Customer Reviews

Samsung BD-C5500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

5 star:		(95)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(85)

 

 

I have had the Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-ray player for about a week now and I absolutely love it. It was very easy to setup and worked perfectly right out of the box. It's smaller in size than the DVD player it is replacing but noticeably heavier. It starts up quickly and loads Blu-ray discs quickly too. The buttons on the front of the player are touch sensitive and don't give the user any tactile feedback so sometimes it's hard to tell if you have pushed them or not but at the same time they are cool and have a cutting-edge appeal. Some people have mentioned that they don't care for the remote but I find it to be very adequate and easy to use. I like the larger size of the buttons since I have big hands. The remote seems to work well at different angles and distances as well. When I first hooked up the player it did a firmware update and about a week later it notified me that there was a newer firmware and again did an update. It's comforting to see that Samsung is actively working to improve the device's firmware by releasing updates frequently if needed. I didn't know what issues/features the firmware updates were addressing because the UI on the player doesn't really tell you but Samsung does list what the firmware updates change/fix on their website. The device didn't have any problems connecting to my home network using a CAT-5 cable. It doesn't bother me a bit that this player doesn't support wi-fi out of the box. In my experience wi-fi is very susceptible to interference from other devices such as microwaves, cordless phones, and other wi-fi routers so using it to stream a high-definition movie could be problematic when you decide to pop some popcorn during the show or if someone calls you on your cordless phone. You'll always get better streaming performance from CAT-5. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than the players that do have wi-fi built in.

I have used this player to stream Netflix content from my Netflix instant queue. Before having this player we watched a lot of Netflix streaming content on our computer but watching it on the HDTV using this player has been a lot more convenient and sounds better on the home audio system than on the computer speakers. Streaming works very well and I haven't seen it skip frames or stop to re-buffer the stream. It takes a little longer to buffer the stream at the beginning of playback than my computer does but after a 15-20 second wait it's good to go so it's not a big deal. I have spoken with people who stream Netflix through the PS3 or XBOX and they have told me it takes about the same amount of time to buffer on those systems and I would imagine other Blu-ray players that stream Netflix would have similar performance. Some of the Netflix streaming content will stream in 720p resolution which looks and sounds great. One thing to note is that this player will only see titles you have added to your Instant Queue on the Netflix website. You cannot use the player to browse for different content and add it to your queue. This has not been very bothersome to me but it might bother some people. I actually like the fact that I can put titles in the Instant Queue for my children to watch and they can't browse around Netflix on the player and find adult content accidentally in the process.

Streaming music through Pandora has been great too. The Pandora app works well and has a good interface. You can give songs a thumbs up or thumbs down but only while the song is playing. It would be great if you could go back through the list of songs that have recently played and give them the thumbs up or thumbs down after they have played like you can on the Pandora website but that's not the way it works sadly. The quality of the audio seems very good and the time it takes to buffer the music is not even noticeable. We have really enjoyed having a device capable of using Pandora connected to the home audio/theater system.

I used the Blockbuster service to rent a movie for my kids. The video/audio quality was excellent and I had no streaming problems but the price was a little absurd. The movies cost about $4 to rent and you only have access to watch the movie for 24 hours from the time you first start playing it. At that price I would expect that you would get to watch the title as much as you want for 5 days just like you would do if you physically rented a movie from a Blockbuster location. I don't think I will be using the Blockbuster service very much unless there is a movie I really want to watch and I'm too tired/lazy to physically go to a Blockbuster and rent it.

Overall I feel like the device does a lot for how much I paid for it and is definitely worth the money. I have already recommended it to numerous friends and co-workers who have been looking to get a Blu-ray player. This is the first Blu-ray player I have owned and might possibly be the last since it's so feature-rich and works so well.

Update 4/14/2010:

I have had this player for over a month now and I have received 4 firmware updates I think. With the firmware updates the device has only gotten better. The updates didn't appear to add any new features but they have made the player more stable so it is less likely to freeze-up or stop working in other ways. Everything has been working flawlessly for me.

