The Official Samsung BD-P1500 Owner's Thread - Page 61

Thanks, whitesox. I am reassured after reading a few of the pages.

I bought a Sammy A650 LCD HDTV from the amazing dot com people. It came with a two hundred dollar off coupon for the 1500, yielding a net price of around 80. Couldn't pass it up. But I've bought the Antec laptop cooler for it, and another fan I might also use. Maybe the cooling will keep it running. It'll be a bedroom device, not often used, and later moved to an RV for even less frequent use. Can't beat the price. Did not plan on getting one (waiting on an OPPO to join my PS3), but at the actual cost to me, who could pass it up?

Do you hv a link to the Antec cooler?

Also is there a power cord for the cooler, or do you plug it in the USB port of Samsung BD-P1500?

Here.

Yes, it's USB powered. That way, I don't have to think about it. When the unit's on, the cooler is on. It is a pass thru USB plug, so you don't lose the utility of a USB connection.

Yup and I have that issue...................and proud of it.

I rented Made of Honor for the wife last night and my Samsung could not play it. I upgraded the firmware to the August 08 version and still no go. Has anyone successfully played this disc? If so I will ask Blockbuster for new copy. The disc was brand new, no one had played it yet.

Same here! My wife's pretty pissed as this was just her 2nd BD rental and it won't even play. I use Netflix so I suppose it doesn't have anything to do with either rental company. 88 Minutes & The Counterfeiters both played fine though. My FW is still the first version(1.1 I think). If you get a replacement disc from Blockbuster and it plays fine, will you post it pls.

Guys, I've searched the thread for the terms 24p, 24fps, and 24hz and did not find an answer, so please excuse me if this has been discussed.

I recently helped a friend buy and setup an LN52A650 and it came with a free BD-P1500 from CC.

I set the player to 1080p and 24p mode to on. On the TV, I set it to Just scan, and AMP off.

When playing Ratatouille BD on the BD-P1500 (which is 1080p/24), when I click info on the remote, it shows 1920x1080 @ 60hz. Can anyone tell me why 24hz is apparently not being sent by the player? Anyone with this combo of devices that can tell me what settings I should double check, or if I need to perhaps return the player?

Thanks.

I went back to Blockbuster and got another copy. It had the same issue.

Yes and I had 2 copies of Golden Compass that wouldn't play the audio unless I went into the Samsung menu and change the audio from bitstream audiopile to re-encode.

You should notify Samsung of the issue with this disc in HOPE of new firmware fixes.

Same here. I just rented Maid of Honor from Blockbuster and it won't play in the 1500. Running the latest firmware.

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.
You are now chatting with 'Nathan T'
Nathan T: Hello, I am a Samsung Technical Support representative. How may I assist you today?
K: Hello, I'd like to report a playback problem with the movie Made of Honor
K: This BD will not play in the 1500, and I am running the latest firmware
Nathan T: Thanks for the info.
K: swapping the disc for another one does not help
K: Other people I know have the same problem with this disc and the 1500
Nathan T: I'll forward the information to our engineers, so that they will work on the issue and fix it.
K: have you had other reports for this movie and the 1500 recently?
Nathan T: Possibly a latest firmware may be released to improve and fix the playback compatibility issues.
Nathan T: Yes, we are receiving similar issues with few of our customers.
K: yes i am running the latest firmware available (v1.3)
Nathan T: I can understand your requirement. I've forwarded the request to our engineers about the playback compatibility with the movie Made of Honor.

Haha, I got the same dude. See transcript:

Chat InformationPlease wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with 'Nathan T'
Nathan T: Hello, I am a Samsung Technical Support representative. How may I assist you today?
Trajen: Hello, I'd like to report a playback problem with the movie Made of Honor on my Samsung 1500
Nathan T: Thanks for the info.
Nathan T: I'll forward the request to our engineers, so that they will look into the issue and fix it.
Trajen: I went back to Blockbuster and got another disc and tried both discs in my PS3. They worked in the PS3 but not the 1500.
Trajen: How long will it take to get a new firmware update?
Nathan T: It appears that there might be an issue with the playback compatibility. We are receiving similar issues from few of our customers.
Nathan T: We have forwarded the request to our engineers and possibly a firmware update will be released soon and updating it will resolve the playback compatibility.
Trajen: Ok thanks

My wife wants to see Made of Honor, so assuming our local store gets it for rental on Blu-ray I'll give it a go in my Aussie version (diff f/w obviously) to see if it has problems too...

