Samsung’s BD-P1400 Blu-ray player employs chips from Silicon Optix to deliver some impressive video and audio presentations. While I coupled it with a Sharp HDTV (the Aquos LC52D64U), the use of HDMI and the HDTV’s Aquos-Link support allowed the Samsung player to integrate as easily as Sharp’s own Blu-ray player.
The system is Blu-ray Profile 1.0-compliant but upgrades are possible via the Ethernet connection (Fig. 2). This connection can also be utilized by Blu-ray disks to deliver additional content. I did not run into any disks that utilized the connection.
The system supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD High Resolution and digital output for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master audio. This resulted in some exceptional video and audio presentations, although I was only able to test out the 5.1 support using my audio system. An HDMI audio system is definitely necessary for delivering 7.1 audio content. Likewise, built-in audio systems for even HDTVs are likely to be a poor receptacle for all but the basic stereo output.
Samsung utilizes a pair of boards inside the box (Fig. 3). The single-sided board handles power while the system board (Fig. 4) provides all audio and video interfaces. This is a typical split given the lower cost of the single-sided board and the simplicity (compared to the system board) of the power board. This approach is one reason that the connectors are on one side of the rear panel.
Overall the BD-P1400 proved to be the equal of other Blu-ray players I’ve looked at. The audio and video results were top notch, but you’ll need matching hardware to take advantage of all its features. Still, it is targeted at HDTV where this support is likely to be found.
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