The Official Samsung BD-P1500 Owner's Thread - Page 111

what audio stream are you selecting? Anything more than standard 5.1 ie: truehd will probably exceed the bandwith of an optical audio connection. that won't happen with a full hdmi connection

Ok, so I finally found my first flaw with the 1500. It SHUT OFF on me tonight.

I was having a movie marathon with a buddy and I was on my second movie and near the end the thing just shut off.

When I rebooted, it didnt even start where it had left off, went right back to the beginning start up mode.

When I lifted it up it was very hot underneath and Im figuring this was the cause of the shutdown. I have an extra laptop fan thing that goes underneath, guess Ill try that.

I went to play a movie tonight, turned on the TV and the 1500, got the first Samsung splash screen, and the player display said Load. Before I put the disc in, it changed to NoDisc and then the TV said it was searching for a signal and went blank.

Tried resetting the unit, tried unplugging it for a bit, same thing happens over and over. I could see on the front panel that it was set for 1080i, which is what I have been using (over HDMI). I did hook up a composite video cable and saw the normal display, though it was very fuzzy, then menu looked quite out of focus, was set for 480P. I was running this thru an AVR and then to the TV over composite, so don't expect it to look great, but this looked bad.

Haven't tried the component outputs yet, as that will require more extensive re-routing of cables, etc. and I'm too tired for that right now.

I also hooked up an older DVD player to the same HDMI cable and it worked fine, so everything points to the 1500 as the culprit.

Anyways, am wondering if anyone has encountered this problem before? Or any thoughts on other things to try before calling Samsung. I don't think I can take it back to where I bought it, since it's been > 30 days, plus I bought it from Circuit City a week or so before they announced they were closing tons of stores, including all the stores here in the Phoenix area. Can't hurt to check though I suppose.

Thanks,
Eric

hey having major playback issues under 2.1 on all my sons blu-ray films;

Kung Fu Panda,
Meet the Robinsons,
and Wall-e,

anybody got a link to UK version of firmware 2.0 as I had no problems with that update.

Cheers

I have tried all three films with 2.1 with no issues. Do you have Blu-Ray live turned on or off? Are you using a memory stick in the USB drive?

I have the BD Live connection set on prohibt and a memory stick plugged in that has been formatted by the player.

I have also tried it on allow(valid) and both provide the same problem.

my player isn't connected to the internet and I upgraded via CD.

On Kung Fu Panda it always experiences problems on chapter 13 around time
42:50

If it wasn't for the fact I have already watched the film with no problems I would think it was the disc.

Dangerous-Dave, welcome to the forum. Try cleaning the disk or better yet get a replacement. I have had problems with disks getting dirty.

So I hooked the 1500 up via component and it works fine that way. So the only thing that has stopped working with this player is the HDMI. Argh. Short term fix is to re-configure with it connected on component, but my TV is an older Samsung with only 2 component and 1 HDMI so I am limited in the connection possibilities.

Guess I will have to give Samsung a call and see what their return/repair policy/procedure is. My major annoyance is that my kids are getting a few Blu-Ray discs for Xmas, and that would be disappointing if they can't watch them for a couple weeks or so. I'm hoping I get some BR goodies as well

Again, if anyone has seen this problem, would be interested in hearing from you.

Eric

Currently I'm using Bitstream Audiophile; I'm not sure which setting to use- I've read the manual on this portion as well.

My receiver is 8 years old, it can decode Dolby Digital and DTS via toslink.

For your setup, you will get 5.1 DD from DD tracks or TrueHD tracks (player automatically switch to the hidden DD track), 5.1 DTS core from any DTS-HD tracks and 2-ch PCM from LPCM 5.1/7.1 tracks.

If you switch to Bitstream(re-encode), you will gain 5.1 LPCM encoded as DTS. But you will lose DTS-ES and DD ES 6.1 from SD DVDs. But you also get TrueHD re-encoded as DTS 5.1 @ 1.5mbps (instead of the hidden DD 5.1 @640kbps in audiophile mode).

It is up to you. You can't get lossless audio with your current receiver either way.

So what you're saying is I should try PCM or Bitstream re-encode then? For now, lossy is fine, I just want SS in 5.1 to work across all movies/shows.

two incorrect postings in this thread

1. this player does play blu ray on dvd disks just not in the latest firmwares got back to fw 080929_01_bdp1500_xaa.ruf
or 080808_01_bdp1500_xaa.ruf
and they play fine.. and in samsungs literature they say it is supported to they ffd it up inthe latest firmwares.. and are totaly uncooperative when you call them

2. you can go back firmware versions.. just not via web.. just search for the above firmwares and download them and put them on a usb card in the root directory and it will downgrade..

Does this player actually...you know...work?

It has worked with pretty much everything i've thrown at it, which is about 50 Blu-rays now.

If you set PCM, you will get 2-ch only for all audio tracks. That's what optical limited to.

If you want hassle free, bitstream re-encode the the best option for you.

No problems here at all. I didn't upgrade the firmware...not even sure what firmware came with it...it it ain't broke don't upgrade the firmware!

Yep as Foxbat says, if you're using optical and select PCM you'll only get 'stereo', ie 2-channel. I use optical/toslink too, and that's what my speaker system's screen shows if PCM's selected.

'Bitstream (Re-encode)' basically 'blends' all the audio elements (inc menu sound, commentaries etc) into DTS, and yes it's theoretically lower quality.

