Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-Ray Player Review

March 21, 2009

Samsung introduced number of new Blu-ray players at 2009 CES. They range from entry level models to high end model BD-P3600 and BD-P4600. The high end models received much of the attention for its design and form factor as well as the WiFi capability. Getting lost in the mix was the Samsung BD-P1600, the entry level Blu-ray player for Samsung. Companies like Samsung usually count on entry level/mainstream models for majority of their sales. So, it is important for Samsung to produce a great successor to the BD-P1500 and BD-P2500, both great players. Now, the BD-P1600 is available at most retailers for $299.99. The BD-P1600 packs a lot of features for a sub $300 Blu-ray disc player.

Features

For an entry level model, the BD-P1600 includes many of the features usually found on high end models. This is good news for Blu-ray as it moves into mainstream from early adapters. More and more features found only on high end expensive models are finding their way into the lower priced models like BD-P1600. BD-P1600 is Profile 2.0 player with full support for BD-Live. The most notable additions to the BD-P1600 are the high definition audio decoding and content streaming capabilities. On the audio side, BD-P1600 is capable of decoding Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby digital Plus, DTS HD, and Dolby True HD. The content streaming consists of Netflix and Pandora streaming. With Netflixsubscription, you can stream over 12,000 titles straight to your Blu-ray player. With the Pandora service, you can stream latest music straight to your television.

Design

The BD-P1600 is really a slick looking player. The player sports a glossy front panel that covers the disc tray on the left and playback function buttons on the right. The LCD screen in between the two. The player itself about 17 x 8 x 2 inches. The back panel contains all the connectivity. The connectivity includes USB, HDMI, composite and component video, S-video, optical digital audio, and Ethernet port. The player does lack 5.1 or 7.1 analog output connectivity.

Remote Control

The 47 button remote control is fairly standard remote control. The dedicated subtitle and audio buttons are pretty useful. If you like to watch foreign movies with subtitles, the dedicated button is nice addition. The audio button gives you direct access to the audio menu on the fly. The numeric buttons are at the top with playback function buttons right beneath it. The channel and volume buttons are in the middle of the remote, which is better than placing it at the top or bottom. The directional and BD-J disc buttons are placed at the bottom. The BD-J buttons consists of red, green, yellow, and blue. These buttons are used for special features on some discs. Overall, the dedicated buttons are quite nice for convenience. You can program the remote to work with various other components. However, it is not as extensive as the after-market universal remote controls.

Picture Quality

The predecessor models, BD-P1500 and BD-P2500 variants, had no discernible defects in video processing. The BD-P1500 did have some specific defects in some pattern testing but these did not translate to defects in real world movie playbacks. Overall, Samsung models have great video processing. The BD-P1600 is no exception. To compare the video and image quality between other players, Batman Begins and Matrix Blu-ray movies were played. There were no noticeable jaggies or moirés during the playback. The action sequence showed no traces of blocking or other artifacts. The real improvement over the previous models is the loading time. The average loading time was between 8 and 14 seconds compared to almost double for the older models. This held true for newer Blu-ray movies with fancier menus and BD-Live contents as well as the extras. The video quality of Netflix streamed movies are DVD quality at best. The quality depends on your internet connection. For good quality, you will need broadband connection that can handle high bandwidth.

Audio

The audio quality is on par with previous models. The onboard decoding support for the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA is nice addition for people looking for out of the box decoding of these formats. The lack of analog 5.1 or 7.1 channel support out of the box might be problem for people that need those set ups. Otherwise, the audio options are excellent. The Pandora is a nice added bonus. The streaming internet radio is pretty nice if you want to listen to certain song on a spur of the moment. The audio quality of Pandora is pretty good compared to regular CD playback. If you have high end audio system, you might notice some degradation.

Overall, this is one of the best Blu-ray disc player for any price range short of buying PS3 or something lot more expensive like Pioneer or Marantz. At $300.00, it is feature packed player. If you want standalone unit, this should satisfy most users.

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Samsung BD-P1600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
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Description

Plays Blu-ray high-definition discs (selectable output resolution: 1080p signals available through HDMI output only; 720p/1080i signals available through HDMI or component video). There is selectable 720p/1080i/1080p video upconversion for DVD (upconverted video available through HDMI output only) and built-in audio decoding to PCM for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential * Netflix video and Pandora music streaming (subscriptions to these services required). There are 2 USB ports (1 front, 1 rear) for storing downloaded BD-Live material.

