Samsung BD P4600 Blu Ray Player Review

August 13, 2009

Samsung generated a lot of buzz when they previewed the BD-P4600 at the 2009 CES. Not only did it have great number of features, it also had a very unique design not seen on previous Blu-ray players. Following the Touch of Color design schemes on other electronics, The BD-P4600 boasts glossy finish and red colors bleeding from the rounded edges. It might be aesthetically pleasing but serves no practical purpose when it comes to the actual playback. Another big feature of BD-P4600 is the ability to mount the player on the wall instead of shelving it in your entertainment center.

Loaded with Features and Options

Functionally, the BD-P4600 is identical to the BD-P3600. It boasts same features and playback capability. The BD-P4600 is a Profile 2.0 player that comes with on-board 1GB memory as well as the WiFi dongle. Because of the design, Samsung has chosen to remove the 7.1 channel analog output. Otherwise, it has the same audio decoding capability. It can decode Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential. The ability to stream Netflix and Pandora is carried over from BD-P3600 and BD-P1600. Another welcome carry over is the ability to stream media files from your computer. Also, the included Wi-Fi dongle is extra $80 if bought separately.

Design

If you are seriously considering the BD-P4600 for extra $50, you are most likely attracted to the design or the option to mount it on the wall. No other player offers an out of the box mounting solution. Whether it’s worth extra $50 is questionable. Having said that, Samsung BD-P4600 is a beautiful looking player. The rounded edges accentuated by Touch of Color scheme makes it a very aesthetically pleasing player to look at. At about 8 x 18 inches, the player is definitely on the smaller side. And, the overall thickness of the player is just 1.7 inches. This makes it one of the smallest Blu-ray disc players on the market. The entire player lacks any hard buttons to speak of. Instead, the player features flush buttons that light up when the player is powered up. Otherwise, the LCD and the buttons are “hidden” and out of the way when powered down. Due to the design, the player lacks the traditional loading tray for the disc. Instead, Samsung has implemented slot loading system on the side of the player. The bottom of the player houses the connectivity ports. These include the HDMI, RJ-45, video and audio out, digital audio out, USB, and power input. All these ports are housed in a compartment with a flip down door. Also, you can close the door even with all the connections.

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Remote Control

The included remote control doesn’t deviate from BD-P1600 and BD-P3600. The numeric buttons are located at the top of the remote with playback functions right below it. The channel and volume buttons are located in the middle of the remote control. The directional and BD-J disc buttons are placed at the bottom of the remote. The BD-J buttons are color coded in red, green, yellow, and blue and are used for special features. The dedicated subtitle and audio buttons are nice additions for on the fly switching. Overall, the redesigned remote control is a step above the previous generation remote controls. Most of the advanced home theater users will want to purchase a programmable remote like Harmony remote controls from Logitech.

Performance

Aside from form factor, the BD-P4600 mirrors the performance of BD-P3600. That is to say, it is almost identical to BD-P3600. There were no discernible differences between the video processing qualities. The three identical movies tested on the BD-P3600 were also used to test the BD-P4600. As with BD-P3600, the movies showed no moiré or jaggies. The fast action sequences produced no blurring or blocking artifacts. As with BD-P1600 and BD-P3600, the loading time was very fast. The loading time of the new Samsung players are by far the best. The loading times are quite noticeable when tested against other Blu-ray players from Panasonic or Sony players. The streaming quality of Netflix and Pandora are on par with watching or listening on the computer. You need high speed internet to get the best possible quality for the Netflix streams.

Audio and Sound

The audio performance is identical to that of BD-P3600 as well. The player is capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essentials out of the box. Due to the design constraints, the BD-P4600 lacks the 7.1 channel analog output support. The BD-P3600 is the only new Samsung player capable of 7.1 channel analog output. If you are considering the BD-P4600, make sure you have receiver capable of HDMI input and output. Other than that, the quality of Pandora streaming was very capable.

Network Capability and Issues

As with BD-P3600, the BD-P4600 is capable of streaming media files from your PC. This is a big addition to the Blu-ray player for people that have large media collection on their PC. However, the setup is not very user friendly. You need some working knowledge in networking process to get it up and running. The automatic detection and setting feature is useless as it failed to detect the PC on the network. As with BD-P3600, you need to manually input IP and log in address every time you connect to the network PC. I’m confident Samsung will refine this through firmware updates.

Other Thoughts

I did not utilize the mounting kit that was included with the player. If you choose not to mount the player on the wall, you can use the stand that comes with the player. The player sits on the stand on a slanted angle giving it a unique look. The biggest problem I see with mounting it on the wall is the wire management to make it look presentable. Until we get truly wireless player, you will have to punch some holes in your wall if you want the wires to stay out of sight.

The street price of this player is roughly $400. This is about $50 more than the BD-P3600 model. Both players have exact same functionally and components except for the lack of 7.1 channel analog output on the BD-P4600. If you are willing to part with $50 for unique design, BD-P4600 will not disappoint.

Pictures

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Samsung BD-P4600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
List Price: ~~$349.00~~
Average Rating:

Description

Innovative Blu-ray Disc® technology meets sleek Touch of ColorTM style, with Samsung's BD-P4600. In addition to the advanced Blu-ray picture quality on your HDTV, the subtle elegance of the Touch of Color accent contributes a perfectly modern look in any living room...

Features

Plays Blu-ray high-definition discs (selectable output resolution: 1080p/1080i/720p signals available through HDMI output only)
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)
Wi-Fi capable (includes wireless USB adapter)
Wall-mountable (includes wall-mount hardware)

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