Samsung BD-2550/BD-P2500 Master Thread - Page 2

Well, more accurately, it is exactly the same thing as the BDP-1500, but with 7.1 analog outs and HQV chip for improved DVD playback.

This is very disappointing... the cover of the manual states it is the manual for the 2500 and 2550. Nowhere in the manual does it ever state anything is different between these two model numbers.

Per the manual, the player does not internally decode DTS-HD (MA or HR), just like the 1500 didn't decode them.

So the much anticipated 2500/2550 models are looking like let downs to me... looks like another year before Samsung can finally release a full featured player.

I would say that it is not 100% impossible, but it is 95% unlikely. The Broadcom 7440 was originally supposed to decode DTS-HD HR and DTS-HD MA. However, it is now believed there were some problems with the design that prevented them from implementing those features. They can get DTS-HD HR to work, with player specific programming on a case by case basis.

Broadcom actually bought another company this year that makes decoders for Blu-ray players, and their next chip design is based off this acquired design. My impression is that they have given up trying to fix the 7440 and are moving on to the new chip.

So it isn't 100% impossible, but 95% unlikely (IMO)...

I picked one of these 2550's up from Best Buy at lunch, will test it out tonight after work and post my findings. I have a PS3, Toshiba A35 and Samsung 1500 to compare it to. The 1500 has worked great with no problems, it is being moved to another room. I am really interested in the DVD upscaling. PS3 has been great at this but couldn't resist trying the 2550.

Just picked up the BD-P2550 from BB. First time I plugged it into my 750, I was geting a blurry picture that was heavily pixelated. Replugged it back into the HDMI and prestine. Must have had a bad connection somehow, but now everything is working as expected. I recommend the player, DVD playback is excellent. Of course you'll need a new receiver to bitstream the high def codecs, but the player performs well and load up times are faster than the crappy BDP-S350 I owned the other day. Load ups were good on the 350 but the player produced a staticy noise through the speakers whenever I went to the main menu.

Anyway, so far, so good, I recommend the player. Be sure that you set your player to 24fs, and when you initially plug in a DVD, you'll see the wide bars as 16 x 9 normal is the standard, so just choose stretch and all is well.

The single biggest complaint on BD-Up5000 when play 4:3 SD DVDs is the lack of 16x9 Normal mode implemented in 2550. A lot ppl want to see 4:3 DVDs in correct aspect ratio not stretched 16:9. Glad to see Samsung finally get it fixed.

Well, I'm on my 2nd 2550. Samething. Jaggies.....easily seen at the start up screen. Samsung logo and Blu-ray logo all messed up.....makes no differance 24fs or 60fs...

Strange thing is it's not there all the time. Sometimes I can stop the player, look, it's there, sometimes not. Never had this problem with the 1500...

Another problem on both 2550 players, when going into the menu, upon entry, three colored bars come up, gray, black, blue. Each bar has a BOW towards the right....1500 doesn't do this...also a hit and miss white line is seperating each bar, like the convergance is out of wack on the TV....but the TV is fine....just had it calibrated.....1500 didn't do this either....


Also, I put in Stargate SG-1, season 1, second disc, 5 minutes in, the player goes back to the start, just like magic, no stop, black screen, nothing, just like it's part of the film ....1500 never done this either...

Good thing is, my local best buy only had two, I ended up with both...no further reason to exchange again....!!! I'll wait out the 30 days and see what happens.

VHS is looking good again.....

Make sure you configured it to display 1080p or 1080i. Jaggies happen if your player either setup to display 480p, failed to handshake with your TV or AVR at higher than 480p or you played a SD DVD. In second case, you need to make sure you power up in proper sequence: TV->AVR->Player.

In any case, the jaggie do not affect your playback PQ. It's just an indication of your startup signal format or your last played disc format.

This is from my experience with BD-UP5000. Both use the same chipset.

TSalt,
Forgive me if you've already told us, but what is your setup? Is there ANYTHING in your system (like hdmi to dvi) that isn't straightforward? Are you running your signal through a receiver that might be interfering? I ask just because I want to go get one tonight and your experience so far (with 2 units!) is not very encouraging...

