Samsung DVD-HD870 review

DivX support is also included, which is always welcome. It enables you to download video from the Internet, burn it to disc and watch via this player. There is also support for DivX on demand, a service that allows you to 'rent' movies or buy them online. This is a nice idea, but in reality there isn't that much content available. We think it would be great if movie studios did allow content to be purchased in this way, as it offers all the advantages of DVD rental with all the immediacy of Internet delivery.

The remote control is Samsung's usual design, but we wish the buttons were more responsive

One of the downsides of this player is that it won't deal with high-definition DivX or MPEG-4 files. Given the presence of HDMI and component out it's a little silly that the player can't handle these file types.

Performance
In terms of usability, the HD870 is good -- the menus are simple and the options aren't overwhelming. It's easy to forget that with each new generation of technology, there are more things to set up and more therefore more complications. DVD is wonderfully simple, and this player keeps it that way.

We found commands from the remote control were a little slow to be actioned by the player. When you add this to the fact that the buttons don't have an especially positive feel to them, it can be very frustrating when you think you've selected a menu option but the DVD player disagrees.

We rather liked the picture from the HD870 -- on DVDs that have a good-quality image it looked great. During our viewing of some of our sample DVDs, there were times when the colours were vivid and there were no visible compression artefacts from over-compression. When this happens it's almost possible to forget you are watching something recorded in standard definition.

The upscaling is a nifty feature, as is the ability to hook this machine up via HDMI. The latter doesn't ensure quality by default, but when quality components are used (as they seem to be here) you can end up with a very good picture on your TV. Upscaling DVD players generally follow the 'garbage in garbage out' rule. If a DVD was well authored and the bit rate is nice and high, you will get an impressive picture. If the bit rate is low, or the mastering wasn't done properly, then all the artefacts will be magnified by your large-screen TV.

Conclusion
If you don't already have a HD DVD or Blu-ray player, getting an upscaling DVD player with HDMI out is a really good way of getting the very best quality from your collection without the need to buy all your old films again.

You can find the Samsung DVD-HD870 for around £50 online. If you want to compare some alternatives the Denon DVD-1930 is a viable option, but it costs around £150 more. The advantage of the Denon is that it offers analogue 5.1 out, which is a handy addition if you want to hook up your DVD player to an AV amp with only analogue inputs.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield