Media Streamers and Hubs Guide

Compare This

Samsung DVD-F1080

21 Feb 2008

Clad in glossy piano black is Samsung's DVD-F1080, a DVD upscaler that promises to deliver the 1080p experience to your existing DVD collection.

Tags: (none)

Filter by Manufacturers

<div id="product-review" class="article">
			<h2 class="header-green">First Looks: Samsung DVD-F1080</h2>
		<span class="byline">Reviewed by Aloysius Low on Thursday, 21 Feb 2008</span>
		<div class="share">
	<div
		id="addthis_div_5350736d3eb8b" 
		class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style"
		addthis:url="http://www.hardwarezone.com/review-first-looks-samsung-dvd-f1080"		addthis:title="First Looks: Samsung DVD-F1080"	>
		<a class="addthis_button_google_plusone" g:plusone:count="false"></a>
		<a class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
		<a class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
		
		<a class="addthis_button_email"></a>
	</div>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	window.addEvent ('domready', function ()
	{
 		//AddThis thing
		addthis_share = window.addthis_share || {};
		addthis_share.url_transforms = {
			add: {
				utm_source: 'addthis',
				utm_medium: 'referral',
				utm_campaign: 'addthis',
				utm_content: 'First%2BLooks%3A%2BSamsung%2BDVD-F1080'
			}
		}
		
		addthis_config = window.addthis_config || {};
		addthis_config.data_track_clickback = true;
		addthis_config.data_ga_property = 'UA-166763-1';
		//window.addthis && addthis.toolbox (".addthis_toolbox");
		 
	});
//]]>
</script>		<div class="content resizeable">
						<div id="page-1" class="page">
		 		<h2 class="page-title">Pebble Beauty</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">Pebble Beauty</h3>
<p>After turning the whole laser printer industry on its collective noggin with their gorgeously designed printers, Samsung is now applying its Zen like approach on their DVD players. Clad in the similar glossy piano black shell of the Samsung ML-1630 printer comes the Samsung DVD-F1080, an upscaling DVD player that upscales your normal DVD experience to high definition goodness with style.</p>
<h4 class="page_sub_title rtecenter"><img src="http://images.hardwarezone.com/upload/files/2010/05/c9a0de9d0e.jpg" alt="" /></h4>
<h4 class="page_sub_title">Oh So Pretty</h4>
<p>You can't help but drool over the F1080's minimalistic looks and gorgeous black exterior, despite the fact that it is a huge fingerprint magnet. Barely five minutes into laying our hands on the F1080, and the small and compact unit was already covered in prints. Chances are high that normal usage of the unit would not accumulate as many prints, though the touch sensitive controls will probably end up smudgy looking around the edges. Despite this, the touch sensitive controls located on the front part of the unit blend in perfectly, and a light touch is sufficient to activate the buttons.</p>
<h4 class="page_sub_title">The Dark Beckons</h4>
<p>Unfortunately, the gorgeous looks of the F1080 was let down by functional issues that we encountered during testing, the most major being its inability to manually set your preferred upscale video resolution. A workaround to this is to switch the player to the video system that is the opposite of the disc being played, i.e. NTSC to PAL and vice versa. Luckily, Samsung has assured us that this problem will be fixed in the retail units.</p>
<p>The player also doesn't allow you to switch resolutions on-the-fly, meaning you have to stop the disc first, switch resolutions via the player's configuration menu, and then resume playback. It also doesn't help that the menu system itself feels sluggish and not very responsive, and the bundled remote control is just a pain to use due to buttons that always get stuck. Thankfully, since the F1080 comes equipped with Samsung's Anynet+ network control system, you'll be able to swap remotes if you own another similar Samsung product, thus saving you the grief of using the supplied remote.</p>
<h4 class="page_sub_title">Light at Last</h4>
<p>Performance-wise, the unit does well when put to the test in terms of video color and sharpness. Upscaled versions of the DVDs tested were pretty clear, though upscaled 'noise' was a problem, especially when the source video is dirty. We also tested its DivX playback capabilities and found the playback quality to be acceptable, though we do like to point out the fact that the player will not support anything above 720 x 576. Audio clarity was fine for both DVD and DivX playback, and you can easily switch between audio tracks via the on screen menu.</p>
<h4 class="page_sub_title">Zen Ending</h4>
<p>Interface problems aside, the Samsung DVD-F1080 is actually a decent upscaling DVD player with a very decent price at S$169. It offers plenty of value for folks with a huge DVD collection who want to get in on the HD experience without upgrading to Blu-ray. If Samsung can fix the problems we encountered for the retail unit, then the DVD-F1080 will be a worthy purchase for 2008. <br />
&nbsp;</p>			</div>
		</div>
			<div class="pagination" style="visibility:hidden;">
		<span class="desc">Page 1 of 1</span>
		<ul>
			<li class="prevnext prev"><a href="/review-first-looks-samsung-dvd-f1080" class="disabled">&lsaquo; Prev</a></li>
			<li class="skip">
				<form id="PageAddForm" method="post" action="/go"><fieldset style="display:none;"><input type="hidden" name="_method" value="POST" /></fieldset>					<select name="data[Page][url]" class="page-selector" disabled="disabled" id="PageUrl">
<option value="/review-first-looks-samsung-dvd-f1080" selected="selected">Pebble Beauty</option>
</select>					<input type="submit" class="submit" value="Go" />				</form>			</li>
			<li class="prevnext next"><a href="/review-first-looks-samsung-dvd-f1080" class="disabled">Next &rsaquo;</a></li>
		</ul>
	</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	window.addEvent ('domready', function ()
	{
 
		var container = document.getElement ('#product-review'),
			content = container && container.getElement ('.content'),
			pagination = container && container.getElement ('.pagination'),
			form = pagination && pagination.getElement ('form'),
			menu = form && form.getElement ('.page-selector'),
			links = {
				prev: pagination && pagination.getElement ('.prev a'),
				next: pagination && pagination.getElement ('.next a')
			},
			page = -1,
			desc = 'Page {curPage} of {lastPage}'
		;

