Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

• 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
• Dolby® Digital, Dolby® Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD
• Ethernet connection lets you easily check for the latest firmware upgrades online

I've been using this for 2 weeks now, and it's my first blu-ray player (no PS3). The good stuff: Excellent look, not too loud, amazing picture and sound. Working ethernet and USB port. (I haven't had to download any firmware or code updates, but I'm sure it'll work fine.)

Operations: No fan noise, no noise while playing, but during menu & loading, you hear some track-seeking which is audible at 10'... nothing offensive, though. I just noticed last night, after my 5th blu-ray a little flicker in in the bottom center of the screen during the credits of Juno... not sure if it's a bad disc or a player having a problem. It was repeatable, and the disc seemed clean. Lastly, the load time, eject time, etc seems just fine. Not instant or as fast a nice DVD player, but not noticably slow. I've heard alot about slow disc-loading, and if it is a problem on other players it's not a problem on this one. Lastly, sometimes when you click on a menu instead of pausing, the screen with show a "progress-bar" for 2-4 seconds while the next manu loads, which isn't completely kosher, but doesn't bother me.

The so-so stuff: I'm giving this 5-stars because it's near-perfect at what it's designed to do for it's price, but it's not perfect. One reason to get a midto lower-cost player is to (duh) save money... if you're someone who has an older receiver that doesn't decode the two new DD and DTS formats, and (probably) doesn't decode multi-channel PCM, this player isn't for you. It only has stereo-out analog RCA plugs, not 5.1 or 7.1 analog outputs.

That means you can't bypass your receivers pre-amp to play the newer audio formats and let the blu-ray player decode them. My old Receiver (which I used the player with for a week) only decoded DD 5.1 (no DTS, and only 2-channel PCM to 48khz). This player lets you send a PCM stream to your receiver from an internally decoded DTS 5.1 signal, but this didn't work for me... as my player can't receive 5.1 PCM streams, it only saw it as 2-channel. At least the player lets you downsample 96khz PCM to 48khz, so that I at least got sound (Golden Compass only has DTS 5.1 or DTS HD Master).

With my new receiver, all formats work perfectly, all bitstreamed.

Some people perhaps are holding off for new receivers because they don't want to connect through the player's analog RCA 5.1/7.1 connectors but this is probably mis-information. What you want to avoid is taking digital sound, converting it to analog, then back to digital, then back to analog... don't worry you wouldn't be doing this. Basically you would be doing all your processing in the player digitally, then once it is sent out through the pre-outs to the receiver you'd bypass the receiver's processing and it would go straight to the amplifier (which is of course analog anyway).

So my conclusion for thos people with older (but good) receivers this blu-ray player won't save you any money. The best savings would be to pay a little more for a player with 5.1 analog outputs and continue to use your existing receiver.

-Kevin Moore

Natick, MA

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I had been waiting to jump into the HD media fray until a winner was declared and of course, that happened earlier this year. A lot of people recommended to me to get a PS3 for my blu-ray player but, for a variety of reasons, I decided I wanted a standalone player. After a lot of research, I settled on the Samsung BD-P1500. I had heard a lot of negatives about how Samsung had not been supporting their previous generation units but I was willing to get them a 30 day trial. I'm glad I did.

I purchased this over memorial day weekend so I've had it over a month. In that time, I've played maybe a dozen blu-ray discs and 3 or 4 DVD's. The only problem I've experienced that is attributable to the player is several extremely brief audio dropouts while watching Ratatouille. However, I updated the player's firmware last weekend and watched several scenes that would previously cause the dropouts and observed none.

I love the fact that it has an ethernet port for firmware updates and future BD 2.0 features. The player loads discs quickly in comparison to stories I've heard about other players. Picture and sound quality are outstanding (I'm able to use the HD audio features and it's frankly amazing).

This is a really good player and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are VERY few products that would rate 5 stars in my book. Most things have at least a couple of areas to improve on. For the price, this is a really good player.

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This unit has two design problems that I'm aware of. I'm surprised that Samsung hasn't already fixed these issues.

