A serious concern as regards to the technology used by Blu-ray is that, it does not offer any advantage over DVD. The benefits offered by Blu-ray, such as, BD-live, pop-up menus etc. are not compelling enough to upgrade your DVD player to Blu-ray. However, the Samsung BD-P2500 offers a set of Blu-ray features, like, “HQV processing” and “7.1 analog outputs”, and in addition the player offers extra functions, such as, “Netflix’s streaming movie service”. In spite of these advantages, it is disappointing to note that the Samsung BD-P2500 does not offer out-of-the-box DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, though Samsung intends to add this feature via a firm-wire upgrade in the future.
While the Panasonic DMP-BD35 remains as the basic choice as Blu-ray favorite, the Playstation 3 is a better value if you have interest in gaming. The Samsung BD-P2500 has been able to attract Blu-ray enthusiasts, who are looking for players with additional media options. If you are looking for an added “Pandora streaming radio”, your choice would be BD-P2550, depending on whether the two players cost the same
The Good and the Bad
Pros:
- The player has an excellent picture quality on Blu-ray discs.
- The player is Profile 2 compliant, which means that it offers Internet access feature.
- It has onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD, along with “bit-stream” output.
- The player has 1 GB internal memory, which means that you do not need a memory stick plugged into the player while surfing the net.
- It has 7:1 analog audio output.
Cons:
- For some buyers, Playstation 3 would have the advantage of offering more options in addition to the one’s available in Samsung BD-P2500.
- Some DVD incompatiblities have been found while testing the player.
- The player does not have “DTS-HD Master Audio decoding”.
Design
Samsung has adhered to their usual black glossy finish design with BD-P2500. The player has most of its controls at its left, with the Samsung logo at its upper left hand corner. The disc tray and the open/close button are set to the right of the logo, with the power on/off button situated in the lower corner. The right side of the player is empty of any controls, except a “black directional pad” which gets blended into the body of the player. When you switch on the unit, the components such as, stop, chapter forward/backward, and the LCD screen at the center, light up.
The design of the remote control remains the same as other Samsung models which came out during last couple of years. The remote control unit of the player again has a directional pad for navigation at the bottom. This directional pad is surrounded by often used buttons, such as, the disc menu, pop-up menu, and others. This arrangement does become confusing, but with practice one gets a hang of using the buttons.
Features
The main feature in Samsung BD-P2500 is its Netflix streaming capability. The user of this player experiences the same as he does in Netflix Player by Roku, which means you could use the “Watch Now” feature to stream anything. However, there are some flaws, such as, “much of the SD contents are not wide screen”. Otherwise, the player provides a great user experience.
The Samsung BD-P2500 offers Internet accessing feature, which is often termed as “BD-Live”. This makes the player “Profile 2.0 compliant” The player connects to the Internet through its Ethernet port, and you do not need to use any memory stick, since the player has 1 GB internal storage system. This feature is not present in most Blu-ray players. Though Samsung BD-P2500 works out-of-the-box, additional memories could be added in the player via the ports available at the back.
The Samsung BD-P2500 has a formidable soundtrack support. However it is not quite broad in scope. The player has “onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD”, but does not have the feature for “DTS-HD Master Audio”. The “DTS-HD Master Audio decoding” has not been included in the player, and many observe that a player like BD-P2500 should have had the feature, which Panasonic DMP-BD35 offers.
Performance
The Samsung BD-P2500 has been tested for performance with various qualities of DVDs, including the standard definition DVD. There were no problem found with the player as far as its initial resolution mattered, and it displayed its full resolution that the player DVD is capable of. In “video-based test patterns” the player did not display any jagged area on a “rotating white line or three shifting white lines”. On the “film-mode” test, BD-P2500 performed well, providing an overall satisfactory impression. The player shows no jagged areas when viewing films which had scenes with objects having curved edges, as also the other objects, like a boat, which appeared to be without any jagged areas.
The Samsung BD-P2500 has a 3.5 rating by the CNET editors, while the average user rating is 4.5. However, there are some mentionable good and bad points about the player.
Samsung BD-P2500 Prices