Customer Reviews

Samsung BD-P1600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(88)
3 star:		(51)
2 star:		(64)
1 star:		(169)

 

 

I received this blu-ray machine at the and of April, 2009, along with a Samsung HDTV. The player has worked fine - playing discs, streaming NetFlix and Pandora - until last month. An automatic firmware update which I accepted via the internet introduced a bug which renders the machine inoperable. The machine is now locked with the display only showing "LOAD." There is no main menu and discs in the player when turned on have no effect of 'jump-starting' the machine.

I discussed the issue with Samsung Tech Support ('support' being used loosely here) and they informed me that this is a known issue and their engineers are working on a solution. In the meantime, I've seen bulletin board discussions with people having the same problem. Samsung representatives continuously suggest the same, ineffective 'solutions' : hold down the FF button; install the latest firmware update - which, a> is impossible since the player is locked and b> the original cause of the machine not working.

The final solution from Samsung representatives is to send the machine in for repair. During a support chat session with Samsung, I was informed that the price of this would be $160.00. I paid only $80 for it, as there was an Amazon discount of $200 on any player purchased with a qualifying TV.

The idea that Samsung is expecting customers to return the machine for repair and pay for those repairs is ridiculous. It is their own firmware, which they deliver to these machines, that is the cause of these problems.

As I mentioned earlier, the quality of the player - when it was functioning - is great. However, with it in its current state, and Samsung's fleecing of their customers, it has led me to "spread the word" and in no way, shape, or form can I possibly recommend this product - or any other Samsung product - until something is done.

Samsung should be offering a re-call of this product and replacing it at no cost to consumers. Until then, Samsung goes on my "Do Not Buy" list.

UPDATE (12/23/09): Finally got Samsung to resolve issue. See my comment below for details. Changed from 1-star to 3-stars. Can't go any higher than that based on original issues, though.

This is a good value for a blu-ray player with the new online features available such as Netflix, Pandora, and BD-Live. It is small and easy to install and setup. I use the HDMI output to my Samsung HDTV and the Optical Digital Audio output to my AV receiver. The Anynet+ feature is convenient which helps the Samsung components work together reducing button pushing. I hooked up an ethernet cable and easily got it online and setup with my pre-existing accounts with Netflix and Pandora. I've read BD-Live requires a USB 1GB flash drive. I have download cable modem speeds in 6MB/s range so the picture quality is very good from Netflix, I'd say equivalent to upconverted DVD quality. Audio quality from Pandora is also excellent and the commercial-free music service is supreme. Blu-ray DVDs look fantastic and upconverted standard DVDs look great too. This does not have the higher-end HQV chip to my knowledge. The face pushbutton interface is cool and has a high-tech feel to it. Load time is very fast - about 8 to 10s. The menus look good and are easy to navigate. No complaints here. I'm very pleased getting all these features for entry level money.

I bought one of these to replace a PS3 because I hated that it looked like a wart in my setup, had a loud fan, and could not bitstream. Finally there is a small blu-ray standalone that is fast, has a great picture and can bitstream advanced audio. It looks great in the rack and the netflix/pandora features are a nice bonus. I won't be missing the PS3 at all.

BTW, it is known that a 1GB usb drive is needed for BD live enabled titles. If you do not have one installed, and are not internet connected BD-live titles will not play unless BD-Live is disabled under the settings. I don't know why it is enabled by default, but the couple of guys that had unplayable discs could have fixed that problem my disabling BD-Live or inserting a 1GB flash drive. A little research will yield a lot.

Since the player is brand new (almost pre-release) there may be hiccups, but expect firmware to address them as they are found. As is, the player is playing all my blu-rays spectacularly. This is a great player. Don't hesitate if the features meet your needs.

This blu-ray player functions well and is reasonably priced. Blu-ray loading takes about 20 seconds. Picture quality is excellent. My only negative comment is that the motor is noisy, which makes for a rather distracting whirring sound - much more noticeable than my standard dvd player - that is ever present in the background. This would be fine if the unit were stored in a cabinet to muffle the sound.

I got this unit to replace an aging DVD player, relieve some stress from my PS3 and replace an older Netflix streaming video player. The price point for this unit makes it affordable to anyone wanting to enter the Blu-Ray market for the first time. The additional features such as Netflix make it a no brainer in my opinion. If you are already a subscriber to Netflix, why not watch the Instant Movies on your TV instead of your laptop or computer? The biggest issue I see people having is that the wording by Samsung about "wireless" is confusing since it does not have "wireless" access out of the box. They offer a dongle you can purchase separately (not yet available), but I found that for the same price you can buy an Ethernet Bridge Linksys by Cisco WET610N Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band and just used the wired port. The advantage here is that the bridge can be used for any device, so if you change out the player with something else in the future, your investment in the bridge is protected. I also got the added bonus in that my TV is a Samsung so with their "Anynet" system I could do away with 3 remotes now (TV, DVD Player, Netflix Box) and just use this one.