// Tag as Javascript-enabled
		pagination.addClass ('js');

menu.addEvent ('change', function (e)
		{
			var curPage = this.selectedIndex + 1,
				lastPage = this.length,
				url = this.get ('value'),
				pageContent = container && container.getElement ('.page')
			;

// Disable controls
			menu.set ('disabled', 'disabled').blur ();
			if (pageContent) pageContent.setStyle ('opacity', .5);

new Request.HTML ({
				'url': url,
				'method': 'get',
				'link': 'cancel',
				'update': content,
				'onSuccess': function ()
				{
					// Update controls
					menu.erase ('disabled');
					links.prev
						.set ('href', menu.getChildren ('option')[(curPage > 1)? curPage - 2: curPage - 1].get ('value'))
						[(curPage > 1)? 'removeClass': 'addClass'] ('disabled')
					;
					links.next
						.set ('href', menu.getChildren ('option')[(curPage < lastPage)? curPage: curPage - 1].get ('value'))
						[(curPage < lastPage)? 'removeClass': 'addClass'] ('disabled')
					;
					pagination.getElement ('.desc').set ('text', desc.substitute ({ curPage: curPage, lastPage: lastPage}));

captureIntraLinks ();
					new Fx.Scroll (window).toElement (container);
				},
				'onFailure': function ()
				{
					// Restore controls
					menu.erase ('disabled');
					if (pageContent) pageContent.setStyle ('opacity', 1);
				}
			}).send ();
		});
		$$([links.prev, links.next]).addEvent ('click', function (e)
		{
			e.stop (); this.blur ();
			if (!this.hasClass ('disabled'))
				menu.set ('value', this.get ('href')).fireEvent ('change');
		});
		form.addEvent ('submit', function (e)
		{
			e.stop (); this.blur ();
			menu.fireEvent ('change');
		})

// Capture all intra-page links and hook to js
		function captureIntraLinks ()
		{
			content.getElements ('a[href^="#"]').flatten().each (function (link)
			{
				var target = link.get ('href').substr (6).trim ();
				if (target && target.match (/^\d+$/) && target <= menu.length)
					link.addEvent ('click', function (e)
					{
						e.stop (); this.blur ();
						menu.selectedIndex = target - 1;
						menu.fireEvent ('change');
					});
			});
		}
		captureIntraLinks ();

// Trigger initial pagination state
		var target = location.hash && location.hash.substr (6).trim ();
		if (target && target.match (/^\d+$/) && target <= menu.length && target != page)
		{
			menu.selectedIndex = target - 1;
			menu.fireEvent ('change');
		}
 
	});
//]]>
</script>
				</div>

<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	window.addEvent ('domready', function ()
	{
 
		var section = $('tab-product-content-review'),
			dropdown = section.getElement ('#reviews-list'),
			tId = 0
		;

if (section && dropdown)
		{
			var list = dropdown.getElement ('ul'),
				links = list.getElements ('li a')
			;

dropdown.addClass ('js');
			list.set ('morph', { 'link': 'cancel' });

$$(dropdown, list).addEvents ({
				'mousemove': function ()
				{
					$clear (tId);
				},
				'mouseenter': function ()
				{
					list.set ('morph', {'duration': 'short'}).morph ({ 'opacity': 1 });
				},
				'mouseleave': function ()
				{
					tId = function () { list.set ('morph', {'duration': 'short'}).morph ({ 'opacity': 0}); }.delay (1000);
				}
			}).fireEvent ('mouseleave');

links.addEvent ('click', function (e)
			{
				e.stop ();
				//unescape the 'alt' prooperty
				var o = new Element('i', { 'html': this.get ('alt')});
				new Request.HTML ({
					'url': o.get('text') + '&as=ajax',
					'method': 'get',
					'link': 'cancel',
					'update': section.empty().grab(new Element('div')
						.addClass ('waiter')
						.grab (new Element ('span', {
							text: 'Please wait while we load your article ...'
						}))
					)
				}).send ();
			})

section.getElements ('.footer .comments a').addEvent ('click', function (e)
			{
				e.stop ();
				new Fx.Scroll (window).toElement ($('tab-product-details'));

var href = this.get ('href').match (/#.+$/), target = href && href[0];
				if (target)
					(function () { new Fx.Scroll (window).toElement ($(target.substr (1))); })
						.delay (3000);

$('tab-product-comments').getChildren ('a')[0].fireEvent ('click');
			})
		}
		if( $$('.image-caption-container').length < 1 )
		{	
			$$('.article .content img[title]').each (function (img)
			{
				// skip if title is empty
				if (!img.get ('title')) return;
			
				new Element ('span', {'class': 'image-caption-container'})
					.addClass (['left', 'right'].contains (img.get ('align'))? img.get ('align'): '')
					.set ('width', img.get ('width'))
					.replaces (img)
					.grab (img)
					.grab (new Element ('div', {
						'class': 'image-caption',
						'html': img.get ('title').trim ()
					}))
				;
				img.erase ('align');
			
				var link = img.getParents ('a');
				if (link) link.addClass ('captioned');
			});
		}
 
	});
//]]>
</script>

Media Streamers and Hubs Guide

Samsung DVD-F1080

Filter by Manufacturers

You may also be interested in...