Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

Other products by Samsung

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 16.9 x 2.3 inches ; 6.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0014H16V0
• Item model number: BD-P1500
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (350 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #902 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

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  #11 in	Electronics > Televisions & Video > Disc Players & Recorders > Blu-ray Disc Players
  #32 in	Electronics > Outlet

• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 21, 2008

Product Description

Manufacturer's Description -- July 20, 2008
Experience the blu-ray difference with the SAMSUNG BD-P1500. TheBD-P1500 lets you have it all - watch your favorite DVDs and blu-ray discs or listen to CDs with the highest-quality audio.

Full 1080p resolution gives you the most outstanding HD image quality.Enjoy a richer, bolder color palette via extended gamut YCC technology. HDMI 1.3 transmission bandwidth capabilities ensure the strongest signal fidelity, while the Ethernet connection lets you easily check for the latest firmware upgrades online. Control all your Samsung AV devices from one remote, via Anynet+ technology. And advanced audio compatibility, including DD+, and True-HD, offers premium sound, for the greatest HD experience.


CD & DVD Compatible
This blu-ray disc player offers state-of-the-art viewing with CD and DVD playback compatibility. Even as you take advantage of the latest video and audio advances, you can still enjoy all your existing media content.

Built-in Ethernet Connection
BD profile 1.1 interactivity lets you download the latest firmware upgrades and more with just a click of a button. Making firmware upgrades simple and easy, you can continually upgrade the BD-P1500 with the latest features.

Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby True HD
Immerse yourself in amazing sound. The BD-P1500 supports the new Dolby Digital Plus Audio format. It also supports uncompressed PCM Audio and Legacy dts 5.1 Dolby Digital. Dolby® Dolby TrueHD delivers powerful sound that is bit-for-bit identical to the studio master, unlocking the true high-definition entertainment experience.

1080p Resolution
Enjoy lifelike, vivid visuals and crystal-clear details with full high definition 1080p resolution.

Easily Connect Your Digital Devices
Tired of tangled wires? HDMI keeps it simple by using a single cable wire to deliver the sharpest, richest images possible. Conveniently and easily transfer high-definition video and audio from your DVD player to your HDTV and other digital devices using a single cable. HDMI version 1.3 transfers deeper color and higher resolution, and handles new, compressed audio formats.

Control it All with One Remote
You're in full command with the BD-P1500. Anynet+ delivers streamlined, one-touch control over all your Anynet+ compatible devices such as the TV, AV receiver, and home theater. You can operate all of them with a single remote control. A true “plug and play” product, it comes with a Consumer Electronics Control feature that lets you operate SAMSUNG HDMI products with one remote control.

Technical Specifications

Compatibility	Playback Media	BD-ROM / DVD-ROM / DVD-R / DVD-RW / AVCHD / audio CD
	Playback Formats	VC-1 / MPEG2 / H.264
A/V Quality	DVD Upconversion	Yes
	Dolby Dital Decoder	Yes
	DTS Decoder	Yes
	Dolby Digital Plus Decoder	Yes
	DTS HD Decoder	No
	Dolby True HD Decoder	Yes
Functional Feature	Local Storage	Yes
	Picture in Picture	Yes
	BD Profile	profile 1.1
Connectivity	USB 2.0	Yes (for SW upgrade and memory expansion)
	HDMI CEC	Yes
	Composite Video Outputs	Yes
	Component Video Outputs	Yes
	S-Video Outputs	No
	HDMI Outputs(Version)	Yes (1.3)
	Optical Digital Audio Outputs	Yes
	Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs	No
	Analog Audio Outputs	2-Channel
	Network	Yes (for SW upgrade only)
Product Weights & Dimensions	Dimension	16.9 inches x 3.3 inches x 10.8 inches
	Weight	8.6 lbs.
Shipment Weights & Dimensions	Dimension	20.6 inches x 7.1 inches x 15.0 inches
	Weight	12.6 lbs.

Answers to Basic Questions About Blu-ray

What is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray is a new optical disc format with over five and a half times the storage capacity of a standard DVD (25 GB versus 4.5 GB). A dual-layer Blu-ray disc can hold up to 50 GB of information. With that increased storage, movie studios can finally provide movies on disc in high definition, offering 6x the resolution or image detail of DVD and up to 8 channels of lossless (better than CD quality) digital sound. The new format can also provide interactive features that go well above anything ever offered before.

