Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 90
 Excellent for Blu-Rays, Netflix and Pandora/Fair to Good DLNA client July 29, 2010
Mike P (Long Island, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I got the BD-5500C model from Costco. That model comes with an HDMI cable. That's the only difference. (and it was much cheaper at least vs. today's amazon price. Sorry)
I connected the unit to an older Olevia Syntax 768P LCD with only 1 HDMI port so I needed to dig out my old Monoprice HDX-201E 2x1 powered HDMI switch since my DirecTV HD DVR was already using the HDMI port. There are no handshaking issues with this setup. It works perfectly.
I connected the unit to my gigabit LAN network via ethernet. I did the auto setup and it connected, passing all the tests.
It plays Blu-Rays beautifully. Even with the 768P display it's obviously better than DVDs. A couple Blu-Rays did not let me skip the preview so I had to search through them quickly. It did not let me go to the menu either. I had another Blu-Ray movie (from Blockbuster) that started freezing. After we removed it and wiped it a little it played well in the spots where it had been freezing. If you're going to stop the movie, take a note of your 'time in' because with Blu-Rays, there's no resume function. Find your way back to the movie and enter in the time with the Tools function.
I did try 1 DVD for a few minutes and it played fine. I'm probably never going to put in another DVD except for some home DVDs I have made.
The rest of the review is about the Extras:
Youtube has a clunky interface to use and it was disappointing. You do NOT get HD from HD available videos so what's the point?
Pandora is a lot of fun. It's the first time I tried that service and it's very cool. It's great with wireless phones connected too!
Netflix: I signed up for a trial (I've been a Blockbuster Online sub for a while) and HD videos stream flawlessly. However, at no fault to this unit, the streaming selection that they offer is limited and my wife and I were disappointed that most of those movies don't include closed captions. She has a mild-moderate hearing loss so the wireless headphones are crucial in that application. I don't know if we'll keep the Netflix subscription.
Blockbuster: On the other hand, I'm disappointed that their subscription service does NOT entitle you to their streaming content. I have not purchased any of their content.
Vudu: I haven't purchased any content so no comment.
Rovi TV Listings: This is a waste of time. The GUI is horrible. If you want to check your guide do yourself a favor and switch to the DVR.
The other "Internet @ TV" apps are mostly fluff. There's accuweather, google maps and USA Today. Believe it or not, there are some games like Memory, Quizz Master game, Sodoku, Mahjong.
DLNA: I tried the Samsung PC Manager software, TVersity, Mezzmo and Serviio. I found Serviio to do the best job of streaming pictures (from 2 PC profiles sources), music and videos. Formats I've streamed include .avi, .mp4 and .wmv. Unfortunately, you can not truly search forward and back but you can jump forward about 20 seconds using the right arrow button and you can jump back as well. You can also use the Tools button to enter the minute where you want to go to. This is not perfect yet. There are some files that don't play but it has been generally reliable and I would expect it improve with the development of Serviio which is free!! Lastly regarding DLNA it has worked better than I anticipated.
Since this player plays Blu-Rays smoothly, does Netflix and Pandora so well and is an adequate DLNA server, I do highly recommend it.
Since you don't have more precise control over trick play (fast forward/rewind) via DLNA, I am deducting a star to give it 4 stars.
 Did you know ? July 28, 2010
Mark Loth (CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Hey Blue Ray shoppers.Please be aware that this Blue Ray will not play a lot of dvd's (1/4 of my collection) . After I bought my first Blue Ray disc I found out that I need to update it and I need to wait 7-14 business days before Samsung will send me the disc.Costumer support was horrible and mostly useless.Most of electronics I own are high end Samsung but looks like I will be considering all other brands after this expierience.
 Great Player July 26, 2010
Big Buyer (Novi, MI United States)
I have been using it for about two weeks now. I was nervous reading all the reviews but now I can not understand what the noise was about!! It plays all my Blue Ray and DVDs perfectly. Netflix is awesome and so is Pandora! Of course it does not come with an HDMI cable (its like $5 on eBay) or the wireless dongle, but it never claimed that it does. Great player at a great price.
 Great Blu-Ray, OK Streaming, Poor DVD July 25, 2010
J. Brian Pitts (Seattle, WA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased (and ultimately exchanged) two of these players. The Blu-Ray experience is great & the streaming is basically good (but having to re-register my Netflix account seemingly every-other day was annoying), but the majority of what I was playing was DVDs, which are what make up the bulk of my library. The upscaling was fine, but at least 60% of the time, the machine had problems just getting to the root menu of the disc. It would either freeze up on the previews (which it adamantly would NOT let me skip, unlike my old Pioneer, which would pretty much cut a straight line to the movie if I wanted it to), or it would choke on menu navigation and I would have to try again. While I could normally get things going after a few minutes of fiddling (there were only a couple of titles that simply wouldn't play), this was ultimately a deal-breaker - if it advertises that its compatible with the older format, then I expect something resembling a decent experience.
To sum up, its fine if you want something for Blu-Ray or the streaming features it offers, but don't expect it to play nice with all your old DVDs.
 Great product with a great catch. July 25, 2010
Jorge L. Sepulveda
I just bought this product. Looks nice and slick. However, the box says it is wireless ready but they don't include the adapter. Even worse, you can't use another adapter than a Samsung. On top of that, the damn adapter costs $80, where you can get a regular adapter for $15!
That's not an honest strategy from Samsung. And even though I can afford the adapter, I will return the product.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 90
|
![AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters) [Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B001TH8UUA.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
![AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters) [Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B001T9NUJE.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