Bottom Line: The unit is priced to sell and is a great value when you consider the included Netflix streaming video application (requires Netflix subscription). You don't have to worry about firmware updates if you utilize the network port since you can just have the system download firmware updates as required in the future.

Purchased this as secondary Blu-Ray player for bedroom; wanted something that did NetFlix streaming. Set-up and plugged into home network, was immediately prompted to update firmware, which I did. (Have no idea if it worked before that as it was turned on and the first screen shown is firmware update.) It took several tries (kept getting stuck at various download points), but was eventually successful (third try?). Completed set-up (entered menu settings, etc.) and all seemed well UNTIL I tried to watch a movie. Machine locked up. Wouldn't do anything; just got stuck at "loading" and nothing happened. (The reset procedure specified in manual doesn't work because the buttons on the P1600 are electronic, unlike the P1500 and P1590, apparently.) Pulled plug and restarted. Same thing. Finally, after about 10 tries, it worked and movie played, briefly. (I actually just left the unit on and it restarted itself, which worked when pulling the plug did nothing.) Stopped movie after about five minutes and, when I tried to restart, the same thing happened. A quick Google search of "Samsung BD-P1600 lockup" found a C-Net thread that described many users having this same issue with multiple units in various scenarios. :-( This unit is going back to Amazon. What a bummer!

I've never taken the time to write a review for Amazon before; but then, I've never purchased a worse quality product than this player. As I type this, my wife is disconnecting the unit for return to Amazon - FOR THE SECOND TIME IN TWO WEEKS. Yes, that's right. One arrived (super fast delivery by Amazon, I might add), worked briefly, then froze up. (Read other reviews for specifics - mine did the same thing.) A few minutes on Amazon to arrange a replacement, they - again - shipped very quickly and without argument...AND THE SECOND UNIT'S AS BAD AS THE FIRST! Oh, I got three days' use out of it, but now it's as locked up as the other unit. SIMPLY APPALLING.

I was very tentative about buying either of the Samsung Netflix-streaming BluRay players currently for sale on Amazon (BD-P1600 and BD-P3600) based on the negative reviews I read about them. Horror stories of firmware upgrades gone wrong, DOA units, bad tech support, players suddenly not working, and so on had me ready to buy an LG player with Netflix streaming (because I really wanted that streaming).

A killer deal from Amazon settled the debate and I got the BD-P1600 and four BluRay movies for just under $200. If the deal doesn't come around again, don't feel too badly about it, this player is worth the current Amazon price of $250 all by itself. In fact, if Amazon said, 'Hey, John, we want you to pay us the difference that you saved,' I'd be like, 'Well... okay... but just this once.' (Note to Amazon: Do not do this.)

I have a simple setup: Samsung 32-inch LCD television (LN-T3253H) connected to the BD-P1600 with a $7 HDMI 1.3 cable. Yep, that's it. The player worked with very little setup, part of this has to do with connecting it to a Samsung TV. There are little Samsung fairies that live in the devices that talk to each other, but they won't communicate if you hook up a non-Samsung product.

I can't really speak to how much better the picture is over other BluRay players, or vice versa. My TV is *ONLY* 720p. Hey, the player plays movies. The movies look excellent. I've not had a problem with any discs: standard definition or BluRay. I have not needed a firmware upgrade yet: I've watched a couple BDs that were released in March and April of 2009 without a problem. (At some point, I'm sure I'll have to upgrade the firmware. I will post an addendum to this review then.)

I'm using an ethernet cable for the internet connection. The biggest difference between the BD-P1600 and the BD-P3600 is the wireless USB dongle included with the BD-P3600. It costs about $80 on its own, last I checked. You don't need it unless you have some issue preventing you from running an ethernet cable. A cable is more reliable and transmits data faster anyway.

Netflix streaming was easy and fast to set up. I was watching an episode of the original BSG in, like, five minutes. It wasn't very good, but I was really excited just to be doing it (how many times have I said that?). By the way, Netflix recommends a minimum internet connection of 3Mbps to stream content to a standalone player - my cable company tells me I have 7Mbps. To date I've had no issues with Netflix streaming: no skips, pauses, out-of-synch video-audio, or pixelation. Obviously you need a Netflix subscription for this to work. It has to be the $9 per month plan or higher.

If I were European, Netlix would be my mistress and the BD-P1600 would be my wife.

Also available through the internet connection is a music service called Pandora where you type in the name of a single song or artist you like, and this station you create (you can set up lots) up will play songs that are musically similar to whatever you entered. You can give a thumbs-up or -down vote to songs to further refine your station. It's free to set up an account. It's cool. I wouldn't pay for it, but I like.

The only con I have found to date is the player does hum louder than other players I have had when playing a disc or Netflix content. The flip down faceplate to access the disc tray and front buttons is a little odd, not a con, just an oddity.