There is a new service called Vudu now that this player supports. I have not tried to use it yet but it appears to give you one free HD rental so that you can try the service. It looks similar to the Blockbuster streaming app. Most movies appear to have options to rent/buy the title in 3 different formats. HDX (1080p 5.1 Surround), HD (720p 5.1 Surround?), and SD (Standard Definition 480p and I'm not sure on the audio). I have watched a few trailers on Vudu and they stream fine but I haven't tried actually streaming a movie from Vudu yet.

This is my first stand alone Blu-Ray player purchase. I also have a Playstation 3. Setup on the Samsung was fast and easy. Blu-Ray discs load up fast. I didn't notice any difference in load speeds between this player and the Playstation 3. The quality of upconverting regular DVD's to 1080p was decent. To access the internet features, I'm using an ethernet cable connected to an Actiontec Powerline Adapter. So far, I have streamed HD Netflix movies and checked out a few videos on Youtube. Both worked flawlessly. As another reviewer mentioned a bug regarding sound, I haven't had that issue at all.

As of now, there aren't many internet apps available. That's not a big issue to me since the only ones I will use are Netlfix and Youtube. One issue I did have was using the AccuWeather App. Every time I went into the setup area to input my current location, the app would freeze (New York City weather is the default location). I tried this at least 5 plus times and the freezing issue didn't go away. I had to power down the player and turn it back on every time the app would freeze.

Overall, I'm really happy with the Samsung BD-C5500. I would recommend this to anyone looking to purchase a Blu-Ray player. Besides the issue with the one application, everything has worked fine.

Update:
Samsung responded well to my issues with this product. It looks like Samsung reads these reviews, a Samsung customer service rep contacted me to request I mail my C5500 so they could look at it and offered to send me a replacement. I haven't had anymore issues with the C5500 and it seems to improve by the day with additional apps. Full points for customer service and support.

Original review:
I am just a common consumer so I can't really compare this to other Blu-Ray players. However, the C5500 starts up and loads fairly quickly. Setup was simple and the GUI is fairly easy. The blu-ray discs I played produced an excellent quality image on my TV. DVDs upscaling to 1080P was okay, about as good as you can hope for. Online features were sort of hit or miss. It was easy enough to setup Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Blockbuster. However, I could not get audio to work. Audio from Blu-ray, DVDs, and even from HD Netflix videos was fine, everything else was mute. I tried calling Samsung, but this is such a new product that the customer support can't support it yet. They could only suggest waiting for a new firmware to come out.
I would strongly suggest for people considering this product to wait a month or two for Samsung to begin supporting this device properly. It looks like it will be an excellent product for the price... once the bugs are fixed in subsequent firmware updates.

I am very pleased with this unit. It worked just fine right out of the box. As someone who has worked in IT all my life, I expected at least some problems connecting to the streaming features. I was pleasantly surprised when the Netflix and Pandora interfaces worked without any setup problems whatsoever. And, by the way, the quality of the video and audio are stunning. Can't find a reason not to give this unit five stars.

Bought unit, connected it to wireless network, and unit seemed to work. After less than an hour of use getting familiar with features of unit I received notice there was a Firmware update: loaded update. Unit would not reconnect to Internet! Spare the details, after more than six hours with level one and level two tech support I was finally turned over to Executive Customer Relations: phone calls were disconnected four times requiring me to go back through the question and answers with a level one tech each time!!! After another hour plus with the Executive Customer Relations they said they would Email an UPS Ground shipping authorization to return the unit for repair. Did not get the Email. Had to call back six times (yes six times!!!)over four days to get them to enter the correct Email address in their system: not a very long one and I even gave it to them in the Military Alphabet - Juliet Whiskey Sierra - each time.
Finally got the Email. Boxed up the unit and shipped it out same day UPS. Got it back twenty days later. It was just as inoperative as when I sent it in. Called Executive Customer Relations, again: they wanted me to go over troubleshooting issues with tech, again. Non-starter, time for an exchange of units I suggested. I had to finally tell the representative I would not argue with her further about the issue and to put her supervisor on the line. The supervisor agreed to an exchange and said a shipping label would be sent out. Two more days pass and no Email with shipping label, so another call to Executive Customer Service: now I am informed that it takes five business days for any decision to be made as to whether or not an exchange will be made. If and when that decision is made a shipping label would be mailed to me within eleven (11) business days (and why not by Email as before????). So, I may or may not get an exchange for a useless unit this year.....
I spent about US$250 for the unit and the UBS lan. I have wasted better than twenty-five (25) hours of my time troubleshooting this defective unit and dealing with Samsung's customer service department. I am doing now what my wife said to do when she heard me on the phone with the level two tech's telling me to do the troubleshooting steps I had already taken before I had called support. I just deposited the unit in the trash. I shall buy the Sony unit with the integrated lan. Samsung BD-C5500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

