Customer Reviews

Samsung BD-C7500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This player worked well for about 1 week. Then, since I had auto firmware updates on, The firmware updated to the current version (1010.4). No problem. Then a day later auto updates ran again. This time updating to version 1015.2 (which is not listed for this product). I have been having problems ever since.

Every time I would turn on the player, I would get an error stating "Model Information in your upgrade file does not match with your player. Please check and retry". Everything I would try to do would pop up this error. So I had to disable auto firmware updates to be able to do anything. Now, when I insert a DVD, the player will eject it at least three times before it successfully reads it. When I try to connect to Netflix, it freezes. I have to power off and power on and try connecting again. This happens anywhere between 3 and 10 times in a row before it will work. When I do finally connect to Netflix, the player asks if I have a Netflix account and makes me "authorize" the player for the millionth time. Then sometimes, the player freezes when I am scrolling through my queue.

I have tried to use a usb flash drive to update the firmware to the current version of 1010.4 but the player does not let me. Probably because the version on my player (1015.2) is supposedly after 1010.4.

Now, onto Samsung's technical support....After about a month I got fed up and decided to try to get this problem figured out. I called 1-800-SAMSUNG. Jumped through their hoops to get to the right person. I explain the problems I am having with the firmware. They tell me that the error message I am receiving when trying to update firmware is "because their server is busy" and to try again later. I told them I did not believe that their server was busy for a month. So they tell me to fix the problem "disable auto updates". I told them I already had and that is by no means a fix. I had to repeatedly tell them that the firmware in my player did not match what was on their website to get them to believe that anything was wrong. So they escalated me to Level 2 support and tell me I will receive a call in 24-48 hours.

Three days later still no call from Level 2 support. I call back, jump through hoops, give my reference # and the person tries to help me. I told them I did not want to talk to them, that I was escalated to Level 2 support and would only talk to them. They connect me to Level 2. I tell them the problem. They tell me that the reason I am getting that error is because the server is busy. (I am thinking to myself "Do these people think I am an idiot?") They tell me to try a USB update. I already tried that. After more useless conversation, they escalate me to a "Product Specialist" and tell me I will receive a call back in 24-48 hours.

One week later, I find myself calling Samsung back because I have still not heard from their product specialist. They tell me that there is not one available for me to speak with and they will have one call me back in 24-48 hours. I'm not holding my breath.

Everyone I spoke with at technical support was arrogant and would talk right over me. Luckily I am pretty tech savvy so I know to call their B.S. when they try to give me a fix like "just turn auto updates off". So my advice is if you buy this product, turn auto updates off as soon as possible, but better yet don't buy it. I got suckered in because of the wall mountable feature. I have had bad luck with Samsung players in the past so luckily I purchased an extended warranty on this one. So if tech support fails me, I can fall back on that.

UPDATE:

After several more calls to technical support, they agreed to ship the unit to them for them to repair. Have not received it back yet.

I tried to submit a review on Samsung's website several times. Every time, I get an e-mail a couple of days later saying that they could not post my review because it didn't meet their guidelines. I reviewed their guidelines in detail and nothing I said violated any of them. I think that what it boils down to is that they don't want a negative review on their product site. They want to scam everyone into thinking this is a great player. Well, they're not fooling me.

------- My Updated Review (Sept. 16, 2010) -------
Thought I should update my review now that I've had this player for a few months now. I've had a similar firmware issue as the one GQ wrote about in his/her review last week. The player automatically updated to the WRONG firmware version and there's nothing that can be done until a higher numbered version comes out.

The correct version is 1010.4 but mine auto-updated to 1015.2 and Samsung support said "we are sorry to inform you that there is no option available to downgrade Firmware version in the player." I assume when a proper firmware comes out and has a number higher than 1015.2 I'll be able to update the player but until then I'm stuck dealing with a hit-or-miss player.

Some issues that I've experienced are:
- Some discs won't always load on first attempt; sometimes requires turning off/on player
- Netflix steaming account often reset; requires reactivating w/ Netflix
- Slow load times; I cannot really compare with other players but it takes 1-2 minutes to load a movie which doesn't seem "ultra fast" to me.

I had to change my rating to a 4 out of 5 (more like a 3 1/2) because overall it would be a great player IF you turn off the firmware auto update and avoid these issues.

And my wife says it makes a slight noise while playing/reading the disc, which I only hear during really quiet parts of a movie and usually doesn't catch my attention. ...I told her that's why we need surround sound ;)

------- My Original Review (June 27, 2010) -------
First I got the Samsung BD-C6500 but because there were a number of issues (ex. the tray wouldn't open, slow menu response, network issues) I return it. I got the Sony BDP-S570 next but was disappointed by the Netflix non-HD streaming quality; it was good but not as good as the Samsung BD-C6500. I ended up returning the Sony to get the Samsung BD-C7500, which is perfect (so far). I say "so far" since I've only had this player for a week and only have played a couple blu-ray discs and a few Netflix movies.

