Samsung 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBD-K8500

[chip75]

Originally Posted by KillaCam

I also have a Samsung soundbar and I use the optical cable to connect it straight to my tv. Is it better to use hdmi from the Samsung player straight to the soundbar? Is it going to sound extremely better that way? I'll try it out this evening when I get home from work.

It depends on what audio the sound bar outputs, if it outputs HD audio (which not a lot do) then HDMI is the way to go, if it just outputs lossy sound then there isn't going to be much difference.

[bruceames]

Why is this player still out of stock on both Amazon and Best Buy?

[Malibu13]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Why is this player still out of stock on both Amazon and Best Buy?

Could be that it's actually that in-demand or Samsung is creating a false demand for it. Who knows.

[scorpiontail60]

You're wondering why the only player on the market for a new format has a limited number of units available?

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by scorpiontail60

You're wondering why the only player on the market for a new format has a limited number of units available?

I don't remember an acute shortage of HD DVD players after a few weeks of launch, nor Samung Blu-ray players for that matter. Hopefully it's just a case of Samsung underestimating demand.

Anyway, why would you think there should still be a shortage of players nearly 7 weeks after they were first made available?

[skiizim]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Why is this player still out of stock on both Amazon and Best Buy?

Really? I haven't kept up with it since it launced but I remember there was a restock within a week of it's release, I guess it wasn't that big of one.

[paulsezso]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Why is this player still out of stock on both Amazon and Best Buy?

Found out that is was pre ordered and the demand and pre orders was way more then Samsung expected........ As of today Best Buy.com had some in stock!!!!

Good Luck

I just got mine a couple of weeks ago!!!! Worth the wait!!!

[aaronwt2065]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Why is this player still out of stock on both Amazon and Best Buy?

It was in stock most days last week from BestBuy. I returned mine to BestBuy at day 44 because they gave me the run around about getting the extended warranty. I wanted to get the $70, four year extended warranty but they gave me some erroneous crap about not being able to get it. So I returned it and got my $400 back and now they had an Open Box unit.

So I ordered it from HHGregg on Easter Sunday with their 12% off deal they had all day. So the K8500 was $351 before taxes and it had free shipping. I got it two days later.

The Market for the UHD BD player is still extremely small. Samsung probably did under estimate demand, since they are the only maker right now, but we're still only talking about thousands of players. Getting one from BestBuy is easy as well as HHGregg. I could have easily ordered a K8500 any day last week and had it in my hands within three days.

Right now HHGreg and BestBuy both have them in stock. With HHGreg if you sign up for their emails they will email you a code, within a day, for 10% off. Which is what I had originally planned on using until I saw they had 12% off on Easter Sunday.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by aaronwt2065

It was in stock most days last week from BestBuy. I returned mine to BestBuy at day 44 because they gave me the run around about getting the extended warranty. I wanted to get the $70, four year extended warranty but they gave me some erroneous crap about not being able to get it. So I returned it and got my $400 back and now they had an Open Box unit.

So I ordered it from HHGregg on Easter Sunday with their 12% off deal they had all day. So the K8500 was $351 before taxes and it had free shipping. I got it two days later.

The Market for the UHD BD player is still extremely small. Samsung probably did under estimate demand, since they are the only maker right now, but we're still only talking about thousands of players. Getting one from BestBuy is easy as well as HHGregg. I could have easily ordered a K8500 any day last week and had it in my hands within three days.

Right now HHGreg and BestBuy both have them in stock. With HHGreg if you sign up for their emails they will email you a code, within a day, for 10% off. Which is what I had originally planned on using until I saw they had 12% off on Easter Sunday.

It's more of a curiosity thing than anything else. I'm in the need for a second player since I have two HDR TVs, but will wait for another model. In the meantime, if I want to watch a UHD in the bedroom than I'll just have to lug the player up there. It'll be worth the few minutes effort for a two hour movie but I wouldn't want to do it very often.

I might bite on the Panasonic if the Oppo doesn't come along this year or I get impatient.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

This will sound like a stupid question because I own the darn thing, but I couldn't find an answer on Google. Is this player region free for standard Blu-ray? I don't have any region B to try, but I was interested in a couple from Zavvi possibly.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

This will sound like a stupid question because I own the darn thing, but I couldn't find an answer on Google. Is this player region free for standard Blu-ray? I don't have any region B to try, but I was interested in a couple from Zavvi possibly.

