Hi all,

I just got a BD-UP5000 to replace my HD-A2 and BD-P1200 players and I'm glad I did.

The sound output over optical to my Sony receiver is much better than the A2 was. Bass is fuller and highs are crisper. I have the 5000 set to bitstream (Audiophile)

I also noticed that the video on HD DVDs is less "noisy/grainy" set at the same 1080i resolution. My experience is that this Combo unit is better in every way than the other two players.

All that being said, I do have one concern with the 5000 however. It seems to get extremely HOT on the underside of the unit, especially on the right side. After the player has been playing for a while, if I place my hand on the bottom sheet metal, it feels pretty darn hot for an electronic device! I checked the fan on the back and it's working fine and there's plenty of air space all around the unit. It is sitting on its own shelf by itself.

Is this normal? I know that high heat can shorten the life of electronics and it seems that maybe Samsung uses the bottom sheet metal of the chassis as a heatsink for a large power hungry chip.

Can anyone verify that this is the case? Is this normal?

Thanks

That's normal. All electronics gives off heat. You should feel the PS3 when it's blowing hot air from the side of the unit. Now that is HOT HOT HOT.

Interesting and helpful post.

I decided to check my BD-UP5000 player last night and on the bottom right of the player there is a small indented square area that gets extremely hot in a short period of time, almost burning to the touch.

Given that the player has a built-in fan and many air slots (all on the left underside of the player unfortunately) I figured that heat should NOT be a problem with this player but apparently it is! I've moved the player so it has more air flow around it but Samsung really should have built-in air vents over the entire top of the unit just like my Onkyo receiver to try and get ALL of the heat out.

Now I've also been experiencing the same issues as others where the player freezes anywhere from about 4 to 12 minutes in after pressing play when watching a newly inserted Blu-ray, HD-DVD or SD dvd. Rarely it will stutter then keep playing (usually a SD dvd) but 80% of the time I have to power down, wait a few seconds then turn the unit on after which the player will be fine pretty much for the next couple of hours.

However, just this past week my player has intermittently started experiencing new issues such as the player having difficulty playing dvd-r's or reading disks. Others have resorted to cleaning their disks, even brand new ones in order to get them to play.

I've also read that several long-term owners (7+ months) are starting to experience costly drive failures that Samsung may not repair (offering replacement units or refunds).

Not sure if the intense heat on the bottom right side of this player is partially to blame for this growing problem but right now its not looking good for the longevity of this player.

Hopefully others will post about this problem/resolutions.

i had issues from heat and the player freezing - but that was because of my directv box, which I have now separated from the sammy 5k

i guess the heat of the player itself combined with the heat from the dtv box was too much..on its own its fine though

The 5000 use the bottom plate as heat sink for its video processing chips. The video board is located on the right hand side. It's ok. Don't worry about it.

The sound output over optical to my Sony receiver is much better than the A2 was. Bass is fuller and highs are crisper. I have the 5000 set to bitstream (Audiophile)

???


Like Foxbat said the bottom of the player is the heatsink its supposed to be hot. Have you ever touched the heatsink on your computer after some heavy processing? They are designed to pull heat away from the processors.

Which means you want to make sure these puppies have some air to breath around them. I wonder what stand/cabinet material is preferable? It seems like wood would tend to keep the heat closer to the machine. I have mine sitting on a glass stand, and that seems to work fairly well. (Never noticed the heat, actually.)