Thanks makaveli and zooba for following up with Samsung. The more people report issues, the more chances of getting firmware updates (a la the Sparkles issue fix for latest Sony LCDs)

My Wife & kids also wanted to watch Made of Honor this weekend, got it via Netflix and thought I'd better try it. Same issue as others will not play. Looks like will have to go out and get SD version from Blockbusters

Reported to Samsung


Thought was good he knew straight away that there was an issue.

I bought the Samsung BD-P1500 last night and I thought some might be interested with my results with my older Hitachi 42HDS69 Plasma. I had previously purchased the Sony BDP-S350 and ended up returning it and I still own the Toshiba HD-A2.

The video settings were identical for each player. It's been a couple of weeks since I had the Sony so I'm obviously going by recollection. I also can't compare the Toshiba and the Samsung side by side at the same time as it takes a few minutes to swap back and forth between players.

As the player will be in an area where sound can not be too loud audio features and quality was not a concern so I have no comment on those features.

DVD- Don't own any DVDs but I used a borrowed An American Werewolf in London DVD. A very grainy looking DVD.

Sony BDP-350- Soft image at 720 and 1080. Looked artificial/flat and/or overly processed. Not impressive at all. This was the main reason I returned it as I wanted to eliminate the need for the Toshiba if the DVD performance at least matched it.

Significantly faster user interface and response than the Toshiba.

Samsung BD-P1500- Soft at 1080 and noticeably better at 720. Wonderful contrast and color and apparently identical to the Toshiba in that regard. At 720, which is what I use my Toshiba set at to watch DVDs on the Hitachi, the image has nice detail but appears to have a certain level of noise reduction applied to it since the detail is good but the image has a fairly creamy or smooth look to it. It actually makes that grainy DVD look pretty good though I think it is biting into the detail.

Easily the fastest user interface and response. Quite a dramatic difference compared to the Toshiba and a significant difference even compared to the Sony.

Toshiba HD-A2- Well, it wasn't hard to see the difference between the Sony and the Samsung as the Toshiba has a noticeably better detailed image at both 720 and 1080. 1080 on the Toshiba looks kinda similar to the Samsung at 720 but at 720 the Toshiba was what I would call perfect. It wasn't overly smoothed over as the Samsung. That said, the difference isn't what I would call dramatic. The Toshiba simply has the better bite into the detail while also giving a more grainier look, which I prefer for DVDs on my Hitachi.

Slow user interface and response.

Blu-Ray- Over California documentary. Bad and good quality scenes.

Sony BDP-350- Set to 1080i. Initially a gorgeous picture with beautiful color and contrast but I started getting the impression that the image had a very slightly processed look to it that I didn't see with the Samsung or the Toshiba. I can't even really explain it only to say that for some reason it maybe wasn't quite as realistic looking. Also, maybe slightly smoother or not as sharp as the Samsung. Again, keep in mind I'm going by recollection as its been around two weeks since I had the Sony player.

Samsung BD-P1500- Set to 1080i. Color and contrast again apparently identical to the Toshiba. Gorgeous picture. I obviously couldn't compare the same disc with the Toshiba but I would say HD image quality looks like it will probably be similar looking to the Toshiba. Menus and graphics look identically sharp as the Toshibas, for example. Of course, I am only going by that one Blu-Ray disc for now. I think it may even be slightly more detailed or sharpened or maybe not affected by noise reduction than the Sony was because at times I was tempted to turn down the sharpness.

Toshiba HD-A2- Not much to say except the HD image quality on this player is I believe pretty well known and my thinking was as long as my Blu-Ray player could match it at HD I would be happy as I've been getting the impression since returning the Sony that finding the DVD performance I was looking for at this price level to get rid of the Toshiba would probably be unlikely.

In the end it looks like I will be keeping the Toshiba for DVDs and the Samsung will be my first Blu-Ray player. I paid $120 less than what I had paid for the Sony so price wise I'm happy with the Samsung as I am with its Blu-Ray output.

The one gripe I do have with the Samsung is the option in the setup menu to turn up the players display brightness. It works but the difference is so slight at the brightest setting that it is still very dim. I don't know what Samsung was thinking when it came to that.

Anyway, that's it. I'll post some more comments when I get the chance to rent some Blu-Ray discs, maybe this evening.

Almost forgot to add that, yes, as others have stated the drive in the Samsung is significantly louder than the Sony's but the unit otherwise is dead silent and I didn't have any heat issue, so far.

Early reports are saying that Iron Man has the same issue. Bummer, up until Made of Honor my 1500 was flawless. Depending on how Samsung handles this situation I may have to return this player before the window expires.