Is Blu-ray different than HDTV?
HDTV, or high definition television, is a new broadcasting format that offers widescreen, high resolution images offering 6x the resolution or image detail of DVD, with up to 5.1 channels of digital audio. Until now, the signals were only available through over the air transmissions (via an antenna), or through digital cable and satellite signals. You can not get HD signals from a standard video tape or DVD.  An HDTV is a high resolution video display that is capable of receiving and displaying these HDTV broadcasts or images.   Blu-ray is a complement to your HDTV. It's a disc media format that has enough storage to include an entire movie, plus soundtracks and bonus materials, recorded in the high definition format. You can play Blu-ray discs back on your HDTV and see the same, if not better image and sound quality as you do from HDTV broadcasts.

What kind of TV do I need to enjoy Blu-ray?
You can play back Blu-ray movies on any TV with composite video or better inputs (not RF), but to get a worthwhile benefit from the format over DVD you'll want to have a high-definition television, or HDTV, with a vertical resolution higher than 480p, and preferably higher than 720p. Most Blu-ray titles can deliver an image with a vertical resolution of 1080i or 1080p. The more horizontal resolution the TV can reproduce, up to 1920 lines or pixels, the better.

How are Blu-ray discs different than regular DVDs?
Blu-ray discs are the same size as DVD or CD, but use a blue* laser to store and read data as opposed to the red laser used in DVDs and CDs. The blue laser's shorter wavelength, combined with a smaller aperture lens and a thinner cover layer on the disc makes it possible to create a smaller beam spot size capable of storing and reading much more, smaller information on the disc.  A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB worth of data, compared to 4.5 on a standard DVD. A dual layer BD disc holds up to 50 GB. This translates into the ability to store a full 1080p HD image. This has a resolution consisting of 1920 by 1080 progressively scanned pixels, compared to standard DVD's 720 by 480 pixels.  In addition, Blu-ray has much wider bandwidth than DVD, delivering signals at speeds up to 48 Mbps, six times faster than DVD's 8 Mbps, and nearly 2.5 times the data of an HDTV broadcast's 19.2 Mbps.  *technically, it's violet, but who's keeping track?

Will Blu-ray discs play in my current DVD player?
No. You will need a Blu-ray player to be able to read the smaller, denser information found on a Blu-ray disc.

Will I be able to play standar DVDs on my Samsung Blu-ray player?
Yes. Blu-ray players are backwards compatible with your standard DVDs.  They can also play CDs.

Is Blu-ray the same as HD DVD?
No. HD DVD was a competing format with less storage capacity than Blu-ray. With Toshiba, its primary champion announcing on February 19, 2008 that they would end production of HD DVD products, the few companies that were supporting the format announced that they would instead create products for the Blu-ray format.

What does up-conversion mean?
Consumers have over 50 years worth of material in standard definition formats. Up-conversion is the process of taking that existing, standard definition material and converting it (lines and pixels are copied to some degree) to the higher resolution needed to display those signals on an HDTV. When done well, the process can often improve picture quality, though it can't increase actual resolution. The quality of the up-converter, included in everything from up-converting standard DVD players to Blu-ray players and HDTVs, can often determine the quality of the picture.

What kind of cables, connections do I need to have to make Blu-ray work?
You will need either a 3-wire analog component (typically labeled Y, Pr and Pb) or an HDMI digital video connection between the BD player and the TV. The HDMI connection is preferable. Not only will it provide better image quality, but it will pass along higher resolution audio and control information, as well. You may get limited up-conversion options with standard DVDs when using the component connection.

What is firmware and do I need it?
Firmware is like computer software, or the instruction set in the player that tells the hardware what to do under various conditions. Insert a disc, and the firmware tells the player to read the disc. Press the Play button and the firmware tells the player to play the movie. Generally speaking, the firmware is invisible to the end user. But Blu-ray keeps evolving, and new features keep being created. With each new feature that a movie studio comes up with, hardware manufacturers have to release new instruction sets, or firmware, to deal with it. Samsung's ability to easily update the firmware in their BD players makes them one of the best in the business.

 Who supports Blu-ray?
At this point, nearly everyone supports Blu-ray. All the major movie studios have announced that they would support Blu-ray with both new and catalog titles. Thousands of movies and music videos are already available. Most major electronics manufacturers have been supporting Blu-ray since the format's beginning.

Can I rent movies on Blu-ray?
Yes. Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and Netflix, among other places, offer Blu-ray titles for rent. 

Are my regular DVDs obsolete?
Not by the definition Merriam Webster would use. You can still play your regular DVDs on your Blu-ray disc player, so they're still useful, but you'll want to replace them with Blu-ray versions as they become available in the new format so that you can enjoy the improved image and sound quality. 

