Rating: 
Summary: SLEEK AND TRENDY OUTSIDE, POOR INSIDE
Review: I was reluctant to get this DVD player because I have had a Samsung DVD player in the past with problems, but the DVI connection won me over. The picture quality is great...significantly better than a regular progressive scan connection. The player itself is really good-looking with a shiny metallic front. The problem is on the inside. I have had a Toshiba DVD player for about 3 years now, before I upgraded. I could insert a DVD that was completely scratched up and it would reproduce a perfect picture w/o any glitches. NOT this Samsung. Just like the previous Samsung DVD player I owned, this one is glitchy. I played a brand new disc and it froze up on me right in the middle of the movie. Forget the ratty scratched up disks it will spit it out. I wanted to see the Phantom Menace in all it's digital glory....nope, the DVD player's laser was searching for data before it finally gave up. I checked to see if the disk was dirty, it was clean as the day I got it. I am completely disappointed with the player. I really thought the company had turned around and started to make quality products. Sure they look nicer, but it's the inside that counts.
Rating: 
Summary: No contest : HD931 wins hands down vs. JVC 480P XVN50BK
Review: Summary: if your screen is larger than 32", you need the HD931.
I just upgraded from a 32" jvc tv to a 60" Sony WEGA lcd projector. I connected both the HD931 with DVI cable (5m DVI-D through av-cables.net for $35)and my 9-month old JVC "digital direct" XVN50BK progressive scan player using monster component cable. On good dvd transfers the difference is stunning, but even on mediocre dvds the difference is clearly noticeable. On all dvds the HD931 eliminates stair-stepping and cleans up the image, resulting in more detail and depth. Yes, the remote is somewhat of a pain, and yes, my new Sony stretched most 4:3 dvds even at 480P until I called Samsung and obtained a firmware update that I was aware of only because of another Amazon customer review. All in all, the clear difference in picture is definitely worth the little extra bit of hassle. With sharp dvds the picture is very, very close to HDTV from ~8' away & up.
Rating:
Summary: Too much pilot error here.
Review: I've seen a lot of negative reviews here on this Samsung 931, and I can tell you I recognize a lot of the complaints from my own trial-and-error adjustment to the technology.
First of all, if you want a plain vanilla DVD player, don't buy the 931. Likewise, if all you want is progressive scanning (i.e. the upgrading of the image from 480i to 480p), don't buy the 931. You can cover that need neatly with a sub-$100 DVD player from virtually any manufacturer you can think of.
However, if you want to complete a truly high performance home theater that features a modern, HD-capable TV, preferrably one equipped with a DVI input, then by all means buy the 931. At that point you can do what I did, which is to try and figure it out by pushing all the different buttons and in particular using different combinations of the two trichromic LEDs on the left side of the front panel. When that finally fails and you're sure the machine is broken or at least unreliable, you can break down and read the manual (ouch!), after which it all makes perfect sense & works like a charm.
The problems, it seems afterall, were just "pilot error". The 931 is solid and can be quite spectacular, especially when playing action films at 720p via the DVI connector.
Rating: 
Summary: it is alright
Review: this seems like the only DVD player with DVI output.the picture is pretty good... I was watching "Intolerable Cruelty" using the 1080i mode and the picture is almost as good as HDTV broadcast... maybe more like 720 broadcast. but there are some defects: 1. the movie skips a little bit here and there... about 5 times during the movie. While my cheaper DVD players and the PC's DVD-ROM drive won't skip. (tested with the same DVD on all machines) 2. during the "Copyright notice" and the 90 second "Dolby Digital" clip, my other DVD players and PC cannot "Skip to the next chapter" but can "fast forward". This Samsung player won't let you skip and won't let you fast forward either. (tested with the same DVD). [Update: I can't even fast forward on some movie previews. On top of that, I can't even press STOP to stop playing the disc. This is a major design flaw.]
Rating:
Summary: Incredible Picture Quality
Review: I wasn't sure what kind of difference to expect, but the picture is much sharper through the DVI than any DVD player (including this one) through component hookups. If you can handle 1080i through DVI, you have to have this.
Rating:
Summary: BE CAREFUL! KEEP YOUR RECIEPT!
