Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray Player Review

"Nothing in life is certain except death, taxes, and advances in electronics."

If there are constants to the universe beyond the bureaucratic mentality - a concept I "borrowed" from a line in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - I'm sure that one of them is "No matter how 'hot' a new tech gadget or audio/video format might be, someone, somewhere will eventually come up with an even newer one that will make it obsolete in less time than you can say 'Holy Thomas Edison, Batman!'"

For instance, ever since 1976, when I was given my first radio/alarm clock to help me wake up early and to listen to music with, I've seen the coming and going of the following audio and video formats:

• 45 RPM vinyl records - extinct
• 33 RPM "long-play" or LP vinyl albums - almost extinct
• Eight-track tapes - extinct
• Cassette tapes - almost extinct
• Compact Discs (CDs) - still around but not as popular since advent of MP3 files
• Videocassettes (VHS format)  - obsolete but enough exist in many homes to not be totally extinct yet
• Digital Video Discs (DVDs) - the current dominant home video format but obsolescent
• MP3 files - slowly but surely becoming the format of choice for musicophiles, partticularly those with iPods and similar devices
• High Definition DVDs - the defeated contender in the "successor to DVD" format war
• Blu-ray Discs - the winner of the "successor to DVD" format war

Over this three-decade time span, therefore, I've been faced with the joys and sorrows of acquiring new A/V gadgets to watch movies or listen to music, building modest but still pricey collections of records, tapes and videos, only to have to get rid of things (such as eight-track tapes with no working "decks" to play them on, or hundreds of LP albums because there were no replacement styluses for the British-made turntable I bought in 1978) because "something new" had come along in the Tech World.

 From CD to DVD to Blu-ray

Interestingly, even though the compact disc format is now 25 years old, it has proven to be the tech "point of origin" for the two current home video formats, the DVD and the invented-by-Sony Blu-ray Disc.  Though the video- and data storage capacity has increased with each new format, the principles of the playback devices (which use lasers to read the discs) are essentially the same, so although a CD player can't "read" a DVD, a DVD player can recognize an audio CD, and some - not all - Blu-ray players can play CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

To many electronics consumers this is both a boon and a curse.  A curse, of course, because even though when a new "tech toy" comes out it is usually pricey and takes time to catch on, once it does become popular it supplants the older tech toys.  If the hardware is totally incompatible with older "software" - for instance, stand-alone DVD players can't play VHS tapes - it's a very bad thing because you have to rebuild your video library from scratch, a process that can take years because studios can't simply release their entire stock of movies in the blink of an eye.

On the other hand, if you do some research on the "tech toy du jour" and ask techie friends or look for professional and customer reviews online or in electronics-related magazines, you can find gadgets that are "downward compatible" with your current favorite formats and will allow you to enjoy both old and new with little to no "tech angst."

Beyond DVD - Samsung's BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player

Although I was not really planning on upgrading from DVDs to Blu-rays for at least six months, I started getting antsy about doing so when commercials for new home video releases began ending with the line "Now available on DVD and Blu-ray" with more frequency over the past year.  Remembering what had happened when eight-tracks, LPs, and videocassettes went the way of the dinosaur when tech evolved, I wanted to at least be somewhat ready and not have to go through the "DVDs are fancy coasters now; get Blu-rays instead" process I feared would happen if there was no downward compatibility.

I also had the feeling that with the country either in a recession or pretty close to one, manufacturers and stores such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Circuit City would be forced to slash prices on electronics in order to sell them, even if it meant lowering or losing profits.

I began the process by asking questions of friends who either know about electronics or already own Blu-rays.  Are the discs good?  Is the quality of the picture and sound better? Are the players expensive? What brand should I get?  And, of course, the Big One - Can I buy a Blu-ray player that'll play DVDs as well?

The answers to these queries were invariably "Yes," with the following bits of techie wisdom attached:

"Get a player from a 'known' brand, such as Sony or Samsung."