Is the only benefit to Blu-ray the video quality? Why should I upgrade to Blu-ray?
You will probably upgrade because of the video quality, but you may also appreciate the improved sound quality available on some players as well as the advanced interactive features.  Blu-ray offers the latest generation audio codecs that can play back up to 8 channels of surround sound with improved audio quality over that of standard 5.1 digital soundtracks. This includes Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS High Resolution and DTS Master Audio.  Blu-ray also offers advanced bonus features that can include interactive game features or picture-in-picture commentary tracks, not to mention additional features that could be downloaded after the disc has been produced. 

Do I need to buy a new home theater system?
You don't need a new audio system, but you should at least have a surround system (five speakers and ideally a subwoofer) with Dolby Digital or DTS audio decoding to hear the theater-like audio experience that is available on Blu-ray. Some BD players offer more advanced audio codecs that provide even better quality sound through up to 8 channels of surround. 

What do all these audio formats mean?
You can hear better-than theater-like audio at home. As George Lucas has said, sound is 50% of the movie experience. With the right audio equipment, you can hear up to 7.1 channels of sound that is no different than what the recording engineers heard in the mixing room. 

What's the benefit of 24p?
Movies are recorded on film at 24 frames per second (fps). Video is recorded and played back at 60 frames per second. Movies must be converted to 60 frames before being played back on your TV.  Blu-ray discs record movie content in the original 24 frame format, and convert the signal within the player to output at 60 fps for standard HDTVs. Some current HDTVs, like Samsung's Auto Motion Plus 120Hz models, and undoubtedly more future ones, can accept and play back the 24 frame signal without the intermediary conversion to 60 fps, which can offer a smoother, more natural-looking image. 

What does Profile 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 mean?
Blu-ray's specifications for video are broken into three profiles, each with its own set of hardware and software requirements. Profile 1.0 gave hardware manufacturers a grace period to create players that were capable of Blu-ray video playback, but didn't need to meet the final standard profile requirements. This grace period ended October 31, 2007. These players, while not able to take advantage of all of Blu-ray's promised extra content, will provide full 1080p video playback.

Profile 1.1, also known as BonusView, makes certain requirements mandatory: picture-in-picture, secondary audio mixing, a minimum of 256MB of memory (built-in or removable), and the incorporation of a virtual file system. Players created and sold after October 31, 2007 are required to meet the Profile 1.1 specification, and therefore will take advantage of 1.1-enabled bonus materials on certain BD discs.

BD-Live (Profile 2.0) makes mandatory all parts of Profile 1.1, but increases the memory requirement to 1GB and adds the hardware requirement of a network connection. This specification enables the even-more interactive web-based bonus material found on discs that provide such content.


Features and specifications are subject to change without prior notification.


Product Description
Experience the Blu-ray difference with the SAMSUNG BD-P1500. You'll get incredibly detailed images with brilliant color in full high definition 1080p resolution. It's the only media capable of delivering true 1080p performance on an HDTV set. Its Anynet+ technology lets you control all your SAMSUNG AV devices from just one remote. The BD-P1500 lets you have it all. It's backward compatible with earlier formats. watch your current collection of DVDs or listen to audio CDs with the highest-quality sound available. 1080p resolution - Enjoy lifelike, vivid visuals and crystal-clear details with full high definition 1080p resolution when playing Blu-Ray discs HDMI keeps it simple by using a single cable wire to deliver the sharpest, richest images possible. Conveniently and easily transfer high-definition video and audio from your DVD player to your HDTV and other digital devices using a single cable. HDMI version 1.3 transfers deeper color and higher resolution, and handles new, compressed audio formats. Control it all with one remote - Anynet+ delivers streamlined, one-touch control over all your Anynet+ compatible devices such as the TV, AV receiver, and home theater Playback Media - BD-ROM / DVD-ROM / DVD-R / DVD-RW / AVCHD / audio CD Playback Formats - VC-1 / MPEG2 / H.264 DVD Upconversion DTS Decoder BD Profile - profile 1.1 USB 2.0 (for SW upgrade only) HDMI CEC Composite Video Outputs Component Video Outputs HDMI Outputs Optical Digital Audio Outputs Analog Audio Outputs - 2-Channel Built-in Ethernet connection - RJ45 USB Port Picture in Picture Dimensions - 16.9 in. x 3.3 in. x 10.8 in. Weight - 8.6 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

300 of 312 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine, basic player, June 5, 2008

By	Kevin Moore "Kevin Moore" (Natick, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I've been using this for 2 weeks now, and it's my first blu-ray player (no PS3). The good stuff: Excellent look, not too loud, amazing picture and sound. Working ethernet and USB port. (I haven't had to download any firmware or code updates, but I'm sure it'll work fine.)