This device...very nice when it works...horrible and comparable to a beta level product at best when you really try to use it (should not have been released as is or passed validation/quality control - are the people at Samsung sleeping??).

Issues experienced in first month:
1) Firmware (master operating code for the device) will not upgrade over Internet - it downloads, turns off on its own as it's supposed to for upgrade, but does NOT complete upgrade (yes, I do have a working connection and device confirms Internet connectivity)
2) Samsung knows about the problem - I called them and the offered to send me a CD that will upgrade the firmware...ETA 9 business days...until then, it's a decent looking piece of furniture (NOT customer oriented company - Samsung should ship this overnight to address the problem, not in 2 weeks!!)
3) Google maps app freezes the device when you turn traffic feature on - have to turn it off and then back on to get control over device
4) Will NOT play Avatar or Percy Jackson & Olympians: The Lightning Thief...so far...expecting more new releases to not work (get the red screen when trying to play movie)
5) No on-screen display ANYWHERE of model number and serial number for device. Guess what the smart guys at Samsung first ask you for when you call them (to attempt a fix of the issues noted above)...the model and serial numbers. You have to pull the device out of your entertainment center to look up info on the back of the device - very frustrating!! This info should be available along with the firmware version (that is available) in the setup/status menu or the special menu (tray open and press/hold info button). Again, not customer oriented at all - something that a good consumer company would get right.
6) Slow! It takes what it seems like forever for a DVD to start playing.
7) Privacy policy - outrageous!!! The terms force you to accept to use Internet features and specify that Samsung refuses to be subject to any federal or local laws and only subject to laws of South Korea...but that I as the consumer am OBLIGATED to provide accurate, complete and immediate personal information...to which Samsung will have full access to.

I picked this up to go with my new Samsung TV and the two of them work amazingly well. I have had no connection problems, software problems, or streaming problems. It does what it is supposed to and it does it well.

**9 Months later**

Still works great! Not a single problem to report.

I have owned this device for about 1 month now.

The 3 reasons why I bought this was to take advantage of:
1 Blu-Ray player at a reasonable price
2 Online content (eg. Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Pandora etc.)
3 Network video streaming from Windows Home Server (or any other Media Connect, DLNA ready streaming server, etc.)

Based upon the description, this unit would seem to cover all 3 of my goals.

HOWEVER! there are caveats, and failures along this path...

#1 yes it is a reasonable price for a BluRay player. However, prices are coming down for these players across the board, everywhere. If what you want is simply a BluRay player at a low cost, go elsewhere.

#2 yes, it is easy to set up, and access the internet to stream from the Netflix, etc. No worries here at all (assuming that your connection has sufficient bandwidth for video, and you know how to setup/correct your connection, etc., should they arise).

#3 Total Failure. On the outside of the box, the sales hype would lead you to believe (as I did) that this player was further enough along the line of the development path to support streaming content from your own in-house network, whatever it may be, including basic network shares, or more sophisticated media servers such as WHS, MMS, Niveus, etc. However, even with a Window Media Connect, DLNA enabled server this unit will not stream your content successfully.

Reasons why it fails:
The C5500 (or C6500, no difference between the units except for the inclusion of a WiFi connection) will not be able to maintain a connection--you will be able to connect the device and stream content, but the unit will not be able to maintain a connection to your source server.

