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Samsung BD-P2500 Review - First Impression

November 29, 2008



As the manufacturer to first release a Blu-ray disc player, Samsung has enjoyed the status as one of premier manufacturers when it comes to Blu-ray disc player. Most of us don't need introduction to Samsung as they make great consumer electronics. The korean company has come very far in reaching and perhaps surpassing Sony as the most recognized consumer electronic brand. As such, we come to expect solid, if not great players from Samsung. Their previous main consumer player, BD-P1500, has been pretty popular player with solid performance at a great price. This player builds on the success with added features such as Profile 2.0, ethernet and USB connectivity, and added audio supports.

The player looks pretty identical to the BD-P1500. You have the tray on the left side of the player. The LCD display is positioned in the middle with basic playback function buttons on the right side. The glossy finish welcome change from the BD-P1500's finish. Other than that, it is pretty similar player with different connectivity. The player comes with ethernet and USB connectivity. This is handy for updating firmware as well as enjoying the BD-LIVE feature on the new blu-ray movies. One thing that is missing is the SD card reader. The SD card reader would have been nice little addition as most consumers have digital cameras.

The video quality is just amazing on this player. All the blu-ray discs played without any flaws. No jaggieness, motion blur, or choppy sequences were detected in any of the blu-ray movies I played. I played the entire Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy on the player and detected no artifacts. If there is any defects, I doubt anybody can notice it without trying. The audio options are great. It has your standard analog 7.1 channel audio ports should you not have a receiver. It can natively decode DTS-HD, Dolby digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD. Rest of the high definition audio formats can be bitstreamed to your receiver for decoding. If don't have receiver for your audios, this player might be pretty good choice.

Overall, this is solid successor to the BD-P1500 player from Samsung. At this time, this player can be pruchased at less than $400.00 in various retail outlets as well as internet. There are no visible flaws with this player in terms of video or audio quality as well as solid construction. Highly recommended!

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Rating:

 

Video Review

Written by admin · Filed Under Exclusive Reviews, Reviews 

List of Profiles on Current Blu Ray Players

November 29, 2008



Consider this: We do not recommend profile 1.0 blu ray players as they are outdated and some are unable or downright not possible to update the firmware. Save yourself some hassle and avoid profile 1.0 blu ray players. These are the first generation blu ray players and we were told by some consumers that a lot of latest blu ray movies will not work with profile 1.0 blu ray players.

Furthermore, some profile 1.1 blu ray players are confirmed upgradeable by manufacturer to profile 2.0.
We highly recommend going with profile 2.0 blu ray players as they can be easily updated in the future via the Internet. We understand that buying a blu ray player is an investment for your home theater system so it would make sense to buy something that will last a while. Make an educated decision!

Profile 1.0 Players
LG BH100
Pioneer BDP-95FD
Sharp BD-HP20U
Samsung BD-P1400
Samsung BD-P1200
Samsung BD-P1000
Samsung BD-UP5000
Sony BDP-S300
Sony BDP-S1
Sony BDP-S2000ES
Profile 1.1 Players
Denon DVD-2500BTCi
Denon DVD-3800BDCI
Denon DVD-1800BD
Insignia NS-BRDVD
LG BH200
Marantz BD8002
Memorex MVBD-2510
Panasonic DMP-BD30K
Panasonic DMP-BD30K
Philips BDP7200
Pioneer BDP-51FD
Pioneer BDP-05FD
Samsung BD-P1500*
Sharp BD-HP21U
Sharp BD-HP50U
Sylvania NB501SL9
Sony BDP-S350*
Yamaha BD-S2900
Profile 2.0 Players
LG BD300
Panasonic DMP-BD35
Panasonic DMP-BD55
Samsung BD-P2500
Sony BDP-S550
Sony BDP-S5000ES

* Confirmed upgradable to Profile 2.0

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If you have any comments or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Written by admin · Filed Under Exclusive Articles 

Blu Ray Player Profile Explained

November 29, 2008



Introduction

We wrote this article in response to many e-mails we received lately in regards to 3 different profiles that are available on today's blu ray players. It is confusing and sometimes difficult to understand the difference between these profiles especially to those who are making that "leap of faith" into high definition area. If you ever googled for the "profiles" you will see many technical jargon which will not help you understand differences among the three versions of profiles. Therefore, we decided to write an article that makes sense and hopefully educate you, the consumer, enough that you can go out and make an informed decision in buying blu ray players.

We have witnessed amazingly efficient yet fast transition that is taking place as far as latest technology implementation goes with blu ray players. Who knows how many more profiles will be released in the future but new ones seems to be coming at us very quickly, and some blu ray players are already becoming archaic and thing of the past.

We have broken down this article into 2 sections. The first section explains everything about profiles and the next section lists blu ray players and their profiles.

Implementation of Standards

In order to standardize Blu-ray formats, the Blu-ray Disc Association implemented Blu-ray Profiles for Blu-ray disc players. The three profiles include 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0. All of the profiles must be have BD-J capability. BD-J supports better interactive bonus contents that are superior to the regular DVD contents.

Characteristics of Profiles

Before we go over each profiles, you must understand the characteristics of profiles which will help you understand the difference between profiles.

The built in memory allows for video and audio file storage as well as updating of title informations. You can store digital pictures and digital music on the built in memory.

The secondary video decoder is used for Picture In Picture. You can watch the main movie while viewing other video contents. Also, the secondary audio decoder is mainly used for extra contents such as director or actor commentary along with the main audio.

