Full HD 1080p Output for Blu-Ray Discs and selectable DVD Upconversion to 1080p
1080p with 24 Hz Video Output
HDMI version 1.3, component video, S-Video outputs
Dolby® Digital, Dolby® Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD
Ethernet connection lets you easily check for the latest firmware upgrades online
Rating: - Samsung BD-P1500
Got the Samsung BD-P1500 last night. Setup was easy to do until I decided to update the firmware using the ethernet port. The Firmware downloaded then began to install only to take 2 hours, and not do anything. After contacting Samsung, and speaking to level two support was informed by support to use a flash drive as when using the ethernet port if the download stops while the player is downloading the player has no way of informing the user that the file was not actually 100% downloaded. So then 2 hours later used the flash drive as instructed, and the firmware upgrade took 5 minutes to install. After which tested out DVDs, and blu-ray DVDs, and everything works as it should. I really wish Samsung would take the time to document known issues that can occur when upgrading the firmware in the manual, or at least write software that shows the status of the install when doing the upgrade instead of just the typical upgrade screen.
Rating: - Samsung Blu-ray cornering the lemonade market.
I've joined the growing masses of screwed Samsung Blu-ray customers. Right out of the box, the remote didn't work, or did it? A couple of buttons caused that circle with a slash through it to appear in the upper right corner of the screen. Does that deserve partial credit? Let's say 10% of the remote had some form of communication with the player. Just enough, by the way, to piss you off even more. It played a DVD by using the face panel buttons. That was fun. Then we rented a couple of BDs. It made it painfully to the menu screen where we watched that endless menu preview loop over and over as we tried to figure out what to do next. Because now, with BDs, the face panel buttons (all four of them) didn't work either. Or did they? The stop button worked - 25% on the front panel buttons. Awesome.
Firmware upgrade did nothing. When people say this thing runs hot... the temperature alone is reason enough to send it back. To have it along side your other components can NOT be good. I had it on top of my AV receiver. Thank God it's a piece of ____. I wouldn't have known until it was too late. Thank you for that, Samsung. Someone mentioned that after theirs was serviced, "it" worked. I guess they know what's wrong with them. Nice. Just a slight inconvenience for their customers. They actually thought I would send it in for servicing after having it for two days. How strange is that?
Judging by the reviews, the 1500 is a crap shoot (pun intended). You appear to have about a 75% chance at happiness. (This from Samsung, who would have guessed.) Are you feeling lucky? Then go for it! Or, maybe, you could just buy something else.
Rating: - Poor Quality/Customer Service
i bought a bdp1500 and it worked for only 2 days. being it died friday night, i had to wait until monday morning to get a person at samsung on the phone, where she said it was my tv not communicating with the player, even though it had worked the two nights before. i then proceeded to hook it up to a samsung tv, through a hdmi cable, and she said i had then merely "confused" the dvd player by changing the video outputs. returned for full refund, bought a sony, happy now.
Rating: - Excellent Technical Support - A Crucial Component
This is a very solid player at an excellent price point. Read any basically positive review and I would echo those sentiments. Yes, the front display is too dim and the remote is awkward. But it loads fast and offers a lot for the low price.
An important point to remember: A DVD player is basically like a toaster; a Blu-Ray player is like a computer. It takes a lot of horsepower and good programming to decode the disc and render all the special features. That's why many players are so slow or unreliable. They are just not up to the task. This unit is, and (more importantly) Samsung is committed to improvements.
As soon as I hooked it up, I played about 20 minutes of "Iron Man." Everything was great. But being at technofile, loading firmware is almost as much fun as watching movies, so I plugged in a network cable and updated it. It was a simple process that took about 15 minutes.
I inserted "Iron Man" again and it refused to play! I determined that it would play any disc but "Iron Man." Then I found that simply unplugging the network cable allowed it to play.
I went online to the tech support site, thinking I should let them know. Lo and behold, there was already a warning about "Iron Man" in Samsung's FAQ, and this was within a week or it being released. So they were already on it. I went ahead and filled out a trouble report.
By the next morning I already had a personal message from a tech support rep. She worked with me over the next week to get additional information so they could research and resolve the problem. She could not have been more polite and helpful. One day she was out sick, but still e-mailed from home to follow up. A few weeks later, she e-mailed again to let me know that a new firmware revision was ready for download.
Blu-Ray is an immature technology. Big changes are occurring and will continue. You need more than just a player that is good today--you need a team behind it that is dedicated to keeping it up-to-date. My experience with Samsung could not have been better.
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