Samsung DVD-HD870 High-Definition Conversion DVD Player

Watch All Your DVDs In High Definition

Get the most out of your high definition TV and your existing collection of standard DVD resolution discs with Samsung's DVD-HD 870 High Definition Conversion DVD player. With the increasing interest in HDTV, many home theater owners find themselves with a new digital television but a lack of high definition programming to take the best advantage of their investment. Samsung's upconversion technology opens up a vast library of 480p native resolution DVD material to output in a high definition format (720p or 1080i) that matches the native resolution of the TV. And not only are the output signals upgraded, but the entire process takes place in the digital domain, eliminating data loss and other artifacts associated with analog conversion.

Stunning Sights, Thrilling Sounds

Upconverted signals are sent from the DVD-HD 870 to a compatible TV by HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) output. With this latest single-cable connection, the signal stays digital until it's displayed on the screen, for the cleanest picture quality possible. There's also an array of more conventional video outputs for TVs that aren't HDMI-equipped. Composite video, S-video, and component video are all available. And what good is a stunning high definition picture without thrilling surround sound? Samsung provides both coaxial and optical digital audio outputs for connection to your home theater speakers. The DVD-HD 870 supports Dolby Digital encoded DVDs, so you're always certain to have great sound to go along with a great picture no matter what DVD you play.

Is There A Format The DVD-HD 860 Can't Play?

There might be, but it won't be one of the predominant formats. Maybe 8-track. This machine does play DVD video, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, VCD, SVCD, CD audio, CD-R/RW; and, as if that weren't enough, the DVD-HD 870 also plays MP3, WMA, and JPEG files on CD-R discs using either the ISO 9660 or Joliet format. Each CD-R disc can have up to 3000 files and 300 folders. Compression rates supported for MP3 are from 128-192 kbps and for WMA from 64-192 kbps. JPEG files can be seen in a slide show with intervals of 6, 12, or 18 seconds between images; and you can zoom in (2x or 4x) on an image or rotate it 90-degrees clockwise.

Getting The Picture To Fit Your Screen

Samsung's EZ View Letterbox Eliminator gives you several aspect ratio adjustments depending on whether you have a standard (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio TV and whether you're playing a 4:3 or 16:9 disc. These adjustments allow you to get rid of the letterbox black bars at the top and bottom or left and right of the screen either by stretching the picture horizontally or vertically, or by cutting off some of the picture content. You can choose to display the picture that looks the best to you. Of course the ultimate solution is to display 16:9 aspect ratio discs on a 16:9 screen--no bars, no stretching, no picture lost. Besides, if the movie was shot in widescreen, that's the way the director intended for you to view it.

Bells And Whistles

There are a number of other features that make the DVD-HD 870 easy to live with. Resume play lets you start playback of a disc from the point where you last stopped. If you press the STOP button more than once, open the disc tray, or unplug the unit, the stopping point is cleared. The bookmark function lets you mark and store up to three scenes at a time for easy recall. Instant replay shows you the previous 10 seconds of the movie again--in case you missed something important. Instant skip jumps ahead 10 seconds--in case you want to miss something. And parental control lets you set a password that must be given before a password-protected disc can be viewed to keep children from watching DVDs their parents don't want them to see.