Virtual File System allows the player to communicate with other systems within the player without problem. This includes the interaction of main movie and the bonus content. It allows for seamless integration of various features and future features added to the player.

The internet connection allows for BD-LIVE contents on the newer Blu-ray movies. It includes features that are only accessible via internet.

Profiles Explained

The initial profile 1.0 represents the first profile set by the Blu-ray Disc Association. The players with Profile 1.0 must have 64KB of built in persistent memory. However, the Local storage, secondary video decoder, secondary audio decoder, and virtual file system are optional and can be implemented by the manufacturers.

The Profile 1.1 was a mandatory on all players manufactured after November 1, 2007. It must include 64KB of persistent memory, 256MB of local storage, secondary video decoder, secondary audio decoder, and virtual file system. These are the minimum specifications required to be certified as a Profile 1.1 player.

The Profile 2.0, BD-LIVE, is the latest Blu-ray Profile. It must support all the specification of Profile 1.1 as well as have 1GB of local storage space and mandatory internet connection for the BD-LIVE contents on the Blu-ray movie discs. The BD-LIVE discs contain extra contents accessible via internet.

Notes: Some Profile 1.1 players with ethernet connectivity can be upgraded via firmware upgrade or downloading the upgrade via the manufacturer's website then burning the upgrade on the blank dvd disc. Also, the BD-LIVE feature on latest blu ray movies can be played on Profile 1.0 and 1.1 players. However, the BD-LIVE contents will not be accessible.

If you want to know how to update the firmware by downloading the upgrade from manufacturer's website then click here.

If you enjoyed our article and would like to purchase a blu ray player, please click here to check out Ebay.com or save 20% off or more at amazon.com

If you have any comments or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Click here to read part 2 of this article.

Written by admin · Filed Under Exclusive Articles 

Newly released Blu-ray player Sony BDP-S350 review sent in by Daniel Cantwell from Ottawa.

November 21, 2008



I bought this player with the1.2 firmware and it was great. Yes, it did take a very long time to load Independence Day - almost 3 full minutes. That is due to the disc predominantly using Java (BD-J) for interactivity. Few days ago I flash updated the firmware to 2.60 in about 15 minutes. See manufacturer's web site for the firmware and carefully follow the instructions. They will even provide you with the disc.
I purchased a 46" HDTV and a Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player player along with this Blu-ray Disc Player. I wanted to see the results of both Blu-Ray and HD DVD before investing in more expensive units. I must say that the image and sound quality of the Blu-Ray player is quite impressive There needs to be a ethernet port or some other way to access updates online direct to this player, a wireless method possibly? My Toshiba HD DVD player has the CAT-5 ethernet port and it makes updating (not exactly simple) more flexible. Manufacture's website offers the image (ISO) burn to DVDR method for updating, but this seems not convenient at best. One other thing I immediately noticed is how whisper quiet this player is. There is no noticeable fan noise whatsoever. Compare this to the Toshiba HD-XA2 fan, which has a sound resembling the whine of a tiny fighter jet.

The remote often does nothing. Why? I assume something is happening; chapter moves are iffy. ou need to weigh the benefits carefully. If you are moving one chapter forward then you may as well wait - the remote control operation is that flaky. We have DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 coming out now. The color quality is exceptional and images are very sharp. When playing regular DVD's the images aren't as sharp naturally. There is small fan noise during dvd playback, which was only audible with the tv turned off. While the movie is playing, I couldn't hear the fan at all. The display on the front is a gray-blue. There are 4 brightness settings (High-Med-Low-Off), which can be accessed with one button on the top bottom of the remote. Very convenient. With the display turned off, this is a very nice viewing experience. There is also an additional display button on the remote, which tells you the TRT of the disc, which chapter you are watching, time remaining in the chapter, and bit rate.

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Rating:

4 Blu-ray rating

 

 

Review was sent in by Daniel Cantwell. Send in your reviews to Admin@buyblurayplayers.com

Written by admin · Filed Under Reviews 

Pioneer BDP-95FD reviewed by Crispin Siebert

November 21, 2008



I bought my Pioneer BDP-95FD from Buy.com. This is my first BD player. I was waiting for the format war to end once it did I read a review Cnet.com on the internet that said you might consider waiting to making the jump to BD until the next generation of players to come out on the market.

The loading does not take too long From what I gather it is much faster then first generation models. I was upgrading coming from a Samsung 5 disc up converting DVD player and that thing was slow so I'm very satisfied. The picture isgreat and the audio is great too. I don't even have it connected to a amp that does Dolby Tru-HD or DTS-MA. That will be my next purchase.

There is only one thing that I'm some what disappointed with the player has the Pioneer Theater Sync feature. Which works great with my Phillips amp. But for some reason the DVD remote will only control the volume for the TV not the amp. So I still have to use a second remote for volume on my Sony amp. This makes no sense to me.

We watched Troy, Terminator 3, Terminator 2, and Mission Impossible III on BD so far. Batman Begins wasgreat from an audio and picture quality issue. My wife said she had no clue that a DVD could look that good.

I also watched Band of Brothers on a SD DVD and that look pretty good too.

One of the best features of this player is its size. They were able to reduce the size of the player to just over a 2" height and only 8-3/4" deep.

The next generation model due out in the fall it will cost more but it decodes all the audio inside the player.

Overall five day in I'm very happy with the purchase and I'm happy I waited for this model.

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Rating:

3 Blu-ray rating

 

 

Review was sent in by Crispin Siebert. Send in your reviews to Admin@buyblurayplayers.com

Written by admin · Filed Under Reviews 

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