"Not all players are expensive, but the cheaper ones have inferior components."

"The better players will play various formats, including DVDs."

Armed with this plethora of advice, I thus decided to browse in Amazon for a Blu-ray player that (a) would cost less than $300.00 and (b) was made by Samsung so it would be fully compatible with my 26-inch LCD TV.

Luckily, in less than five minutes - most of which were spent thinking price ranges and requirements, I found the right model at the right price: a Samsung BD-P1500 player for less than $250.00.

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....The BD-P1500 lets you have it all - watch your favorite DVDs and Blu-ray discs or listen to CDs with the highest-quality audio.  - From the Samsung web site

Disc formats playable by the BD-P1500

•1.       Blu-ray Video, BD-ROM, BD-RE/BD-R (Single sided)

•2.       DVD  Video,  5" and 3.5" single and double sided

•3.       DVD-RW (V mode and finalized only),  5" (4.7 GB capacity)

•4.       DVD-R (V mode and finalized only),  5"  (4.7 GB)

•5.       Audio CD, 5" and 3.5" single sided

As in all home video products manufactured for the U.S., Canadian, and other countries using similar TV color broadcasting systems, this player is only compatible with the NTSC color system.

And just as DVD players made for the North American region are factory set to play DVDs with the 1 region code, the BD-P1500 series will only play Blu-rays with the A region code, Region 1 DVDs, and multi-region DVDs.  If you own HD-DVDs or any CD or DVD-like disc not listed above, e.g. DVD-ROM, CVD, CD-ROM, or 3.9 GB DVD-R disc for authoring, you're out of luck; they will not be playable on this player.

A Quick View of the BD-P1500

To the casual observer, the player looks very much like a standard one-disc DVD player; the BD-P1500 might be a bit heftier looking than a slim Sony DVD player of 2007 vintage, but other than the layout of the function buttons on the front panel, there's very little on its black surface that cries out Blu-ray Player here!  I mean, you have your basic Open/Close Disc Tray button on the top left corner, the disc tray itself set to the left of the display panel, the Power On/Standby Button on the bottom left corner, the aforementioned display panel, and a cluster of function buttons on the upper right corner of the player.

The back of the unit has all the video/audio out jacks that all of us who own DVD players should be familiar with, most of them being the red, white and yellow "female" connectors that mate with the "male" plugs of standard RCA cables (one of which is included with the BD-P1500 model; owners of the 1500C model get a HDMI cable that connects to the HDMI (High Definition Media Input) socket of a LCD or plasma HDTV set).

Other connections include a USB host port (for flash drives which contain software upgrades), a LAN port (which connects to Samsung's web site for firmware upgrades), and a "component video out" connection.  The USB port, incidentally, is only for software upgrades and can only be used with standard USB flash drives.   

Basic Set Up

If you own any DVD player that doesn't require an S-Video cable - in other words, one with the standard RCA A/V input/output cables - connecting the BD-P1500 will not require a PhD in rocket science.  If your DVD player still works is still connected to your HDTV's AV1 I/O jacks, and you have room in your media center or TV stand, simply plug the RCA cables into the I/O jacks in the AV2 area (usually found on the side of the TV).

Once you connect the RCA cables to the TV and the Blu-ray player is in its desired spot in your media center, plug the power cord into your wall socket or, better yet, a surge-resistant power strip.  If the sky-blue Samsung Blu-ray "Welcome" screen doesn't appear and no sound is heard, check your RCA cables and make sure the plugs are properly mated with their corresponding socket;  if any of your connections looks wrong (the red output plug is in the yellow one, say), simply unplug the player from the power source, and  carefully disconnect the BD-P1500.  Make sure your output plugs match the I/O jacks in either the AV1 or AV2 areas, and then carefully connect them.  Once this is done and you've set the player back in its place in your media center, plug the BD-P1500's power cord into the wall socket or power strip. 

