Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player (JULY 2008 REVIEW LINK)

[HDTV1080P]

The Samsung BD-P1500 for $400 is a fourth generation BLU-RAY player that does not perform as well as the PS3 in some areas. The BD-P1500 is suppose to be able to play BD-LIVE BLU-RAY discs with a future software and hardware update(memory update). Consumers are required to purchase an external 1GB USB memory stick in order to use the BD-LIVE feature since the player only contains 256MB of memory for PIP (bonus view). Hopefully future Samsung BLU-RAY players will have 1.256 GB of internal memory. 256MB for PIP and 1GB for BD-LIVE content. It is not consumer friendly to require one to purchase external memory in order to play some bonus features on the disc.
The Samsung BD-P1500 will only support up to 100MB networking compared to the PS3 that supports 1GB networking. Also the Samsung BD-P1500 is the only standalone BLU-RAY player that I know of that completely eliminates the 480I S-Video jack. Up until now every single DVD player and BLU-RAY player had a S-Video jack. The S-Video jack is useful for consumers that own old TV sets with S-Video inputs. As more and more consumers build BLU-RAY movie libraries they will want to replace all the DVD players in their house with BLU-RAY players.Eliminating the 480I S-Video jack in order to lower player costs is bad for consumers that have not updated their old TV’s yet. I personally know several consumers that still own 480I TV’s with the S-Video jack being their best quality interface for their old TV’s from the 90’s.

Highlights from the Ultimate A/V review

“In the short term, I guess it's necessary to continue providing standard-def analog video outputs, but what is the point of buying a Blu-ray player if you intend to use an SD output? Dropping SD video outputs seems reasonable, but the choice to drop S-video over composite—considering it is the superior output of the two—is curious.”

“A key feature of the BD-P1500 is the ability to pass both lossless audio formats, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as native bitstreams to an A/V receiver (AVR) or pre/pro with built-in decoders for these formats. It is also capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD into multichannel PCM and sending it via HDMI to an older AVR that doesn't decode the lossless audio formats. However, it cannot do the same for DTS-HD MA. The only way you can hear the full resolution of a DTS-HD MA soundtrack is to send the bitstream from the player to an AVR capable of decoding it.”

“Initially, I was informed that there would also be a firmware update allowing the BD-P1500 to decode DTS-HD MA. But as I was finishing this review, I learned that Samsung has announced no plan to implement such an update after all.”

“Despite the newness of the BD-P1500, there is an important update expected in the near future—Profile 2.0 (aka BD-Live). According to Samsung, this update is imminent, but an actual date was not provided before press time.”

“BD-Live requires 1GB of onboard memory, but the player has only 256MB internally. Thus, when you update the firmware to BD-Live, you must also insert a flash drive with at least 1GB into the USB port and keep it there.”

“However, I thought the performance of the BD-P1500 was less than ideal compared to the same tests played on the Sony PlayStation 3. It's important to understand that the PS3 does not deinterlace 1080i content; instead, it merely passes whatever is on the disc to the display—in this case, my JVC DLA-HD1—which does the deinterlacing. Thus, the comparisons I make here are between the processors in the BD-P1500 and the DLA-HD1.”

“Real-World Performance
Load times for Blu-ray players is still pretty sluggish, especially compared to standard DVD players. It took the BD-P1500 about 57 seconds to load Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (the time from closing the disc tray to the appearance of the first image on the screen), while the PS3 was only slightly quicker at 47 seconds. The third installment of Disney's ultra-successful Pirates series was one of the first Blu-ray discs to provide BD-Live features, which accounts for its longer load time. An earlier Blu-ray title like Million Dollar Baby took about 24 seconds to load on both the Samsung and PS3.”

“I also did an A/B comparison of the Samsung's internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD versus the PS3 and found them to be virtually identical. I could not detect any difference between them worth noting. Visually, the same was true—playback of Blu-ray discs on either unit was indistinguishable.
When it comes to upconversion of standard DVDs, the PS3 had a slight edge over the BD-P1500—and I do mean slight. Playback of The Incredibles on the Samsung appeared a little flatter, while the PS3 exhibited a bit more detail and vibrancy in darker scenes.”

“As much as each generation of Blu-ray players improves, it's still hard to beat the overall price versus features and performance of the PS3,”

“Conversely, the PS3 has a distinct advantage with its large hard-drive capacity, especially for those who enjoy BD-Live functionality. Even the smallest version is 40GB, more than enough for any capabilities that might come along.”
“Another inevitable comparison is with the Panasonic DMP-BD50, the first dedicated Blu-ray player in the US with BD-Live capabilities. With its recent drop in price to $600, the BD50 is still half again as much as the BD-P1500, but it offers several advantages over the Samsung. It provides BD-Live out of the box, and it can decode DTS-HD MA. It also offers a 5.1-channel analog output and both types of conventional digital-audio outputs. Only you can decide if these features are worth an additional $200 over the BD-P1500.”

“There's a lot to like about this player, though I am surprised it was brought to market without BD-Live and DTS-HD MA decoding. If Samsung had included these features, it would be easy to give this player an unequivocal thumbs up. As it is, though, I find it difficult to definitively recommend the BD-P1500, since it sells for the same price as the PS3, which provides both of these capabilities. The key features that the BD-P1500 has over the PS3 include its ability to send the lossless audio codecs as bitstreams and deinterlace 1080i.”

Highs
Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream output
High-quality decoding of Dolby TrueHD
Most attractive price for dedicated Blu-ray player
Lows
Does not support 1GB Ethernet networking speed like the PS3 does
Requires firmware update for BD-Live (Profile 2.0)
Limited internal memory, requires external flash drive for Profile 2.0

http://ultimateavmag.com/hddiscplayers/708sambd/