screen. Not so anymore. SD plays back in the appropriate aspect ratio. Side note: This correction does not seem to apply to SD discs.

4) Standard DVD up-conversion greatly improved. Previously I steered away from using the Samsung to play standard DVDs, using instead my Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player for its excellent up-conversion capapbilities. The Samsung is now in the same ballpark! The once fuzzy clumsy up-conversion process has been bumped up to a respectable quality. I have not yet done a side-by-side comparrison, but suffice to say I no longer see the need to avoid this player to up-convert my SD DVDs now.

There may be other changes, but these are the ones I've noticed so far. I did notice there are actually 3 individual files in the firmware update, so I'm thinking that represents 3 individual functions of the player that have been specifically addressed.

[Asoggy]

I downloaded the file fron the internet. I had to first find software that could extract the .rar file. I used WRAR361 file extraction converted the file to .iso files. Then burned it. I inserted the disc into player, got the update sucessfully.

The "hourglass" icon has been replaced by a string of colors that serve to let you know that the system is loading the disc. I didn't time it but it does appear that the load up time for the blue-ray dvd is much quicker now. Maybe someone else can verify this.

[burrito]

i just installed the firmware update.. everything seemed to run a lot smoother. for once, it actually acted like a $1000 device (well, more like one than it did, anyways).. load times were quicker, the annoying hourglass is gone, and the picture seemed fairly sharper.. oh, and it didn't take a minute for the player to think about what it was supposed to do when you hit the 'eject' button..

i still need to test the reported improvements to dts performance, and i also need to pop a DVD in there to see how it handles that, but so far i am quite pleased.. downloadable firmware updates are dandy..

[mcoka1]

I extracted the firmware update from samsung for the BDP.
I ended up with a 52.7MB .iso file named: bdp1000_xaa_061011_01.ISO
Is this what everyone used to burn onto a cd and take care of the update?

Thank you all for your input.

[Osko]

That should be it.
Just burn it using Nero or a similar program.

[Blurry]

What I am afraid is that they may try to sneak in a "feature" that we don't want. For example, a few weeks ago Sony announced that Blu-Ray was going to start enforcing region encoding, and slipping it into a firmware upgrade without letting people know would be a good way to get it into existing machines (it would also explain why they don't list what the firmware upgrade fixes)..

[doctornd]

This FW upgrade doesn't fix any HDMI issues. I have a TV only capable of 1080i and the screen jitters comparable to a low refresh rate on a CRT. I dont have this issue with component, but when I get up close to the screen, it looks like ants running around (the picture noise). When I use HDMI, i dont have any noise whatsoever, but colors are washed out like no tomorrow.

Anyone else having HDMI issues like this? It bothers me something like this obviously wasnt addressed on the FW update.

[txfilmguy]

Originally Posted by Blurry

What I am afraid is that they may try to sneak in a "feature" that we don't want. For example, a few weeks ago Sony announced that Blu-Ray was going to start enforcing region encoding, and slipping it into a firmware upgrade without letting people know would be a good way to get it into existing machines (it would also explain why they don't list what the firmware upgrade fixes)..

There was a post on AVS forum that alleges that region encoding has been activated with this firmware update.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by txfilmguy

There was a post on AVS forum that alleges that region encoding has been activated with this firmware update.

Well, it makes sense. Since no one should really want to have region blocking enabled on their hardware, it seems like the best way to get it in would be through a trojan horse strategy.

[resevilfan86]

well even with regional encoding, the majority of movies that people want to buy for dvd that were another region pretty much all came from japan anyway, which the US and Japan are now the same region. And european films are usually sold over here anyway. Unless u wanna watch a wierd chinease flick i dont see it being that big of a deal.

But back to the firmware, i hear that even when they do release the new firmware for the HDMI and the noise reduction chip that it doesnt that make much of a difference with picture. but has anybody heard anything about Samsung including the firmware update information from 1.0 into 2.0 which will have the HDMI and noise reduction or do you have to update them both seperatly if you have not done the first one. Basically, is it like the toshiba where all the previous updates are included with the latest update.