Samsung DVD-N501 Nuon DVD Player

Other products by Samsung

Product Details

Product Manual [1.13mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 9 x 16.9 x 2.8 inches ; 6.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005AK8U
• Item model number: DVDN501
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #81,263 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Samsung's exciting DVDN501 brings unheard-of flexibility and innovative interactivity to the DVD format. Developed by Samsung engineers with support from VM-Labs, the DVDN501 uses Nuon technology to enable advanced operation, smoother playback of video at a wide variety of speeds, and even interactive gaming on a single platform. Audio playback is enhanced as well, as the powerful multiprocessors create vivid, active displays on your TV screen when playing audio discs. And all of this capability is in addition to Samsung's reliable performance.

The DVDN501 also advances overall DVD operations. The Convergent Cockpit User interface displays operating status in full color, while still presenting the video image. The joystick remote allows all settings to be changed on the fly, giving instant feedback on disc operations. A Moving Zoom feature allows continuous and instant magnification of the video image up to 20 times, while powerful processors virtually eliminate the picture distortion normally seen with magnified digital images. There is even a multipicture strobe function, which divides fast-moving scenes into individual still frames for a more detailed view of a golf swing, close play at the plate, or all the right moves from your favorite star. The DVDN501 will bring new life to your DVD collection, enhance your audio discs, and bring hours and hours of interactive entertainment to every member of the family.

Product Description

Samsung's exciting new DVD-N501 brings unheard of flexibility and innovative interactivity to the DVD format. Developed by Samsung engineers with support from VM Labs, the DVD-N501 uses VM Labs' NUON technology to enable advanced operation, smoother playback of video at a wide variety of speeds, and even interactive gaming on a single platform. Audio playback is enhanced as well, as the powerful multi-processors create vivid, active displays on your TV screen when playing audio discs.DVD-N501 features a V.L.M. (Virtual Light Machine) - a series of stunning and incredibly fun visual effects that are 'synchronized' to the music being played. When a CD-DA or MP3 disc is inserted, the V.L.M. screen is automatically displayed. Each V.L.M. mode has many settings that can be easily accessed. The NUON mode allows you to enjoy NUON-enhanced movies, which contain a variety of additional interactive features not available on a standard DVD player. Your DVD-N501 player, in addition to playing DVD movies, VCD and CD-Audio discs, also supports a wide variety of NUON entertainment and edutainment software titles. NUON ports on the front panel allow you to plug in a wide variety of NUON peripherals. To play a NUON game, you need to connect a NUON joystick (or multiple joysticks) to DVD-N501, and insert the NUON game disc in the tray.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible DVD/MP3/game player!, July 10, 2001

By	Justin S. (USA) - See all my reviews

I have been very interested in the Nuon technology since I first heard of it. The added functionality it claimed sounded interesting, as did playing games. I waited for the N501 to let the first generation units get the bugs out, so to speak, and I have been amazed by the N501.
DVD playback is very clear and crisp. The Nuon chipset allows for a very unique feature, namely watching the movie play while the menu is on the screen! While this doesn't sound very important, it is helpful when tweaking settings and seeing how the system responds. It has some very nice options allowing for ultra-smooth zooms, screen fit (ok, that's useless as it kills letterbox which is there for a reason), etc.
It also allows you to play audio CD's and MP3 discs, while showing an AMAZING light show. It absolutely must be seen to be believed. Moving patterns of light react absolutely in time with any CD you put in, and every CD behaves completely differently. The fact it can do all this with MP3s is equally amazing. MP3 playback seems very clear, although will only show 13 characters of the filename. It has played every MP3 disc I have put in it with no problems.
The games are also very good, somewhere between N64 and Dreamcast level. Don't get this unit if you're really looking for a game machine, but it's a great plus. Tempest 3000 is amazing and must be seen to be believed. Merlin Racing is also very fun. The unit comes with 1 game, Ballistic, which is a fun puzzler with great gameplay (very addictive!) but with poor graphics. If you plan on buying any additional games for the unit, be sure to get a control pad, as the remote is useless for playing games with. The only reason I give it 4 stars and not 5 (upped to 5/5 on Sept. 1, see below) is I have noticed some slight sync issues sometimes on some discs. It is easily fixed by pausing the playback for a split second and restarting, however. I am not sure if this is just my unit being slightly out of spec, or something Samsung can/will fix in the future. Overall, this unit is HIGHLY recommended. Samsung has put together an incredible unit. I have been absolutely blown away by mine, it surpassed all of my expectations and then some! Granted, at the price it won't compete with [$]+ units, but it's not meant to. For a mid-level player with high-end features, this is the one to get. (.....)

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ..., September 22, 2001

By A Customer

I really like this DVD player. Not only for what it is, but what it can be. This is the first DVD that I know to have the ability to update the BIOS. What does this mean? My DVD player had a problem with skipping. I...downloaded software to fix it. Problem solved. How sweet is that?

This unit can also play MP3 and regular music CD's with a great animated screen.

You can make changes to sound, subtitles and other features while you are actually watching your movie. Great feature.

There are two problems I have with this unit.

1. I found out about the BIOS upgrade through a newsgroup... I heard many people had returned their units because they thought it was defective. That's VERY silly. If they simply notified the stores and users they'd have that many more customores...

2. MP3 Player needs improvement.
a)Song titles are not displayed completely. This is a pain when you are trying to select which of Steview Wonder's songs you want to listen to.

b)Songs can only be played in sequential order. Trust me.. this is very annoying when you make a CD of over hundred songs.

c)Song titles are not displayed, even briefly, during the animated screens...

All in all, I recommend this unit. If you agree with the faults I've identified write a letter and send an e-mail. I think they can fix the MP3 features with a BIOS upgrade ( I hope).

I hope this helps..

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disreguard all of the negative reviews!, December 25, 2001

A Kid's Review

The guy who says that there is no firmware upgrade should actually go to samsung's website, click electronics, dvd players, nuon enhanced, then at the bottom click the link on the N501 firmware upgrade. I burned this upgrade to a cd and popped it in my dvd player, and since then, I have had no problems at all with the unit. It performs flawlessy, and it even plays video games! But, at first i was a little depressed because of the audio sync problems and such.... but it is easily fixed with the aforementioned upgrade. Great picture and sound quality for the price.