Features

Experience vivid, crystal-clear visuals that are more natural, more realistic and simply stunning with Blu-ray's full 1080p HD resolution
Stream Blockbuster, Netflix, YouTube & Pandora
Multi-format playback lets you enjoy Blu-ray Discs, DVD, CD, MP3/WMA, JPEG, AVCHD and more
Enjoy BD-Live support for accessing fresh content
Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA technologies for high-definition audio

Reviews

This is a great blu-ray player. The one I got came with the latest firmware so no need to worry about updating it and the bugs associated with firmware updates. This system is a slight bit high tech and you need to know how to navigate the system settings to use it properly. If you plan on connecting this to a network you need to know what you are doing or your going to have issues. It comes set to display at 1080i so make sure to change it to 1080p. It upconverts standard DVD's very well and plays them almost to the quality of a blu-ray. Load times are faster then most units. Great player for techies and tweakers who are good at troubleshooting any possible issues(I haven't had any problems but apparently others have).

I read the reviews on Amazon after I bought this player and saw all the issues people were having with the firmware upgrade. I was debating whether I should return it or give it a try. I tried it out and it works perfectly. The AnyNet feature works with the Samsung TV and automatically switches the TV over to the Blu-ray player when you power on or perform a function on the player. It is extremely easy to use. If there is no disc inside, it automatically brings up a menu of online services (Netflix, Blockbuster, Pandora, YouTube). Press a button and you're automatically connected to the online service. If there is a disc inside, the disc will automatically play. One of the reviews had a complaint abt the noise. It is a little loud when initially loading the disc, but is quiet when playing the disc.

The control is lousy, nothing worst than having to point straight to the device and press the keys hard so that it responds. It won't read some BR discs, so you have to clean them. Sometimes the streaming stops working, and you have to reset the router and modem even though the computers have Internet. It doesn't remember where the movie was last playing, which my dvd player does that. However, it does the job and it's awesome to stream movies and pandora radio. 3.5-star product IMO.

After a slow start, I believe this unit lives up to its description. The first unit I received was dead on arrival. A call to Samsung and two technicians later it was declared inoperable and I returned it to Amazon. I was beginning to worry as I had ordered the Samsung dongle that plugs into the player to access the Internet wirelessly. I began to wonder if I would have something to plug it into? Amazon immediately sent another player, if fact it arrived the day after the dongle. This player works as advertised. Reliability remains a question but all functions operate well including bit streaming from Netflix. We have not yet tried a Blu-Ray disc, but a standard DVD is reproduced with excellent video detail, color and surround sound. Installation of the player was straightforward. The instruction manual is well done and easily understood, including the section for the setup of Netflix, Pandora, etc. If this player is reliable, it is quite a bargain!

I just finished reading a few of the recent reviews posted for this device. It made wonder if I was using the same product. I must say that failure to read product specifications or lack of knowledge in regard to home networking (routers, firewalls, ect.) is not a product failure. I purchased my BD last Dec along with a Samsung HDTV and it works perfectly fine. First, it was connected only to my Samsung HDTV and it provided excellent veiwing results for both Blue-ray and reg DVD (I retired my DVD player because it improved the playback quality of DVDs). This past month I added an internet connection to take advantage of Pandora, Netflix, and YouTube. I simply followed instructions provided in the user manual. It is true that Samsung requires it's proprietary wireless adapter (a pain but clearly noted in product literature). I instead chose to use a wired ethernet connection 1) to eliminate the need to purchase adapters for my other entertainment equipment and 2) ethernet provides better video streaming. The device is attached to a router and connected to the internet flawlessly. None is this is plug-n-play and home networks can be down-right complicated. Buyers should be willing to read insrtructions or hire someone to complete setups. There is also a note on the problematic firmware updates. The solution is, remove disc from unit before doing an update. Simple enough but Samsung should have made this more clear earlier. As for the auto starting comment, this is a feature of samsung products. If you turn on the BD player, the TV will automatically switch to that source (expecting you to play a DVD or connect to internet for other media). This can be annoying if you inadvertantly turn the BD on. All in all, this is a very adeaquate BD player, especially given its price. The quality of picture, and sound from Pandora is great. This is all just my opinion from personal experiences since I often use these reviews before making product purchases. Good luck.

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One Response to “Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-Ray Player Review”

Daniel Toliver says:

January 24, 2010 at 7:31 pm

Wireless connection cannot be established using the required Samsung wireless LAN adapter ($80) on newly bought BD-P1600. Wireless option is greyed out and unit cannot be reset nor reprogrammed. Other wireless devices (eg. Laptop)work fine.
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