The menu and network issues experienced with the C6500 were resolved in the C7500, and the Netflix steaming quality is great. And as you'd expect with most blu-ray players, the blu-ray disc quality is great.

Some things to note are:

If you use the stand, the display isn't readable but that isn't a big lost and if you lay it flat or wall-mount it that shouldn't be an issue.

The entire top panel slides to the left (requiring 6in of space) revealing the disc tray.

The Samsung BD-C7500 is probably the most stylish blu ray player on the market today. Unlike traditional players it is a side loading design that looks high tech and definitely draws attention. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I have had no problems playing DVDs or streaming video. I did make sure to setup wifi and do a system update as soon as I connected it so this may be where others went wrong. I bought this primarily for its Netflix streaming capabilities and it has performed flawlessly. The only downside to this player is that the Netflix support is limited to your queue with no searching capabilities. Also of note, Blu-Ray movies do take some time to load but this is true of most current generation players.

*** Positive Points Include: ***

- Stylish design that can be wall mounted or put atop an included stand. Definitely looks great in any home theater setup. All necessary mounts are included and the stand is great feature.
- Touch panel controls are sensitive and give a high tech look.
- Has built in Wifi so no need to buy an adapter or fuss with Ethernet cables
- Has 1gb of internal memory to store applications. Other DVD players make you supply your own USB drive to save apps.
- Perfect Netflix streaming (perhaps the other users that had problems need to check their router or network setup)
- Perfect ability to play Blu-Ray DVDs. I have tried about 4 different Blu-Ray movies (the newest being Avatar) and all played back with excellent quality. All Blu-Ray players need to be updated to play the latest content so that may be why the other reviewers had problems.
- Ability to download apps like games, art viewers, news browsers, etc. from the Samsungs app site. The player also supports Vudu, Blockbuster, Pandora, YouTube and others just to name a few.
- Has a USB port that allows you to connect a USB drive for video playback or photo browsing. I tried this with various formats and it works perfectly.

*** Negative Points Include: ***

- Limited connectivity. The player has an HDMI out as well as a RCA out but no Component output
- The display panel is built into a fancy looking glass panel which looks great but can be difficult to read (particularly if you mount on the included stand).
- The Netflix viewing is limited to your instant watching queue. You cannot search for new movies directly from this player.
- The remote functions well but it looks rather plain. A disappointment considering the high style of the player.
- The included RCA cable is a proprietary type so be sure not to lose it.
- No HDMI cable included. Why Samsung would make a high def player and include only an analog cable is beyond my comprehension. I did purchase a generic 15 foot HDMI from Amazon for less than $10 bucks and it works great.
- The entire top portion of the player slides to the left to expose the DVD tray. The problem is that the laser lens is also exposed so be sure not to get any fingerprints on it while loading DVDs.
- The internet application menu is not customizable so you have to search through a submenu to access other web apps (not a major issue but it is inconvenient).
- No Web Browser

Overall:

I bought this player for about $150 so it split the difference between a network streaming device (Such as the WD TV live plus) and a Play station 3. It is far better than a streaming device because you have the Blu-ray player flexibility but it is lacking the PS3's gaming capabilities and built in web browser. At around the retail price you are better off with a PS3 but in the $150 range this player cannot be beat for its looks and functionality with built in wifi.

I bought this after reading the reviews and it sounded like a really good blu-ray player. It looks very good. I like the Netflix and blockbuster feature. No more trips to the DVD store or red box. I did not have any issues with watching the movie online. Everything flowed smoothly. The speed of your internet connection comes into play. The only issue I have had so far is trying to play a blu-Ray DVD of Avatar. I have the latest firmware on the device as that was the first thing I did. It will not play this particular movie but plays all my other blu-ray movies. Yet my Sony plays the same movie without any issues. I called Samsung support and they do not listen as they have to step through their trouble shooting steps. In the end the support person told me to fill out a form on their website as it needs to be repaired. I am perplexed that a new unit needs to be repaired. I was going to give it 4 stars but this issue has made me think twice. Overall the unit is good and has alot of features.

With Samsung support on the phone they walked me through doing a hard reset of the unit and now it plays the Avatar movie. No issues whatsoever. I had to give it 5 stars as all of the features are working properly and I have had a few more days to play around with it.

