Digital Trends

Samsung DVD-HD960 June 18th, 2007 | by Justin Whitaker

Conclusion

Despite a few minor drawbacks, the Samsung DVD-HD960 is an excellent interim step between investing hundreds of dollars in a HD-DVD or Blu-ray player and being stuck with a plain old 480p DVD player. The image quality improvement with this upconverting DVD player is a huge step up from a traditional 480p DVD player, and only the most discerning viewers will notice any artifacts due to the upconversion. Adding to the extremely user-friendly setup and operation, stylish design, and playback options of DivX and HD JPEG playback, the HD-960 offers a lot of good reasons to upgrade from your old DVD player. The biggest drawback, however, is the relatively high price when compared to other upconverting DVD players. The price of the HD960 is approximately $30-$50 USD higher than competing upconverting players, although Samsung will soon be replacing the HD960 with a new model, and closeout prices will likely bring the street price of the HD960 down quite a bit.


Pros:

• Good image quality through DVD upconversion
• Easy operation
• Included HDMI cable
• Sleek, modern styling

Cons:

• Expensive
• Sluggish load times