But, what if you’re the extreme movie geekazoid who wants to have the ultimate movie experience? Well, Samsung has introduced their newest baby, the DVD-HD950.

The new Samsung DVD-HD950 High-Definion Conversion DVD player is the perfect solution for anyone who has upgraded to HDTV, and wants to get the most out of their DVD collections, in the extreme.

Does it come in black?

This DVD player is part of a new wave of devices that use a digital HDMI connection and upconversion technology to offer improved video quality on their DVI and HDMI-equipped HDTVs. More so, the HD950 has a solid selection of features and costs less than the competition.

In comparison with bargain DVD players that we all usually see in Quiapo, Baclaran, and Greenhills, the Samsung DVD-HD950 has the looks of a true A/V component, with a black chassis and silver buttons, almost minimalist-style. It measures about 17 x 3 x 12 inches and definitely fits in any home theater space.

The remote of the DVD-HD950 is easy to navigate and has dedicated buttons for the player’s advanced features including HDMI-output resolution and video output. Although it doesn’t have a backlight, the remote allows frame-by-frame, step-through and fast searches, both forward and backward.

When we loaded a disc containing a DIVX movie, the screen displays a window showing a tree of the root directory. One problem we encountered on this part is that we can’t navigate through the window without using the remote.

It seems that the front panel of the HD950 lacks a few buttons to help you navigate through raw video files, mp3s and images. Or maybe we just weren't able to figure it out (sigh).

The new Samsung DVD-HD950 has unique features that can kick the butt of other players of its kind. It has an aspect-ratio control that can resize 16:9 and 4:3 content in several ways and can zoom and crop the picture to remove the thin letterbox bars from 2.35:1 movies or expand non-anamorphic wide-screen discs to fill wide-screen TVs. It also includes DVD-Audio and SACD decoding.

What we like about the DVD-HD950 is the HDMI output, that includes both an HDMI-to-HDMI cable and an HDMI-to-DVI cable in the package. Other output connections include one for component video, S-Video, and composite video; two for digital audio (optical and coaxial); and one each for analog stereo and multichannel audio.

With these features, the DVD-HD950 can upconvert using its HDMI output, wherein it can scale standard DVD resolution of 852 x 480 to 1024 x 768, 1280 x 720, or 1920 x 1080.

Its shortcomings

If, let's say, you were enjoying the latest DVD release then suddenly, you have to leave home for an emergency coffee break with your friends at the nearest Starbucks, you will obviously stop your player.

Now, going back from where you left off, you usually take advantage of the scene selection of the disc, or the fast forward button. But what if you're viewing a DIVX video?

Using the fast forward button is quick, but this feature is not as specific as inputting the exact hour, minutes and seconds of the movie where you left off.

In other DVD players, This feature is usually called the "Go To" feature, and we don't see this on the HD950. This is more specific in terms selecting the scene where you want to continue.

Although we're not sure if this is a patented feature on a specific brand of DVD player, but without it, you have to rely on the fast forward button.

Our verdict

Good points: Plays DVD-Audio and SACD discs; slim design; jog/shuttle control on remote; upconverts to several high resolutions; aspect-ratio control; solid compatibility.

Bad points: Inconsistent image quality on horizontal-resolution tests; lack of smoothness on some difficult images; 768p output inactive.

Conclusion: Samsung's DVD-HD950, a universal HDMI-upconversion DVD player, though falls a little short of videophile demands is a great and affordable DVD player.  Technews gives the HD950 two thumbs up.