I just contacted Samsung and told them about the problem with Made of Honor. Told me to try another disc..lol. Disc plays fine in my bluray drive on my computer. Just hope this doesn't happen with Iron Man, been looking forward to seeing that movie in all its glory.

Picked up the BD-P1500 last night at Wal-Mart for $298. Hooked it up to my Sammy LN40A650. Loaded Transformers and movie wouldn't play. The DVD menu appeared on screen, but the cursor (for lack of better word) kept scrolling non-stop over all the menu options. It was kinda like when something falls on your keyboard and a key gets pressed and the same character types over and over and over. It stopped when I took the batteries out of the remote. But then the movie still wouldn't play when I pressed the "Play" button on the actual unit. The same thing happened with Ratatouille and Meet the Robinsons.

I reset the unit, drained the power from the remote, and went through trouble shooting with a Samsung Customer Service Agent. All to no avail.

I exchanged at Wal-Mart today and got the same exact problem again. Is anyone aware of this problem? Please help!

May be a silly question, but did you update the firmware? I don't know if that relates to the issue you are having, but it may help?

I rented my first actual movie, Reign Over Me, to watch with the Samsung as opposed to the often dodgy Over California documentary that I tried first last night. The difference in quality is quite dramatic. Even the best scenes in that documentary are put to shame by the image quality of Reign Over Me. The clarity and detail is amazing that WOW was my immediate reaction. This player has gorgeous HD quality on my Hitachi 42hds69 plasma. I couldn't be happier with the picture quality of this player.

The only very disappointing thing I quickly ran into is that unlike the documentary disc the player does not remember where you left off if you stop that movie. When you then press play it starts from the beginning all over again and forces you to watch the previews again. You have to skip each one individually to get to the stupid movie menu and then try and get close to where you left off.

Who are the geniuses that are designing these discs and format to work like this? This isn't an advance over DVD or, hell, even video cassette. This is not the way to get people to adopt a new and expensive video format. I truly feel sorry for old people, especially, to see them have to try and deal with all this new and wonderful technology with features that make absolutely no sense and do more to confuse, frustrate and turn them off for good. That's a real shame.

Other than that so far so good with the Samsung. I think I will also try and rent some of the movies where people have had problems playing them.

I think DVD quality really depends on the DVD. I haven't seen any DVD's yet that I can classify as "grainy", but I have had the instance where A) a DVD looks a notch below bluray and B) the DVD does look like a "standard definition" picture, but nothing outrageously bad.

Also, to get 24 Hz to your tv, you need to A) having the Movie Mode (24Hz) set to on in the BDP1500's settings, and B) be watching a 24Hz disc.

I am new and have no clue as to the best audio settings?

Samsung Bd-P1500 BlueRay
Samsung HT-AS720ST Reciever and Speakers
Samsung LN46-A550 TV

All components connected via HDMI

Should I use PCM or Bitstream? The reciever claims DTS-HD pass through so no decoder there either I guess. I have 7.1 capability with all of the speakers hooked up I just don't know what I should set the BlueRay Audio at.

I believe that PCM is your best option.

Hi folks I am sure this has been discussed here already, Pardon me for asking anyway.

AUDIO SETUP " ? "
I am connected via hdmi to my Onkyo 705 and have it on bitstream (audiophile)
and here is my simple question.

Should I leave the PCM downsampling to ON or OFF ( note my receiver is Onkyo 705)
and should I also leave it to ON or OFF for the DYNAMIC COMPRESSION.

Thank you,

Thanks for the reply JJ. No, I didn't update the firmware, maybe that's the issue. But I did return the 2nd unit to Wal-Mart, and bought a 3rd unit from Circuit City. This one works great. I guess the 3rd times a charm. But really, I hope Samsung has embarked on a quality control or six sigma process to fix these issues.

Possibly the one from CC came with the latest firmware..

Just to let you guys know I have a bdup 5000 and Made of Honor wouldnt play for me either. I had to watch on ps3

I was at Costco today and saw this player for 279. I considered and then second guessed. Glad I second guessed. Seriously, is there anyone that doesnt have problems and really likes this player. Would Mr Satisfied please stand up.

I completely own the fact that I am a former HD DVD supporter. I cant believe BR and Samsung are this far from the end of the format war and still dont seem to have there $hi+ together.

I like my Samsung TV. Does anyone really like their BD-P1500 player? Is anyone holding out for the BD-P2500?

quick question does this player have a blue light that emits from the middle of the player?

I like mine. So far it has given me no problems. However, I do dislike the remote and its slow response.