For reference, my unit has the latest 1.3 firmware as of 9/10/2008.

#1: The BD-P1500 has inherent audio drop problems on the HDMI interface. I'm not sure if the optical interface has the same issue(s); however, I wouldn't be surprised if it does. The audio bitstream will drop (silent) occasionally on most blu-ray discs that I've played. I believe there is a timing and/or bandwidth issue with either the firmware or hardware. This problem has been reported by many other BD-P1500 owners on various AV forums.

#2: The front display is extremely dim. When this unit is placed next to the Samsung HT-AS720 receiver which has the same display type, the BD-P1500's display looks terrible. The BD-P1500 has an option to adjust the brightness of the front display; however it doesn't work. The display is always too dim. This problem has also been reported by many other BD-P1500 owners on various AV forums.

Unfortunately, Samsung has not been able to resolve the audio drop issue as of 09/10/2008 so I'm concerned that they may never. If high quality reliable audio playback is important to you, then I suggest you research the BD-P1500 more before buying it.

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Ok first off it should be said i have been holding off on Blu Ray due to price and completeness of format.

Currently this player does not support profile 2.0 but does support 1.1. Samsung has promised 2.0 support in a future firmware however there is conflicting reports on this and the box does feature a BD live Ready logo. So regardless if samsung is false advertising I'll end up with a profile 2.0 player one way or another.

HOWEVER as far as the player stands yes you will need a reciever that supports all the major codecs in order for it to shine. It is as far as I have seen the most responsive player so far and the start and load times are extremely short. That truly amazed me when I started my first disc in about 10 seconds total time. All in all the performace of the player is quite good and the 2 channel analog is very good. Best part is the player is absolutley silent in operation you could hear a pin drop when its on.

now for the cons.

currently doesnt play BD Live content questionable as to whether it ever will. Samsung has been quoted enough times that it will be 2.0 compliant and labeled it on the box that you'd assume it should be.

Secondly the player only has 2 analog channels and that means youll need a digital reciever to get 5.1 or more.

The Largest negatives are the decoding of DTS MA and Dolbey True HD. DTS MA is currently not supported but it is possible it could happen in a future update. On the Dolby True HD side the negative here is that it can only decode it to 2 channel internally. Now if you have a reciever that can decode the bitstreamed audio then none of this really affects you because the receiver fills in the blanks.

All this being said if this price continues to fall this player is worth the value if you have the pieces in place already. BTW it is a really beautiful player very minimal in the look of it.

If this player does not upgrade to profile 2.0 Samsung will be hating my constant calls on a daily basis :)

NEW entry 6-14-2009

I thought I would update this review and let everyone know who is looking at getting this player mine is still doing great. The player is indeed a Profile 2.0 now after the firmware upgrade and has been for some time. I also have taken one of my old 8 GB usb keys and popped in the back to add storage space to the unit and that works like a charm. If you have a good reciever and a good tv with HDMI I see no reason to spend hundreds more on other units this plays the movies and does it well. The HDMI connection levels the playing field with the direct digital signal.

I could write a novel on my issues with Samsung and their qualiy control, but I'll keep this to the point.

I had the 1500 (also a 1400 but it broke the first week) since May 28th. Worked pretty well until the firmware update. After the update, I lost TrueHD audio (internal decoding or bitstreaming) and Standard DVD playback become impossible. I couldn't play a single regular DVD no matter what I tried. BD discs that have TrueHD tracks started flaking out with audio drops and pauses also. Sometimes up to 30-40 per movie at 8-10 seconds a piece.

Contacted Samsung to report problems and they claim they never heard of it (nevermind that after I did the update and had problems I saw numerous posts on the web about the problems). They offered to do a warranty repair if I gave them my CC# for a $50 "deposit" AND I pay shipping. Forget it, returned the player to retailer and have sworn off samsung altogether. They have burned me twice now with BD products and there will not a change for a third time with any of their products.

For those who are not informed, check out the web for problems with the samsung BD players (1000, 1200, 1400, 1500). Check out how samsung wants to handle the problems with their PAYING customers. Utterly disheartening.