Review: I waited for months to buy this DVD player. I already have a Samsung 47" HDTV with a HDCP DVI Input so I figured this must be fate. Finally I would be watching movies in almost high definition quality and finally I would get to use the DVI on my tv to really see what it was capable of.
So I run to the store swipe up this machine and run it home quickly to see what Lord of the Rings would look like in 1080i resolution.
Straight out of the box I set it up with preciseness, followed the manuals instructions even though I am pretty much a video wiz with years of experience and knowledge. Set the machine to 1080i output and I sat down with a cold coke and fired up Lord of the Rings. I was expecting to be amazed...but alas I was horrified. First the sound output with optical cable was crackling and fading in and out and that is just on the menu. Then when I started up the movie, it randomly was skipping, and the picture was of a lesser quality than my good old dependable progressive scan DVD player. I thought for sure this was a mistake. I had expected amazing picture quality. I tried 720p output and it was worse than the 1080i. So I decided to make sure I wasn't blind and I hooked up my old DVD player to the component output and switched back and forth between the two and clearly my JVC Progressive Scan DVD player had a far superior image. I tried to tweak and make sure that it wasn't a cable or a setting error. I did all the things possible that could be a human error. In the end I found myself extremely disappointed and returned the machine that very night. So I recommend sadly that perhaps you invest in a good quality progressive scan unit and do not fall for this units false abilities. It may upconvert the signal through DVI connection to a 1080i resolution but it isn't anything near HDTV quality. I was so disappointed...please don't make the mistake I did by purchasing this unit.
Rating: 
Summary: Great picture, remote so-so, blue light annoying.
Review: I bought it thru amazon for $229, no shipping or tax. It retails for $299.99 at Best Buy. So, I can't complain about the price. From reading some of the negative reviews, I would have to agree that the blue light is a pain, as well as the remote, too small, no backlight, and limited range. There is an option to dim the blue light, but it doesn't dim it much if at all. I even considered opening the unit up and removing the bulb.
On the plus side, the picture quality is amazing. It gets the most out of my HDTV ready Toshiba 51H83. And I don't even use a $99 monster dvi cable, just the one that came in the box. Very satisfied with the unit aside from the aforementioned minor drawbacks. I don't get cable hdtv where I live nor do I have a satelite, so for me its the best I can do for now.
Rating: 
Summary: Great picture quality but several nagging issues
Review: I purchased this unit to go along with my Panasonic 32HL43 HDTV. I had no problem hooking up the HD931 using the included DVI cable. Apparently, no compatibility issue with Pansonic HDTV. Pros:
The picture quality was great. 1080i via DVI cable showed noticeable improvement over 480p using component. I compared against other progressive scan players as well and the picture quality of HD931 really shines. Cons:
You probably heard enough gripes about the remote, lack of VCD support and the super bright blue light. However, these weren't that much of an issue for me. But, the following two were:
* HD931 can't handle some DVDs resulting in freezing of vidoe feed and audio cutting out. This happened several times while watching Pirates of the Carribean.
* Painfully slow navigation. I have never seen a DVD player takes so long to navigate thorugh the DVD menu. To set up the audio, it takes more than 5 seconds to get to the next menu. Its long enough where you wonder if the player is frozen or did not receive the last command. Conclusion:
Although the picture quality was great, there were too many nagging issues (especially video freezing) that I couldn't justify the $. I wound up returning the HD931. I heard that other main stream manufacturers will be announcing 1080i DVD players this year so hopefully they will do better.
Rating:
Summary: Samsung HD931 Impression
Review: I recently purchased a High Definition (HD) plasma display panel and have been enjoying HD television but have been disappointed with the output from my old non-progressive scan DVD player. I read numerous reviews and opinions on the Samsung HD931 player and thought that since I had a fixed panel display with DVI input that I would get the most benefit from this player. After viewing numerous DVDs since receiving this player I would like to share the following observations: On good DVD material the picture is very good and with digitally produced DVDs, such as "Monsters Inc." and "Finding Nemo", the picture is excellent and allows this player to truly shine. Although the advertising might suggest HD quality output from this player, I would say that the picture quality even with the best quality DVDs is not as good as normal HD broadcasts that I receive over HD cable. There is no comparison of this DVD player when comparing its output with HD broadcasts recorded using HD equipment. Overall I am happy with my purchase and I am planning on keeping this player until true HD DVDs and HD players are readily available. Hopefully this happens sooner than the projected 2007 dates I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional video quality - but at what cost?