Operations: No fan noise, no noise while playing, but during menu & loading, you hear some track-seeking which is audible at 10'... nothing offensive, though. I just noticed last night, after my 5th blu-ray a little flicker in in the bottom center of the screen during the credits of Juno... not sure if it's a bad disc or a player having a problem. It was repeatable, and the disc seemed clean. Lastly, the load time, eject time, etc seems just fine. Not instant or as fast a nice DVD player, but not noticably slow. I've heard alot about slow disc-loading, and if it is a problem on other players - it's not a problem on this one. Lastly, sometimes when you click on a menu instead of pausing, the screen with show a "progress-bar" for 2-4 seconds while the next manu loads, which isn't completely kosher, but doesn't bother me.

The so-so stuff: I'm giving this 5-stars because it's near-perfect at what it's designed to do for it's price, but it's not perfect. One reason to get a mid- to lower-cost player is to (duh) save money... if you're someone who has an older receiver that doesn't decode the two new DD and DTS formats, and (probably) doesn't decode multi-channel PCM, this player isn't for you. It only has stereo-out analog RCA plugs, not 5.1 or 7.1 analog outputs.

That means you can't bypass your receivers pre-amp to play the newer audio formats and let the blu-ray player decode them. My old Receiver (which I used the player with for a week) only decoded DD 5.1 (no DTS, and only 2-channel PCM to 48khz). This player lets you send a PCM stream to your receiver from an internally decoded DTS 5.1 signal, but this didn't work for me... as my player can't receive 5.1 PCM streams, it only saw it as 2-channel. At least the player lets you downsample 96khz PCM to 48khz, so that I at least got sound (Golden Compass only has DTS 5.1 or DTS HD Master).

With my new receiver, all formats work perfectly, all bitstreamed.

Some people perhaps are holding off for new receivers because they don't want to connect through the player's analog RCA 5.1/7.1 connectors - but this is probably mis-information. What you want to avoid is taking digital sound, converting it to analog, then back to digital, then back to analog... don't worry - you wouldn't be doing this. Basically you would be doing all your processing in the player digitally, then once it is sent out through the pre-outs to the receiver you'd bypass the receiver's processing and it would go straight to the amplifier (which is of course analog anyway).

So my conclusion for thos people with older (but good) receivers - this blu-ray player won't save you any money. The best savings would be to pay a little more for a player with 5.1 analog outputs and continue to use your existing receiver.

-Kevin Moore
Natick, MA

98 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great into to Blu-Ray, July 2, 2008

By	K. MCNAMARA "Home Theater Fan" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had been waiting to jump into the HD media fray until a winner was declared and of course, that happened earlier this year. A lot of people recommended to me to get a PS3 for my blu-ray player but, for a variety of reasons, I decided I wanted a standalone player. After a lot of research, I settled on the Samsung BD-P1500. I had heard a lot of negatives about how Samsung had not been supporting their previous generation units but I was willing to get them a 30 day trial. I'm glad I did.

I purchased this over memorial day weekend so I've had it over a month. In that time, I've played maybe a dozen blu-ray discs and 3 or 4 DVD's. The only problem I've experienced that is attributable to the player is several extremely brief audio dropouts while watching Ratatouille. However, I updated the player's firmware last weekend and watched several scenes that would previously cause the dropouts and observed none.

I love the fact that it has an ethernet port for firmware updates and future BD 2.0 features. The player loads discs quickly in comparison to stories I've heard about other players. Picture and sound quality are outstanding (I'm able to use the HD audio features and it's frankly amazing).

This is a really good player and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are VERY few products that would rate 5 stars in my book. Most things have at least a couple of areas to improve on. For the price, this is a really good player.

172 of 190 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disapointing., September 10, 2008

By	Adrian Michaud (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This unit has two design problems that I'm aware of. I'm surprised that Samsung hasn't already fixed these issues.

For reference, my unit has the latest 1.3 firmware as of 9/10/2008.

#1: The BD-P1500 has inherent audio drop problems on the HDMI interface. I'm not sure if the optical interface has the same issue(s); however, I wouldn't be surprised if it does. The audio bitstream will drop (silent) occasionally on most blu-ray discs that I've played. I believe there is a timing and/or bandwidth issue with either the firmware or hardware. This problem has been reported by many other BD-P1500 owners on various AV forums.

#2: The front display is extremely dim. When this unit is placed next to the Samsung HT-AS720 receiver which has the same display type, the BD-P1500's display looks terrible. The BD-P1500 has an option to adjust the brightness of the front display; however it doesn't work. The display is always too dim. This problem has also been reported by many other BD-P1500 owners on various AV forums.

Unfortunately, Samsung has not been able to resolve the audio drop issue as of 09/10/2008 so I'm concerned that they may never. If high quality reliable audio playback is important to you, then I suggest you research the BD-P1500 more before buying it.