(By the way, people: a one star review means you hate it, not that you like it a little bit. 'Stupid Amazon won't let me rate it zero stars.' Shut up.)

**Update**

I installed a firmware update on July 2, 2009.

Hey, guess what? Everything still works just fine. I tried the Pandora music service, Netflix streaming and playing a few BluRay discs. Actually, there has been a noticeable improvement in the time it takes BluRay discs to load.

The update took between 10 and 15 minutes, which was lengthy for my tastes, but the on-screen guide does a good job of keeping you appraised of where in the update process you are.

Man, why can't I rate this thing, like, seven stars?

**2nd Update**

I installed another firmware update today (September 5, 2009). This update has added Blockbuster and YouTube streaming like the previosuly available streaming for Netflix and Pandora. I'm not a fan of Blockbuster. The YouTube streaming is a feature the LG Netflix BluRay players have had for a while. I don't have a YouTube account, but if I did, I'd be able to popluate the searches and favorites for retrieval on my BD player. Even without an account, I can still watch whatever random stuff is most popular at the moment.

Everything else is still working just fine. I have not had any issues with any discs: currently Band or Brothers on BluRay is keeping me in front of the TV. The Netflix streaming is amazing and they are contantly adding more content: there aren't a lot of new releases put up. I use Pandora more than I thought I would: I'm digging the Tom Waits station I created as I write this.

I see the current price is $230. What are you waiting for? Add it to your cart!

I was actually looking to purchase a Sony blu-ray player, one that I use at work. However, I was very intrigued by the Netflix and Pandora options built into some of the Samsung and LG units. After reading some of the reviews here I decided to purchase the Samsung BD-P1600.

The setup was easy (but I don't normally have difficulty with AV setup). The startup time for the unit was faster than that of my Sony and I felt the main menu was more logical too. I was on Pandora in a few minutes as I activated the player on my laptop while setting up the unit. (A note: I decided to run a network cable to this unit). The Pandora service is nice, not great, but it is free. I was also able to activate my box on Netflix's site in just a few minutes. I played a DVD to test, and the picture was beautiful (I have the unit connected to a projector via a component to RGB cable).

At first I was having trouble getting the Netflix movies in my Watch Instantly queue to play on the unit - they were not loading. The unit was able to connect to Netflix to bring up my queue, but none of the movie images or the movies themselves were loading. I initially thought the problem was a memory issue and plugged in a flash drive to the unit...but it was clear the unit was not using the drive when attempting to acquire the movies. After about an hour of searching Netflix and Samsung's site and finding no issues such as this, I checked the log of my network router. I found that the connection to Netflix's site was successful at times (pulling the queue), but that a lot of incoming packets were being dropped. I have had a few incoming services on my Internet connection over the past few years (e.g. VPN, Vonage, etc) so I thought perhaps the player/netflix were using a port assigned to an existing service and were trying to send the packets to the computer hosting those services. I removed all services that I was not using (VPN, Vonage, and remote IP printing) and I also made sure that the samsung unit was assigned a specific IP based on its MAC address. Once I did all these things and rebooted the router, the box was able to pull everything in from Netflix.

Being an IT guy by profession, I should have known better than to try too many things at once, because now I'm not sure specifically what was the issue. But if I were a betting person, I put money on the port conflict. (I set the unit up last night and am writing the review in the morning, so I have not had the chance to try and mess things up again to find the true issue). I felt it was important to note this issue just in case someone else out there has the same problem.

The only reason I give this unit a 4 out of 5 rating is due to the lag in response it appears to have at times. It is not as quick to respond to remote control "clicks" as fast as I would like, but it is not terrible. It just seems like the unit it "processing" your input for a few seconds. If you get a little impatient (like me) and click other buttons in the meantime, the unit can take a little longer. Overall, though, I love the unit.

I ignored the negative reviews of the Samsung BD-P1600 - BIG MISTAKE! The player worked for about 5 minutes before becoming unresponsive. I called Samsung Tech Support which confirmed I'd have to return it for repair after trying to reset it multiple times with their on-phone instructions. The unit powers up and the display reads "LOAD" and becomes unresponsive from that point on. You cannot get to a menu, the only thing it lets you do is to turn it off.

I ordered this player at the same time that I ordered a Samsung 650 series 52" LCD TV. I was using the HDMI output from the player to the TV. For the 5 minutes the player worked, it had no problem being recognized by the TV. I will review the TV after a few months of experience with it.

I asked Samsung Tech Support if I would get the original player or a new player after I returned the defective unit for repair - the tech said it would be a refurbished unit. I decided to just return the defective unit to Amazon for a refund instead since it was literally 5 minutes out of the box!

Obviously, Samsung has some quality issues with these players. I am going to look for something else since I don't want to go through this again with Samsung. I would give Samsung Tech Support a rating of 3 stars out of 5 - the tech sounded like he absolutely hated his job.