Well, maybe it's me, but after farting around for several hours trying to get this to see my wireless network (set up by the way in the very same room, router and all), I get a message "Due to a change in the WiFi policy, cannot support the TKIP security type in 802.11n mode". I have no idea what this means (i'm really not a techno geek but I was able to set up my TIVO on my wireless network without too much problem).
All I know is now I cannot use the functionality which I paid for on this device.
I also played a Blu_Ray and several "regular" discs on this. Despite what the book says this does not memorize the place where you left off when pressing "stop" once while viewing the DVD. I checked this out with several DVD's, regular and non-Blu Ray, and was careful that I did not hit "Stop" more than once (which doesn't memorize the position), but no go. I was careful and yet when i did this, even for a few seconds, I would have to start the disc all over from the beginning...
I'm just so disappointed in this I want to pack it up and send it back to be honest...

So, for reference, am about a week into owning and doing some initial use.
First, I'd start off by suggesting you do some googling on this model or the c6500 if you want to use it wireless. I have a dlink 825 and regardless what I tried, it would never connect to my access point, despite everything I tried. I even turned off all my security to see if it made a difference, to no avail. mind you I do computer support and have many other devices hooked to this wireless router without issue. So there's something off about this unit, and based on my google results, many others have add similar experience with various samsung models. seems to be hit or miss, and most say calls to samsung support are pretty worthless.
I'm fortunate, that I was able to just put a switch behind mine and use it wireless, at which point,everything worked fine. the other consideration, for the wireless, while it supposedly supports 802.11N, it only supports the 2.4ghz version. which is pretty crazy for a 2010 bluray player. and i couldn't find a whole lot out there when searching before I bought it, so I found out the hard way once I got it. It's sad since I have a dma-2200 media extender that's almost two years old that even supports 5ghz N, so this was a big disappointment. this is my main reason for the 3 stars, as I bought this unit specifically because it was a good price on sale with wireless built in. I didn't want to put a switch behind it with all my other media toys.

beyond that, the unit does seem to work well. this is my first bluray player so don't have much to compare against, but overall it works pretty quickly with regular dvds and bluray disks also seem to load pretty quick, though a little slower than regular DVDs. the picture as far as I'm concerned is beautiful. I guess I got lucky reading some of the other reviews, cause the first thing I did was disable the auto firmware update. and verify the version installed was the same listed on the website. sorry for the ones that got bit by this problem but their reviews I guess are helping others..

beyond disk play, I think the unit looks nice, I think the design and disk load mechanism are pretty cool.
as far as the internet capabilities, it's pretty nice, though I'd say kinda slow, compared to things like xbox. the internet capabilities seem like nice toys to play with , and will be exploring that more in coming weeks. however, was disappointed that there seems to be a big difference in the internet widgets you can get for the samsung TVs vs their bluray player. Skype would've been a cool addition, and while facebook is listed, you just get a message that it's coming soon or something.

otherwise, as far as a general recommendation, I would suggest, if you're looking for a nice bluray player this one is pretty nice, if you get it for a good price...little over 100 I'd say. otherwise, especially if you want more functionality beyond just bluray player, I'd say maybe spend a little more if you can on a playstation, especially considering I read yesterday it'll support 3D. if you're wireless is important, I'd say do a lot of googling to see if anyone else has used this player with whatever router you have so know know it'll work, otherwise look elsewhere.

The Samsung BD-C7500 is probably the most stylish blu ray player on the market today. Unlike traditional players it is a side loading design that looks high tech and definitely draws attention. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I have had no problems playing DVDs or streaming video. I did make sure to setup wifi and do a system update as soon as I connected it so this may be where others went wrong. I bought this primarily for its Netflix streaming capabilities and it has performed flawlessly. The only downside to this player is that the Netflix support is limited to your queue with no searching capabilities. Also of note, Blu-Ray movies do take some time to load but this is true of most current generation players.

*** Positive Points Include: ***

- Stylish design that can be wall mounted or put atop an included stand. Definitely looks great in any home theater setup. All necessary mounts are included and the stand is great feature.
- Touch panel controls are sensitive and give a high tech look.
- Has built in Wifi so no need to buy an adapter or fuss with Ethernet cables
- Has 1gb of internal memory to store applications. Other DVD players make you supply your own USB drive to save apps.
- Perfect Netflix streaming (perhaps the other users that had problems need to check their router or network setup)
- Perfect ability to play Blu-Ray DVDs. I have tried about 4 different Blu-Ray movies (the newest being Avatar) and all played back with excellent quality. All Blu-Ray players need to be updated to play the latest content so that may be why the other reviewers had problems.
- Ability to download apps like games, art viewers, news browsers, etc. from the Samsungs app site. The player also supports Vudu, Blockbuster, Pandora, YouTube and others just to name a few.
- Has a USB port that allows you to connect a USB drive for video playback or photo browsing. I tried this with various formats and it works perfectly.

