While I have yet to see one outside of the photos published on line, many who have seen the set up close state that the photos shown in this article do not do it justice. The LaserVue is the set to the left and the poor color depth is a result of the angle at which the photo was taken. Witness have stated that the LaserVue and the plasma (I think it is a Kuros) both look fantastic, however with the LaserVue taking less power, with a far greater life expectancy it is a very attractive product (excluding the current retail price).

I am hoping to see one of these for myself in the next couple of weeks to judge for myself. Until I see it with my own eyes, I shall be skeptical of any and all photos. It will also be another couple of years before I purchase one (agreement with the wife), so I am hoping that future generations will have lower prices.

...and we have LIFTOFF! What a great morning it is ladies and gentlemen!

Firmware downloaded, processed and update completed!

It took a good 20 minutes for mine to download, then another 5 minutes for it to process. I've got 10MB service via Charter Cable (speed tests show an average download capacity of 8MB).

Good news! 3:10 to Yuma is now playing (or rather the trailer for RAMBO and Lords of War). No time to step through the movie, but this is highly encouraging!

Just put Resident Evil Extinction, and I am now watching the Blu-ray trailer!!!

I've already read that this '1.0' is not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.

Now I've got one BIG question for Samsung. ...'v1.0'?!?! are you FRAKKING KIDDING ME?!!

Come on Samsung, you don't release 'alpha' versions to the general populace! That is just asking for a backlash!

Mr. Engadget with the review product? Wakey wakey! Time to get to work!!! :D

P.S. Resident Evil 3 is now playing!!! Looking forward to reports on Sunshine and other titles that were not playing.

News of the 2400 cancellation and delay of the 5000 as yet, still unconfirmed by Samsung.

[URL="http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/samsung/samsung-hybrid-bd+up5000-delayed-306357.php"]http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/samsung/samsung-hybrid-bd+up5000-delayed-306357.php
[/URL]

I'm praying it is false because I would really like one of these, but it a delay means that the product is up to date with the latest standards (something nearly impossible these days), I am all for it.

What "denial" do you speak of? Is it related to the BD-J profile again? I had thought that Samsung has already set this to rest stating that chipset would support 1.1 and be upgradeable to support 2.0?

Translated from German says;
"The BD-UP5000 supports the interactive abilities of both hp formats as so far some Standalone Player: iHD for HD-DVD and BD-Java (BD-J of profiles v1.0) for Blu ray. Both with HD-DVD and Blu ray Disc should be possible it to load over an Internet entrance via network connection further contents. The interface can be used also for software updates."

I'm also wondering where that German release came from. Did it come directly from SamsungUSA? Just curious as I am becoming more and more confused.

Spence

so how come all reports of the 2400 being canceled and the 5000 being delayed all point back to the same article from WesleyTech?

Until I see an official press release from Samsung, I will take this as a rumor.

How is this in any way going to effect satellite companies as they transmit via digital signals and not analog.

I am under the impression that Dish Network & DirecTV only capture, encode and "re-transmit "signals from local networks. As such they do not broadcast on any frequencies common to ATSC or NTSC for that matter.

So, can someone please enlighten me and bring me up to speed on what I am apparently missing?

Thanks in advance,

Spence

Not a problem Nilay Patel. Just trying to see that Dish Network gets a fair shake. After all, I think this may be one of the first times that they have actually made good on activating any feature that was originally described as "for future use". ;)

Are the upgrades perfect? No. Is it a step in the right direction? Heck yeah!

Regards,
Spence

Ethernet port is currently enabled for use in place of the "call home" feature (wherein the receiver calls home to check in and update usage data). It will eventually be used for Video on Demand content (SD only for the ViP622, HD & SD for the new ViP722), Dish Home (interactive feature with access to account info etc.), and remote scheduling of recordings, something that I am pretty excited about.

There are rumors floating around that while the "ViP" indicates "Video over IP" as in the Video on Demand feature, it may also mean that networked ViP models may be able to share recorded content via the LAN which would also be cool, but I'm not holding my breath because Dish is very concerned about maintaining integrity of recorded material that is any way copyrighted.

Cheers,
Spence

the $39.99 enabling fee is also a "one time" fee on a per account basis (covering multiple receivers in a given household). There is also no limitation to the number of external drives that may be used. The initial firmware version enabling external storage currently limits drives to a maximum of 750GB in size and only a single drive may be connected at one time, however Dish has mentioned that future firmware upgrades will allow the use of larger drives (It was demonstrated at a satellite convention using a 1TB drive), and USB hubs enabling multiple drives to connect simultaneously.