I have.....went back through set up, checked and rechecked. It's the player.

If the 2550 has inhertied bad traits of the 5000, someone didn't learn from past mistakes...

Everything is new, reciever[633] TV [ HL61A750] , all by hdmi...straight

keep in mind, I'm unhooking a 1500 and going back and forth....1500 is not showing any of these problems...

I got the Samsung BD-P2550 today with 10% off at Best Buy. I wanted to Blu-ray player that offers excellent bd pq, excellent dvd performace, bitstreaming HD audio to my Yamaha RX-V1800 receiver. So far my really impressions seem very positive with this unit. So far I'm having no problems with it.

Ok I have had a chance to try out the 2550, it is great! Tsalt was right about the jaggies on the samsung logo BUT that is the only place I have seen any jagged edges. I have a Samsung 61" DLP 1080p set. 2550 is hooked up via HDMI to a Denon 3808 receiver then out to the TV. Pass through video, no scaling or altering of the signal. Audio is set to bitstream audiophile mode so my Denon can decode the HDMI audio.

Remote is same as the one included with the 1500.

DVD playback is stellar, easily beating the best I could get out of the PS3. The sharpness setting works for DVD and blu-ray. There is also a DVD only noise reduction setting, I find low to be the best for my taste, certainly cleans up video noise well without affecting the detail. I also prefer the sharpness on low - med and high are a bit extreme/artificial looking. Even with sharpness and the DVD NR off, DVD's look fantastic, as expected. Load times were very fast with DVD's, seems a little faster then the 1500 - speed is on par with an older stand alone sony dvd player.

Blu-Ray playback is even better than the 1500 and PS3. The 2550 seems to have even better color and detail. Again the sharpness setting can be used to tweak the image to your liking, I prefer it on low, simply amazing looking. Tried National Treasure 2 and Spider Man 3 so far, WOW! Blu-Ray speed seems to be on par with the 1500, maybe a hair faster, haven't used a stop watch but almost as fast as the PS3.

I honestly thought I wouldn't see much difference in the blu-ray playback but both blu-ray and dvd playback are stellar.

Sure it doesn't decode DTS-MA internally but it doesn't matter to me as my amp takes care of the decoding. Audio quality bit streamed to the Denon sounds the same on the 2550 as the 1500, at least so far.

Cooling fan was not audible after 1 hour of operation, had to shine a flash light into the grill work on the back to see if it was running.

For DVD playback with what I have, here is my rating from best to worst:
2550 -> PS3 -> Toshiba A35 -> 1500

For Blu-Ray:
2550 -> 1500 -> PS3 - though the PS3 and 1500 are really close/hard to tell a difference.

I think this player is a real bargain. Sure Profile 2.0 support is supposedly coming later but I'll be honest with you - I buy blu-ray movies for the amazing video detail and sound quality, not all the extra web connection stuff, I have a PC to view that stuff (and the PS3 if I really need to check something out).

If you are going to use the analog outs, you won't get DTS-MA, which seems typical at this price point compared to other players, so if that is something you need look for another player - doesn't sound like it will be able to be a future firmware upgrade, only profile 2.0 is promised. Nothing has been announced from Samsung to suggest DTS-MA internal decoding will be added. I don't see anything else coming out anytime soon that will match the video quality of the 2550 at the sub $500 mark.

If anyone has any specific questions about the unit let me know and I'll try to test it out.

Kage,
I seem to remember that you tested a few std DVD players like the Oppo 980, Pioneer 400.. and a Sony, all of them using the Mediatek chip. Was that you? If so, how do you like the upconverting of this Samsung compared to those?

That was me. The ones that you mentioned above are very similar in performace, but the manufacters tweaked them a bit. The Samsung BD-P2550 is so superior in upconverting and it has better dvd pq due to its HQV processor.

