Opinions on the Samsung BD-P2500 Blu-ray player

[Indyjones]

Hey guys!

I've made the decision to get a new receiver (from a Yamaha RX-V1600 to an Onkyo TX-SR806) and am also looking into getting a second BD player (currently using a PS3), just to save some wear and tear on the PS3.

Anyway, the player I'm eyeing right now is the Samsung BD-P2500. I've looked into it a bit, and as far as BD playback goes, it seems to be at least on par with the PS3. My main reason though, for the 2500, is the REON chip. Right now I'm using a Toshiba XA2 for dvd's. I no longer have any HD-DVD's, so the main and only reason for even keeping the XA2 up to now, is because of the dvd playback performance. And since the BD-P2500 has the REON chip, it seems like a good canidate for a standalone player and finally enabling to unload the XA2, while at least maintaining the same BD performance as the PS3.

One of the things I'm concerned about is the durability and reliability. I really haven't been following standalones all that much, but I do know that the earlier samsung bd players had issues.

If anyone has this player, any feedback would be appreciated.

[shooter3295]

You are doing exactly what I did. I too kept the Toshiba HD player because of it's superior upscaling ability. The Toshiba only went to 1080i. The BD-P2500 goes up to 1080p. Yeah,.....most won't be able to tell the difference,....but the 2500 does a superior job of upscaling. It also does Netflix streaming.

I've owned mine for about 3 weeks now,...and am very happy with the purchase.

BTW,...the BD-P 2550 is the same machine,....only besides Netflix,....it also streams the Pandora music service.

[jeff92k7]

I have had the 2550 for a couple of months now and haven't had a single problem with it.

To me, the lack of posts about this player in recent weeks (since the last firmware update) tells me that there are very few people experiencing problems with it. Even back then, most of the problems were with the 1500 and not the 2500/2550.

I see no reason not to recommend it. It's a great player.

[Tarheel72]

its a samsung br player. that alone is a good enough reason not to buy it

[joerobertson]

Hi everyone
I had purchased the Samsung BDP2550 from my local Futureshop here in Timmins (Northern Ontario Canada) on December 26th, 2008.

Even though the Samsung is a attractive unit with awesome picture quality, i DID have problems with the unit. I tried playing Diehard 4 on dvd, which would freeze about 3/4 the way through the movie. Also on dual layer dvds, you REALLY notice the change in layers. In the week and a half that i owned the unit, i had updated the firmware 3 times.

In the end, i took the unit back and bought Sony's BDP S550 and havent had a single issue.

Joe

[fatediesel]

I bought the 2500 and it didn't work from the start. It was slow loading even when there wasn't a disc in, and wouldn't do a firmware update through ethernet or external card. I probably just got a bad model but I sent it back and got a Panny BD-55. It's too bad, I was really interested in the Netflix part.

[Sammy]

Mine has had no problems at all and has played everything that I've put in it. I've updated the firmware twice, once to ver 2.3 when I took it out of the box and again to f/w ver 2.4 about a month later to add dts HD MA decoding. I got it in mid-December.

[bsuyeti29]

I bought the 2500 the deal the put it on the shelf, happened to be there when they were stockiing them. I think its an amazing blue ray player PQ perfect and the upscaling actually blew me away, i have always been against upscaling dvd players, but this one is awesome. Recently did a firmware update and I now stream netflix which my wife loves. The load time for a standard DVD was around 30 seconds and the blu is a little quicker doesnt bother me any. I like it all pluses no cons.

[resai]

hi bdp2500 owners , I'm thinking to get one nowadays (because of reon chip mostly) but I've got a question , does it play mp4 files (h264 with ac3 or dts) on a recordable dvd? sd or hd both?

[Sammy]

http://www.samsung.com/us/system/con...p2500_spec.pdf

My son ripped and burnd a DVD of "Taken" (I didn't ask where he got it) in -R format and it played, but I don't know what video codec he put it in. The spec sheet above lists MPEG-2, but not MPEG-4. I don't think that it plays MPEG-4 from a recordable disk, but don't know for sure.

[Sammy]

The spec sheet says:

MPEG2, VC-1, H.264, HD JPEG decoding.

The manual has a footnote that says:

If a DVD-R/-RW disc has not been recorded properly in DVD video format, it will not be playable.
The unit cannot play CD-RW/CD-R and DVD-RW/-R recorded content such as divx, avi, mpg, mov, wma, mp3, digital photo view(JPEG) file.

[Sammy]

More iformation from manual:

Disc Types
BD-ROM
Blu-ray Disc Read Only Memory. A BD-ROM disc contains pre-recorded data. Although a BD-ROM
may contain any form of data, most BD-ROM discs will contain movies in High Definition format, for
playback on Blu-ray Disc Player's. This unit can play back pre-recorded commercial BD-ROM discs.