Between 10 to 50 minutes into your stream, this unit will declare "network connection lost". This, despite the fact that every single other device on your network is still connected, fully functional, and no log errors anywhere to help you correct this problem. This connection problem occurs regardless of whether you are using a wired or wireless connection (for wireless, you only have the option of purchasing the Samsung wireless connector, which is basically the difference in price between this unit and the C6500). Once this happens, all you can do is turn the unit off, turn it back on again, reconnect to your media streaming server, find your media, start it all over again, then find your place again for viewing. A long, tedious, unwanted procedure.

This unit is limited in the content it can play. Very limited. Especially audio.

The limitation on network connection sustainability plus content playability could be a firmware issue. Samsung has already released at least 1 firmware upgrade since this product's release only a short while ago (this is a very new product, as of Q1 2010). However, for the price, and what is available as an alternative (with much higher playback quality), this unit fails for your home theatre streaming requirements.

Yet another reason why this device fails: it has a very short time span between being paused and going into device shut down. After a resume from shut down, you must renavigate to your content from square one. No bookmarking! This results in an unacceptable amount of time and remote control clicking just to get back to where you last left off: you must restart the device, locate your content, resume play, and then somehow find your last viewing spot in the content....

I do NOT recommend this product.

I searched for a long time for a blu-ray player that would stream video and play a variety of video types, including Divx movies. I also didn't want anything that I felt was overpriced. This player has been exceptional. Easy to set-up and stream Netflix. I am having so much fun downloading and looking at really bad movies rather than wasting my subscription by having them sent home. I didn't have any problem with the sound, but I play all of my sound through my Sony receiver. I think this is a great player for the money.

After a long search and digging through 100s of reviews, I finally ordered and received my Samsung C5500 blu ray player. I will provide some details which are not covered in the Product Description.

If you are looking for a wireless network enabled DVD player, stop blaming this product/description and shell out more money and look else where. If you are looking for wireless you need to buy the Samsung wireless adaptor. The specs meant that it is capable of using wireless with an adaptor.

THIS IS STILL A NETWORK PLAYER. If you are OK with Ethernet (wired) network setup, like for me with the router being very next to the TV, this is the best comprehensive player out there is, for the money.

BLU RAY: I played Twilight (2007-somewhat older) and Alice in Wonderland (Rather recent) and I had no issues. Response is reasonably fast, and this being my first blu ray player, I am satisfied and would rather not complain.
DVD: I played a few DVDs and it surely plays DVDS quite well, unconverts for HDTVs, loads and functions pretty fast.
INTERNET @ TV: Pandora over TV is a beauty without ads. Netflix functionality limited to queue browsing/playing only. It doesnt support browsing entire Netflix collection like WII does, but again, I wouldnt complain as I am better off managing queue from computer. Being able to play netflix without laptop connection is a bliss for me. You tube works and can see favorites if I login, but doesnt support playlists.
USB: I hooked up my seagate Portable Hard disk. I can play MP3s, Videos (DIVX - XVID and MPEG and supports reading .srt/.sub subtitle files), browse pictures (as a slide show). Make sure you use "Safely remove" feature to disconnect USB device.

Network Connectablity warning: I couldnt connect when the firewall was ON. Make sure you go to your router settings and turn off any firewall before you configure (AUTO IP) network settings on the player, then the player connects comfortably.

A software is provided with the player which claims it lets you stream media from pc over network to the TV/Player. Havent tried it yet.

Anynet@Samsung: I have a Samsung HD TV (LN37B530) hooked up with this Samsung player, and I could use either of the remotes for either. Typing userids/passwords for Internet services using the channel digits, was a bit awkward initially, but we get used to it. If you are good at texting you will get good at this too.

Pros:
1. Connects easily. ( Provided firewall is disabled during configuration.)
2. Netflix play is cool.
3. USB play option is the best. I can play all my media on USB Hard disk without wiring up my computer.

Cons:
Youtube app doesnt support playlists even upon login.
Couldnt login to Picasa web application. Followed all the steps detailed in Service Configurations.