Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-ray Player

Amazon was great, got me the unit in 2-days. Everything was great, it worked on all CD's and DVDs so the kids where happy. But then my box set of 007 Blu-ray disk arrived and they didn't work. I tried three disk and they would load the menu, I choose something, and then it would restart the menu. I was lucky to have a wireless internal connection from my DVR sitting right there and decided to try to upgrade the firmware. It took 3 reboots to get the network working on the player, but it finally connected their site. I took over an hour to download the firmware, and my DSL line is 1-MB/s. When the upgrade finished the BLu-Ray disk started to work. It's a below average player and I shouldn't have to upgrade it to play Blu-Ray disk. I should have stuck with plan A, just buy a PS3.

I have a 2-year old Sony NS3100ES receiver that plays every format and outputs stereo or 5.1 surround sound. The picture is clear and the sound is impeccable. Why would I go out and spend literally $300 to $1,000 for a player that plays Blu-Ray discs?

Samsung's BD-P1500 is sleek, compact and has so many more functions than other players. It will play regular DVD's, CD', SACD's, DVD-R, DVD-RW, home made DVD's and much more. The HDMI to HDMI cable is the best to use if your television has that port, as it carries the most data most efficiently (you can buy it here on Amazon). You can also connect to a regular TV or sound system with R/B/G cables (video) and R/W cables (audio). Whatever connection or system, it will play stereo to surround sound.

The entire world of Blu-Ray discs is another topic. They have a new optical disc format with over five and a half times the storage capacity of a standard DVD. This means you have more data and extras (like a storyboard guide at the bottom of the screen, display the title list, repeat play to specific points on the Blu-Ray disc, changing the camera angel of the movie, `bookmark' a specific scene spot and much more). There is also a LAN/Ethernet terminal output for updating software from Samsung (most electronic companies upgrade to improve quality over time).

The biggest selling point of all is the massive amount of data that can be played compared to regular DVD players. The picture is SO amazingly crisp (a Full 1080/24p True Cinema picture), I'd much rather prefer viewing a Blu-Ray disc over a regular DVD. The sound is crystal clear (Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD), either in stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 (something I never thought could be improved upon with my Sony DVD player). Now at this price, you can have the new experience of Blu-Ray entertainment. It seems that prices do come down and quality does go up.

Note: Most of the on-line rental companies (Netflix, Blockbuster, etc.) have most of the Blu-Ray discs in stock!

Had to return the item because it would freeze during play and I had to shut down the entire system. Downloading firmware did not help.

Electronics Expo authorized the return and it went smoothly.

This is an excellent bluray player. I must say that the picture quality is just amazing. At first I was worried about getting the Samsung BD-P1500 bluray player because a lot of reviews complained that it freezes,skips chapters, or stops accepting discs. I've had mines for almost two weeks and haven't experienced a single problem at all, and I didn't even have to update it with the firmware. All the movies I played on it work perfectly and the dvd 1080p upscaling is excellent. All my dvds look fantastic and have better picture quality than before. Setup was a breeze; I connected this bluray player via 1.3 hdmi cable to my Samsung LN46a650 LCD tv. I watched Planet Earth Bluray and I was just blown away! The picture was so mesmerizing and just beautiful. This bluray player is definitely a winner. Overall I'm extremely happy with this bluray player!

Great BD player and at a great price. If you are in the market for an HDTV you can get a combo deal on Amazon for an additional $200 off making this BD player basically free. You cant go wrong!