Press the Power On button; you should now see your start up screen and hear a musical chime.

Now, although the BD-P1500 does have a quartet of function buttons off to the right of the display panel (Play/Pause, Stop, Search, and Skip), most of the time you'll be using your remote control, which has the aforementioned functions plus a baker's dozen others, such as Pop Up Menu, TV/AV Device selection, a separate On/Off switch for your TV (if you own a Samsung TV, the remote is preset to work with it; the manual contains a page of  manufacturers' codes to program your remote to turn on/off sets made by most HDTV manufacturers, including Aiwa, Hitachi, LG, Magnavox, Philips, Sony and Zenith. 

There are also TV Channel Selection and Volume Up or Down keys,  a button that turns Subtitles On/Off, a numeric keypad,  an Info button, Audio buttons that activate sound options on Blu-ray or DVD discs, and a bunch of specialized buttons that work with specific Blu-ray discs.  In essence, the BD-P1500's remote is almost a universal remote, especially when the player is connected to a Samsung TV or the remote is programmed with the proper manufacturer's code (provided in the manual).

First impressions          

Having owned at least three DVD players since 2000, I was able to set up the BD-P1500 fairly easily.  I did get my RCA cables mixed up at first (I was, perhaps, a bit too giddy after receiving it), but I saw what I had done wrong and in no time I had my Blu-ray player up and running.   I didn't have any Blu-ray discs handy since I didn't want to get too debt-ridden at Amazon and  didn't order any with my BD-1500.

I do have many DVDs - mostly movies, of course, but also of some old TV shows which were shot in "full-screen" format - so I did test the player's "downward compatibility" features.

In a nutshell, this is what I've noticed so far when I play DVDs:

• The audio and video quality of DVDs - particularly those of feature films along the lines of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - are about the same on a Blu-ray player as they are on a standard DVD player. The quality of the sound and picture from the DVD is about as good as that of a standard analog TV channel on an HDTV: you can see and hear it all right, but it can't compare in clarity or crispness to a Hi-Def channel. This is to be expected, since the DVD was designed for sets with 435 lines of resolution, while the Blu-ray discs have resolutions of 1080 pixels. (My TV can display 720 pixels, not quite the max but close enough.)

• When a DVD contains either an episode TV show or a pre-1954 feature film not shot in CinemaScope or any other "widescreen" format, the Blu-ray player will not stretch the image to fill the screen. Rather, it'll replicate the "curtain" or "vertical letterbox" effect HD channels use to make "full screen" TV images appear at their "proper" ratios, albeit without the fancy colors or effects most HD channels use on their curtains.

• When playing the DVDs which contain the original theatrical release versions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, the letterbox and curtain effect are combined and the movie images appear on the TV surrounded by a black "square." Apparently, the 1977, 1980, and 1983 versions of the Classic Trilogy were transferred to the DVD format from the laserdiscs rather than from a digital negative, so the 2006 discs lack the anamorphic widescreen format borne by their "updated Special Edition" 2004 counterparts (which are also included In the Limited Edition '06 two-disc packs).

• The sound and picture quality of a 1080p Blu-ray disc (Spider-Man 3, in my case) are excellent. Remember how sharp and clear movies looked and sounded on DVD in comparison to VHS videotape when "digital video discs" were the New Best Format? Well, the Blu-ray disc's clarity and crispness are comparable to the difference between analog TV channels and Hi-Def ones. The colors are more vivid, the image is much sharper, and on a TV with kick-butt speakers or a home theater sound system, the audio signals are clearer and more "movie-like."

My Viewpoint

On the whole, while this was not a "steal" at the price I paid, I still think getting the BD-P1500 when I did was a good purchasing decision.  The player was easy to set up, it is fully compatible with my TV without having to program it with the remote and codes, and, most important, it allows me to keep my DVD collection and start my Blu-ray one without making the former instantly obsolete.  In essence, I get the best of both worlds in one compact and reliable player.