BD-RE/BD-R
Blu-ray Disc Rewritable/Blu-ray Disc Recordable. BD-RE/BD-R is the ideal format for making backups,
or recording personal video.

DVD-Video
A digital versatile disc (DVD) can contain up to 135-minutes of images, 8 audio languages and 32
subtitle languages. It is equipped with MPEG-2 picture compression and Dolby Digital surround,
allowing you to enjoy vivid and clear theatre quality images.
When switching from the first layer to the second layer of a dual-layered DVD Video disc, there
may be momentary distortion in the image and sound. This is not a malfunction of the unit.
Once a DVD-RW/-R recorded in Video Mode is finalized, it becomes DVD-Video. Pre-recorded
(pre-stamped) commercial DVDs with movies are also referred to as DVD-Videos. This unit can
play back pre-recorded commercial DVD discs (DVD-Video discs) with movies.

Audio CD
An audio disc on which 44.1kHz PCM Audio is recorded.
This unit can play back CD-DA format audio CD-RW and CD-R discs.
The unit may not be able to play some CD-RW or CD-R discs due to the condition of the recording.

CD-RW/CD-R
Use a 700MB(80 minutes) CD-RW/CD-R disc. If possible, do not use a 800MB(90 minutes) or
above disc, as the disc may not play back.
If the CD-RW/CD-R disc was not recorded as a closed session, you may experience delays when playing back the beginning of the disc or all recorded files may not play.

Some CD-RW/CD-R discs may not be playable with this unit, depending on the device which was used to burn them. For contents recorded on CD-RW/CD-R media from CDs for your personal use, playability may vary depending on contents and discs.

DVD-R Disc Playback
Once a DVD-R recorded in Video Mode is finalized, it becomes DVD-Video.
This unit can play back DVD-R discs recorded and finalized with a DVD video recorder. It may not be able to play some DVD-R discs depending on the disc and the condition of the recording.

DVD-RW Disc Playback
Playback can be performed with DVD-RW discs recorded in the Video Mode and finalized.
Once a DVD-RW recorded in Video Mode is finalized, it becomes DVD-Video. Ability to play back
may depend on recording conditions.

DVD-RW/-R (V)
This is a format that is used for recording data on a DVD-RW or DVD-R disc. The disc can be
played by this Blu-ray Disc Player once it has been finalized.
AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition)
This player can playback AVCHD format discs. These discs are normally recorded and used in
camcorders.
The AVCHD format is a high definition digital video camera format.
The MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format is capable of compressing images at higher efficiency than that
of the conventional image compressing format.
Some AVCHD discs use the “x.v.Color” format.
This player can playback AVCHD discs using “x.v.Color” format.

“x.v.Color” is a trademark of Sony Corporation.

“AVCHD” and the AVCHD logo are trademarks of Matsushita Electronic Industrial Co., Ltd.
and Sony Corporation.
Some AVCHD format discs may not play, depending on the recording condition.
AVCHD format discs need to be finalized.

“x.v.Color” offers a wider color range than normal DVD camcorder discs.

[Chordata]

Does it decode DTS-HD MA?

[Sammy]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

Does it decode DTS-HD MA?

f/w ver 2.4 adds dts-HD MA decoding.

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Sammy

f/w ver 2.4 adds dts-HD MA decoding.

Are the updates for Samsung easy to get? (For instance, I think for Sony they are available by burning a disk, or direct connection via ethernet, etc.)

I guess another question is: with the ethernet cable plugged in, will the player realize it needs to be updated and update itself? Or do I have to manually navigate to, say, Samsung's website or something via my player and get it?

<---- noob

[Sammy]

Those two and also USB. As far as the ethernet update goes, I think it is automatic, but am not sure as I updated using the USB and haven't run the CAT 5 to my HT yet so the player isn't connected to the internet.

EDIT: I just checked the manual. You have to go to the system settings screen on the player to initiallize the update. If the unit is connected to the internet and has been properly configured earlier, it will check for available updates and version. If the f/w on your player is lower than the current one available, it will update it. If not, it won't. No navigating the internet, just on the player GUI. I actually like that it allows me to be the one to initiate the update rather than just doing it. I like to know what's going on to the maximum extent possible with my equipment.

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Sammy

Those two and also USB. As far as the ethernet update goes, I think it is automatic, but am not sure as I updated using the USB and haven't run the CAT 5 to my HT yet so the player isn't connected to the internet.

How do you do it via USB?

[Sammy]

Download a zip file to your computer and unzip it to a USB drive that has no other files on it. (Edit:Stop the USB drive on your computer and unplug it from your computer.) Power up the player, go to the system settings>system update screen and plug in the USB drive. The player verifies the version number, asks you if you want to update from version #___ to version #____ and then takes it from there.... Something along these lines.

[Chordata]

Even more fundamental, though, from where do you download the zip file?

[Sammy]

You can get the f/w and the manual here too.