*** Negative Points Include: ***

- Limited connectivity. The player has an HDMI out as well as a RCA out but no Component output
- The display panel is built into a fancy looking glass panel which looks great but can be difficult to read (particularly if you mount on the included stand).
- The Netflix viewing is limited to your instant watching queue. You cannot search for new movies directly from this player.
- The remote functions well but it looks rather plain. A disappointment considering the high style of the player.
- The included RCA cable is a proprietary type so be sure not to lose it.
- No HDMI cable included. Why Samsung would make a high def player and include only an analog cable is beyond my comprehension. I did purchase a generic 15 foot HDMI from Amazon for less than $10 bucks and it works great.
- The entire top portion of the player slides to the left to expose the DVD tray. The problem is that the laser lens is also exposed so be sure not to get any fingerprints on it while loading DVDs.
- The internet application menu is not customizable so you have to search through a submenu to access other web apps (not a major issue but it is inconvenient).
- No Web Browser

Overall:

I bought this player for about $150 so it split the difference between a network streaming device (Such as the WD TV live plus) and a Play station 3. It is far better than a streaming device because you have the Blu-ray player flexibility but it is lacking the PS3's gaming capabilities and built in web browser. At around the retail price you are better off with a PS3 but in the $150 range this player cannot be beat for its looks and functionality with built in wifi.

I held off from buying a blu-ray player because of the ongoing development of the blu-ray standard. I am glad I did. The combination of blu-ray and Netflix, etc. streaming is awesome. The fact that prices have fallen has helped as well. So why buy the Samsung BD-C7500?

*Had to get the latest model with the latest tech. Now with deep color, blu-ray movies are as good if not better than 35mm film.
*Interconnectivity: I have a Samsung LCD. The Anynet+ device networking is just great. If you put a disk in the player, it changes the source automatically to the player and starts the movie. The blu-ray controller also works with the TV. All sorts of other wonderfulness that I have yet to discover.
*It has the slickest case and disk changer ever. Yes, I would mount it on the wall but would need some way to hide the power and HDMI cables.
*Netflix streams very well. Pandora is great. I haven't gotton Vudu to work yet.

Despite all the media wonderfulness, there are issues.

*Connecting to the network is easy if your router is set to WPA and you broadcast your network SSID. I was using the old WEP protocol and didn't broadcast my SSID. So after reconfiguring my router, I was up and running quickly.
*Network Bandwidth: When I 1st launched Netflix and watched a movie, the quality of the connection was medium. I had streaming issues and every 5 minutes it had to pause. The movie quality was also very pixilated. Very unacceptable. The next morning, I resumed the movie with no streaming problems but still had low quality HD. I then tested the connection on the player and it read .5mb (Need 1.5mb). Today, I tested my bandwidth on a wireless laptop and got 12mb download and 4mb upload. So it is not my equipment. I have 12mb cable service. I then tested the bandwidth on the player and got 1.9mb. I streamed a movie and the quality was good HD. So at this time, I am happy and have boosted my Netflix streaming queue. I know that cable service can degrade when traffic increases. Can't confirm whether this was the cause.
*I did call support and found they were out of country with less than optimal English skills and very rudimentary knowledge of the equipment. Not much help.
*I also had a problem when I first hooked it up to the HDMI 3 input port. The picture and sound snapped randomly. I just changed to HDMI port 4 and it worked like a dream.
*I now have seen reviews on bad firmware updates and will turn the automatic update off until a confirmed mature version is issued. Samsung does support their equipment pretty well. My 2 year old TV has had several firmware updates.

As with all technical devices, it is not unusual to run into some glitches. Now that I have cleared up my issues, I am really satisfied with my purchase. I would recommend this to others as long as they understand how to deal with the known issues.

I usually experience some difficulties when setting up new electronic equipment. With this one, however, it went just like clockwork. I read the detailed instructions and followed them precisely....no shortcuts. Immediate success in picking up my wireless network. I was watching streaming content within 45 minutes after starting installation, and a lot of that time was downloading updates. I have watched a few blu-ray discs, and it is excellent.

I have been using the player for about a week or 2 and it is great paired up with the samsung 46 led 6000 series. when i power on the blu ray pressing power button on the player the tv turns on as well.

Reads the discs super quick. about 3-4 seconds.
Easy to use interface and wifi and 1gb memory is a plus!

Streaming through lan or wifi is a nightmare with HD movies mkv, or any files over 4gb. anything below that is ok. It just gets very laggy even though I have comcast high speed internet. It has a internet speed test built in and I got up to 1.8mbps on lan and 1.6 on wifi and still laggy...

I have to say I love that it has a usb port on the side and plays a lot of different video/audio formats, dts, dolby digital ac3, didn't have a problem with any movies through usb.

And this player looks real good to with its shiny kind of wood looking glossy finish.