No it's not region free for standard Blu-ray. No Blu-ray player will come region free directly from the manufacturer. Any region free players you find will be pre-modded from 3rd party distributors. AFAIK no one has come up with a mod for the the Samsung player.

[mikesncc1701]

Well I had my first problem ever with this player tonight. After having it for a month, I was watching Kino Lorber's release of Nostalghia when I got a phone call. Granted I've left this thing paused numerous times long enough for the screen saver to start but not once have I had a problem resuming playback. After getting off the phone 20 minutes later, I tried to resume the film and the screen saver disappeared and the whole thing froze. I had to hold the power button down on the player to do a reset and after that worked like a charm. I'm not too worried as it's almost a one in a hundred chance it'll happen again from my experience but has anyone else had a similar issue? I ask just out of curiosity.

[carr857]

Originally Posted by mikesncc1701

Well I had my first problem ever with this player tonight. After having it for a month, I was watching Kino Lorber's release of Nostalghia when I got a phone call. Granted I've left this thing paused numerous times long enough for the screen saver to start but not once have I had a problem resuming playback. After getting off the phone 20 minutes later, I tried to resume the film and the screen saver disappeared and the whole thing froze. I had to hold the power button down on the player to do a reset and after that worked like a charm. I'm not too worried as it's almost a one in a hundred chance it'll happen again from my experience but has anyone else had a similar issue? I ask just out of curiosity.

mine has froze up a couple of times watching amazon, i usually just pull power and restart it. it has only done it two times and between me and my roommate it sees alot of use, ive had mine since day one.

[mikesncc1701]

Originally Posted by carr857

mine has froze up a couple of times watching amazon, i usually just pull power and restart it. it has only done it two times and between me and my roommate it sees alot of use, ive had mine since day one.

I've had mine since before day one (got it 4 days before launch date). Never had trouble streaming amazon, netflix, or hulu. When you say "pull power" do you literally unplug it and then plug it back in? If so, I'd recommend not doing that if you can help it. I've seen hardware fail with that method. Next time, try doing a soft reset by holding the power button down so it turns off, then start it back up. A bit less wear and tear on the power module.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

No it's not region free for standard Blu-ray. No Blu-ray player will come region free directly from the manufacturer. Any region free players you find will be pre-modded from 3rd party distributors. AFAIK no one has come up with a mod for the the Samsung player.

Thank you. This is my first ever stand alone Blu-ray player because I've always used the game consoles. The saying is true though you learn something new every day.

[Minimejer05]

Are people leaving HDMI Deep Color or turning it on? Never heard of that setting.

[Tns49]

Originally Posted by Minimejer05

Are people leaving HDMI Deep Color or turning it on? Never heard of that setting.

Deep color is more than 8 bit used to define color. I am not sure if this setting refers to UHD material. Some HD material include Deep Color support, and my older Samsung Blu-ray players had this setting. HEVC does but may ignore this setting. HDR IS automatically Deep color.

[Opips3]

Originally Posted by Minimejer05

Are people leaving HDMI Deep Color or turning it on? Never heard of that setting.

OH that's you mean for HDMI Deep Color??

new 12bit color with YCbCr 4:4:4 and HDR on 4K UHDTV is next year 2017.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by Minimejer05

Are people leaving HDMI Deep Color or turning it on? Never heard of that setting.

It should be turned off especially on the Samsnung displays as it will cook the colors and make everything look like a cartoon. You do want to turn HDMI UHD color on though in the display itself.

[Minimejer05]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

It should be turned off especially on the Samsnung displays as it will cook the colors and make everything look like a cartoon. You do want to turn HDMI UHD color on though in the display itself.

I'm not sure if I have that option on my TV. I have a Sony. I turned the HDMI to enhanced. Once my TV recognizes the 4K source it locks into HDR and pretty much kicks me out of any TV settings. I was mostly wondering about the HDMI Deep Color mode on the player itself. Never heard of it.