Kage, initially when you put a DVD in, it gave u bars on the side correct? I just want to make sure my unit isn't weird or anything. I set it to stretch, is there a better way to output it where I don't see black bars on the side? Thanks!

I could care less about these player's inability to internally decode DTS-MA. As long as they bitstream it, my AVR will do the decoding. But the 2550 at $499 and with Silicon Optix HQV processor, that's something. Not even the more expensive Panny 50 and Sony S550 have it.

Have you noticed the jaggies on the logos shifting around with the same settings , by going back and forth to the start up, weither off/on or stopping play, as in, one time the jaggies may be on the left side of the letters of the logo, next time may be all around the logo, next time may be the bottom half, next may be the left three letters, and sometimes totally fine? I have hooked the player straight to the TV, bypassing the reciever, same results...

Also, does your player bow the center of the menu bars towards the center of the TV? Mine does this at all times and I would call it a severe bow. No other lines appear to bow if they appear on the left side of the set. Just this players menu. 1500's menu doesn't do this.

Some may consider the above minor, I call it annoying


I agree.

+!
Not even the more expensive Panny BD50 or the Sony S550 have the HQV processor buit-in, and at $499!!! This player is not the do-it-all player that everybody wants. If Samsung wants to make it as such, they could have made it as such but it would have cost a lot more than what it is right now. This player will appeal to HT enthusiasts that have AVRs or Pre-Pros that can do internal decoding of the newer audio codecs and doesn't have a very good upconverting DVD player.

It does have quite the value bang-for-buck. While it might not have 1080p24 quality as good as the Pioneer 51FD (due to the 51FD's stunning 36bit color upconversion & Reon's inability to do anything with 1080p24), its performance on 1080i Blu-ray and 480i DVD will surpass anything under a grand for those w/o video processors already.

The one concern is whether Samsung can keep up w/ firmware updates & whether this player holds up over time. While Samsung seems to be doing well with the 1500, prior to that it was disasterous.

I think they've gotten much better in this regard and it started with the 1400. Since fw 1.8 my 1400 has been rock solid.

One feature Samsung is missing that Panasonic has is the card slot. Very nice for people with HD camcorders.

Now suddenly 2550 is a bargain? LoL. My Samsung BD-UP5000 does everything 2550 does (including Reon) plus plays HD DVD as well and costs me only $449 back in March.

Shhhh.....

Is it a fact that this unit has the BCM7440 chip? The pics posted by TSalt (thanks btw) don't show it.

From what I read it does have BCM7440. The picture TSalt posted showed Reon chip only.

That was at a closeout price though for the $449. The list price is cheaper on the 2550. I'm sure the 2550 will be priced even lower once they are ready to close them out.

So we really don't know what chip it uses. The 5000 model has been out for a while; *if* the 2550 uses the same chip then it tells me Samsung has had this deck warehoused for some time while they resolved all the playback issues they had w/the prior models.

Jaggies on the Samsung start up screen logo are worse with a DVD. The unit does switch to 60fs if the unit is in 24fs mode. 60fs with a DVD is where the problem is most noticable.

With a BD, problem still there,regardless of 24fs or 60fs selected, just not as bad.

I can watch the above take place just by changing from a BD to a DVD, and vise versa...

So far, I can't say I've noticed the jaggies while viewing a movie. BD or DVD.

No! The pic does not show REON. That chip from SI is the HDMI chip.

This is the Broadcom and REON...

Is the Broadcom heatsink the bottom of the case like the 1500?
Do you have more pictures?

I now have the Sammy 2550. Do you have to turn the Silicon Optix Chip on or is it automatically? And by the way, when you originally put a DVD in, did you give you the black bars on the side ( similar to when your watching standard def on an HD tv )? Mine did, and I set it to stretch. Is there a better setting for this? And whats the best setting to keep it at when you watch dvds ( pertaining to sharp mode or whatever was mentioned. )


P.S. Can anyone say what the player needs to be set to, to have it bitstream the High Def Codecs? So far I only have a normal receiver so I am using optical, but I want to make sure I know everything so when I get the receiver I'll be good to go. Thanks.