Review: Hopefully you're reading this review to try and find out whether the HD quality DVI output is really that good.
If you're in a hurry, I'll summarize by saying that it really is the best quality video output that you can get today from a DVD player. But it would not make sense to leave it at that, especially when the other DVD players cost at least a 100 bucks less. I for one decided to do a test. I compared this Samsung HD931 player against a Sony DVP-NS725P (in my opinion, one of the best less-expensive, non-DVI output players). I chose the Sony because it's one of the few progressive scan players that have a 12-bit 108MHz Video DAC (Digital to Analog converter) - most others have a 10-bit 54MHz Video DAC. As I write this review, the Samsung cost around $229 while the Sony cost around $129.
So how did these 2 players compare? First off, I chose the best video output from each player. Obviously for the Samsung HD931, this is the DVI output (and I ran it at 720p as well as 1080i). As for the Sony NS725P, it was the component output running at 480p. Also, I tested with many DVD movies, not just one. And finally, my TV is a 50" Samsung DLP HDTV - great TV, but with such large and high clarity TVs you tend to notice any artifact, noise, etc. So the input to this TV is important (that's what got me started on this quest for a good DVD player in the first place!). The bottom line is this: With most DVDs (such as 'Finding Nemo', 'Indiana Jones', etc.), I noticed a difference - the Samsung HD931 produced a picture that was better than the Sony NS725P. But how much better exactly? Well, I wish I had a tool for measuring that, but I don't. So with my human perception I'd say that on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), the Samsung HD931 scored a 9 while the Sony NS725P scored a close 8. When the DVD movie was of low quality (such as a backup of a movie), the score was even at around 7 each. In other words, there seemed to be no difference in the case of low quality DVDs (surprising, I'd have thought the Samsung would have done better here).
I don't want to make this review too big, so I'll summarize the pros and cons of this Samsung HD931 player.
Pros:
1) Definitely high quality DVI output - I used the DVI cable that came with the box. No noise problems, no setup problems, nothing. You do have to remember to select 480p or 720p or 1080i. I seemed to get the best picture with 720p, but 1080i seemed almost the same really.
2) DVI cable was included - I'm mentioning this again because it is a big deal, given how expensive these cables can be. However, I noticed that some boxes at Best Buy said 'DVI cable included', while some did NOT. So, do all HD931 boxes include the cable? I don't know. Cons:
1) The price - it really has to come down.
2) The remote. Others have said it too - it really has very small range. If you're more than 6 feet way, you'll have problems. Also, there's only one Fast Fordward (>>) button that doubles as chapter forward as well as fast forward. If you press it once, it goes to the next chapter. If you press and hold, it'll fast forward. Same thing for Rewind (search backwards). Not a good design.
3) The blue lights - Yes, that's plural. There are 2 big, annoying ones. When the unit is in standby, the round knob all the way in the left lights up. This is the smaller of the 2 lights. When you power up, the big round knob all the way to the right (jog dial) lights up. This one is more annoying since it's big and very bright. You can only make the display dim, but not either of these 2 lights.
4) Audio output not that great - I hooked up the optical digital out to my Denon Receiver. The bass was sub-par. The surround sound channels seemed weaker too. When I hooked up the Sony player (NS725P) with the exact same receiver settings, the sound was awesome. Of course, the Sony player is noted for it's high quality sound output. So maybe that's more of a statement for the Sony player than for this Samsung player.
5) Lack of special features - E.g. The Sony player can remember the location of the last 5 DVD movies you've played. This Samsung player didn't seem to always remember even the most recent one I was playing. Also, you cannot make any picture adjustments (noise filtering, film mode, cinema mode, etc.) All these and more were available with the Sony NS725P that cost much less. To summarize (again) - this Samsung HD931 is capable of producing one of the best quality pictures using the DVI output. But for all the lack of features described above, I would not recommend buying it. Especially if the price stays so much higher than the other players which certainly do a good job with Video as well (not as good, but close enough). I ended up returning the Samsung HD931 and keeping the Sony DVP-NS725P. I plan to buy a good quality VCR with the $100 I saved.
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