Samsung DVD-1080P8

The basics

Samsung DVD-1080P8 is a high-definition DVD player manufactured and designed by Samsung. This player can only not play DVD, but it also provides a playback media for CD, CD-R, and CD-RW. It also recognises the following media formats: WMA, JPEG, MP3, MPEG-4, and DivX. On top of that, it has a digital-to-analogue converter.

The good

Before you replace your wall of DVDs with a wall of Blu-rays, check out the upscaling skills of this Samsung. It can transform grimy old discs into scintillating, progressive scan blockbusters, boosting resolution all the way to 720p, 1080i and even 1080p. An HDMI connection keeps things one-touch simple and the Dolby Digital surround (via digital or optical out) gives pricier players a run for their money. The gloss black player has a classy VFD display and stands less than 5cm tall, making today’s chunky Blu-ray spinners look like sad old Betamax recorders.

The bad

Samsung’s home cinema credentials need a little updating. There’s no component video output and DTS sound isn’t supported either – just weak composite and Scart sockets for when you’re not using HDMI.

The bottom line

If your HD telly is HD-ready (720p), the smart move is definitely to get a decent upscaling DVD player like the Samsung rather than making the wallet-haemorrhaging leap to Blu-ray. Very cheap and very cheerful.