Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Disc Player - Product Review and Rating

On the audio side, the BD-P1500 offers both on-board audio decoding and bitstream output for compatible home theater receivers. One disappointment, however, was the lack of on-board DTS-HD MA decoding. Also, Samsung has chosen to remove the 5.1 channel analog audio output option, which decreases its connection flexibility with non-HDMI home theater receivers.

In using all the available audio connection options, audio performance was top notch, given the capabilities of each type of audio connection. However, using the HDMI output connection was by far the most convenient and flexible option when used with the Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver.

Two impressive soundtracks were from Master and Commander, which features DTS-HD Master Audio that was bitstreamed undecoded from the BD-P1500 and decoded by the Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver, and 300, which features an Uncompressed PCM 5.1 Channel Soundtrack provided directly from the disc to the receiver via the BD-P1500 through the HDMI connection.

What I Liked About The Samsung BD-P1500

There is a lot to like about the Samsung BD-P1500, including:

1. Very fast start-up, disc load, and disc eject time compared to previous Blu-ray Disc Players.

2. Very Good Blu-ray Disc Video Playback. Except for a slight over-saturation of reds, the image quality was on par with the other comparison Blu-ray Disc players.

3. Good standard DVD upscaling. Although there could be some improvement, the video upscaling of standard DVDs to 1080p was acceptable in comparison to the other Blu-ray disc players used, but not as good as the Oppo DV-983H upscaling DVD player used as a baseline reference.

4. Excellent audio performance. The audio quality was top-notch. This player also provides flexible internal audio decoding and bitstream output. However, the lack of 5.1 channel analog outputs is worth noting.

In addition, out-of-the box, the BD-P1500 does not provide on-board DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, but does provide a bitstream output for external decoding for this surround sound format by a DTS-HD equipped home theater receiver.

5. Ethernet Connection provides direct access to firmware upgrades. This should have been a requirement for all Blu-ray Disc players from the beginning. Having a built-in ethernet connection makes it much easier to access firmware updates, without having to make or use an update disc made on a PC or ordered from the manufacturer.

6. HDMI 1.3a connectivity. This makes the BD-P1500 up-to-date for any audio and video source codecs now in use, as well as in the near future.

What I Didn't Like About The BD-P1500

1. Profile 1.1 specification out of the box - Needs forthcoming firmware update for Profile 2.0. Why the delay when Panasonic is already on the market with a Profile 2.0 player and Sony has already provided a Profile 2.0 upgrade for the PS3.

Update: Samsung BD-P1500 Profile 2.0 upgrade now available for download.

2. No 5.1 Channel analog audio outputs. This is an omission that is becoming more common in Blu-ray Disc players, but is a bad move, in my opinion. 5.1 channel analog outputs would allow owners of older home theater receivers with 5.1 channel analog audio inputs, but no HDMI audio input capability, to take advantage of the internal surround sound decoding options of the BD-P1500 more effectively, in addition to allowing access uncompressed multi-channel audio signals.

3. No SACD or DVD-Audio playback. Although this is not a deal-breaker, for high-end users, SACD and DVD-Audio player would really make this a complete disc media player.

4. No Digital Coaxial Audio Output. Once again, not a deal breaker, but, depending on what type of available digital audio inputs you may have on your home theater receiver, it would be nice to provide all available options on the Blu-ray disc player.

5. Remote not backlit. Not having a blacklit remote control makes using functions more cumbersome in a darkened room.

Final Take

In using this player for several weeks, I found it was easy to use and delivered very good video and audio performance with Blu-ray, DVDs, and audio-only CDs.

The BD-P1500 had a fast start-up time, about 10-15 seconds, to get into disc loading mode. However, although faster than my comparison Blu-ray Disc players in terms of actually loading a Blu-ray disc, it still took some time, depending on the contents of the disc. On the other hand, the disc eject time was very fast.

With regards to Blu-ray video quality, the BD-P1500 certainly held its own when compared to other players I have reviewed. However, the 1500 did exhibit more color saturation on reds than I expected. With regards to standard DVD upscaling, the BD-P1500 does a credible job.

On the audio side, the BD-P1500 delivers excellent audio quality. One disappointment, however, was the lack of on-board DTS-HD decoding (requires a future firmware upgrade). Also, Samsung has chosen to remove the 5.1 channel analog audio output option, which decreases its connection flexibility with non-HDMI home theater receivers.

Another disappointment is that although BD-P1500 offers Profile 1.1 (Bonus View) functionality, it requires a future firmware upgrade to access Profile 2.0 (BD Live) functionality.

On the other hand, the Samsung does come equipped with a built-in Ethernet port which makes it convenient to download firmware updates.

Despite a few disappointments, the BD-P1500 delivers good audio and video performance, in comparison with other players on the market, and deserves consideration.

I give the Samsung BD-P1500 a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

For a further examination of the features and performance of the Ssamsung BD-P1500, check out the following supplements to this review:

Samsung BD-P1500 Short Review

Samsung BDP-1500 Photo Gallery

Samsung BD-P1500 Deinterlacing and Scaling Tests