I also have optical (note: Dolby Digital TrueHD & DTS-HD MA etc CAN'T work over optical, so the player would just switch to the standard DD+ or DTS-HD track), and use 'Bitstream (Audiophile)' simply because of the possibility re-encode is lower quality, but I freely admit I probably couldn't tell a difference with my setup.

The thing to remember with 'Bitstream (Audiophile)' is that it's ONLY the primary audio (be it DD+ or DTS-HD) - if you select a commentary track you won't hear it, as only the primary (movie) audio plays.

If you (like me) use 'Bitstream (Audiophile)' and want to watch a commentary, or PiP track, you need to go to the player setup and switch it back to 'Bitstream (Re-encode)' to get ALL audio tracks ('blended' into DTS) for that session (then switch back to Audiophile later), and in those cases you're not gonna care about high quality audio (lossless etc I mean) as you're listening to talking more than sound effects etc, so having the theoretically lower quality of Re-encode shouldn't be an issue in those situations.

Now the FIRST thing I thought of when I read your initial problem post JOgden, was that in your player settings, in the 'Audio' section, you had 'Dynamic Compression' turned ON, which it IS by default for some unknown reason. If that's on, that could well be the problem, not any of the above (though hopefully the above still helps).

What that does is keep the volume of the movie roughly the same, no matter how quiet or loud it SHOULD be. I s'pose this is if you want to watch a movie late at night and have the overall volume low so as not to keep people awake, but you want to be able to hear everything at that volume, and not have to keep turning it up and down. So, seeing as you mentioned the loud bits getting all quiet, that's why that was the first thing that occurred, that Dynamic Compression might be on.

I use a Harmony 550 remote with no problems. There online database is really accurate.

Ditto to using the harmony 550 with no issues.

On page 35 of the manual it states PCM is "Also recommended if you are using an optical cable for audio and your receiver cannot decode Dolby Digital or DTS." The following applies to the optical output. There are 3 lossless formats that are found on BD DVDs. TrueHD, DTS-MA, or LPCM. If the disk audio playback is set to TrueHD then you will get DD 5.1 over the optical output. If the disk audio playback is set to DTS-MA then you will get DTS 5.1 core over the optical output. However if the disk audio playback is set to LPCM then you will get 2 channel stereo over the optical output. For SD DVDs your will get either DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1.

I use bitstream audiophile, but I am also aware the if I am playing a BD DVD and the loseless audio is LPCM then I must which to bitstream re-encode or I will have 2 channel stereo over the optical output in bitstream audiophile.

Last night I set the player to re-encode, which worked fine, quality was much lower than what I'm used to. The portion I bolded I believe is the problem- during a loud scene the audio would drop out, that makes sense from what you've said and after reading what the manual desribed. I will turn it off and set it back to PCM and audiophile to see how it sounds. THank you aeveryone.

Ditto.

I've only had 1 disc refuse to play, and that ended up to be because the disc was cracked in shipping from NetFlix.

Samsung hsa also been good about firmware updates, adding significant funtionality (BD-Live/2.0) and problem fixes (i.e.- The "Bonus View" icon issue).

Very satisfied thus far.

x2

^^

Same here only issue I've had turned out to be a disc problem. Very happy with the player and Samsungs support with firmware fixes.

Just wish they would add Netflix.

Should we start an email campaign to Samsung? I've got 15 movies in my Netflix "Instant" queue. I can watch them on my 24" computer monitor, but I'd rather watch them on my 47" big screen via the BD-P1500.

This player is on sale for $199 at best buy right now. after reading a lot of posts here I think I will be picking one up.

Can you get Netflix HD stream from a PC at all?

Ah cool - good luck!

And thanks for that info Puba, I forgot that part (at work, don't have manual). I would hope anyone using optical connected to a BD player WOULD have a receiver capable of DD and DTS, but I guess it's useful to have it mentioned!

Had mine for 3 months no issues about 40 BRs played

OK....I think I found a issue with the BDP-1500 but not sure what to do about it. I was working with my swtich Apps team but when taking the Video Storm switch out of the mix the issue is still there. The BR disc Narnia, Prince Caspian has some intro trailers....after these are done there is a scene of flying thru snow capped mountains which ends at the BR Menu....this is 6/6 if looking in the chapter selection of the trailers. Anyway, about midway thru I get lines across the screen on my Sony VPLHS20 Projector....even de-syncs the projector some times to blue screen. My other newer LD TVs (Sony, Samung and Sharp) in the house done't see the issue. This is all when set at 1080i thru Component. Also, if I set to 720P the issue goes away on the PJ too. Clearly it is some transition issue in the scene that the BDP-1500 and Sony PJ combo don't "sync" well on. The Sony PJ is about 6 years old but was top of the line...so I know its input circuitry was very highend (DC and AC coupled).

After talking to the VideoStorm Apps guys they suspect the BDP1500 is doing something strange on the decode at 1080i. The scene is not a fast transition scene....in fact a very slow fly through....so it kinda puzzles them what the issue would be....again pointing more to the BDP1500 instead of the PJ which would be more symptomatic of fast transition screne. Attached is a very...very short clip (MPEG file but zipped) since the limit of attachments on this Forum is 500Kb. I just clipped the screen garble. If you have the disc you can see the scene that it is from.

Anyway, wanted to post this in case others have seen it....also wanting advice on who/where/how to send. I assume Samsung but I don't want to sit for hours on some 800 phone # to have a guy read off a computer screen. I'd rather just send the Samsung Apps the full clip with description of what I see.

Any thoughts ?

 

Prince Caspian, Intro.zip 454.8291015625k . file