My Review On The Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-ray Player

Kage

I currently have the PS3 40GB version and decided last week that I would rather get a dedicated blu-ray player and sell the PS3, because I have not use it much at all. I bought the Samsung BD-P2550 at Best Buy a few days ago with my 10% off coupon. So here is my review.

Build Quality
Decent. Lately Blu-ray manufacters are lowering the build quality of their Blu-ray players to save costs.

Blu-ray and DVD Picture Quality
The BD-P2550's Blu-ray picture quality is better than the PS3 that I have. Its sharper, more detailed, better color renderation, and less grainy. I'm not sure if the P2550 can properly convert 1080i blu-ray sources to 1080P. DVD performance (upscaling, deinterlancing, picture quality) is in a whole new level with the BD-P2550 when comparing to the PS3 and other blu-ray players, thanks to the HQV Reon processor that the P2550 has. The P2550 has excellent dvd playback. Its the best I seen, much better than the PS3. There is more detail, sharper, better color, and not much grain.

Loading
The BD-P2550 is fast in loading time for a dedicated blu-ray player.

Sound Quality
I used my Yamaha RX-V1800 AVR for sound. The sound quality is excellent with the HD audio bitstreaming to my RX-V1800. I prefer bitstreaming the sound, instead of having a player to decode the sound to PCM like the PS3 does. Bitstreaming the audio sounds more fuller, dynamic, and adds more bass.

Conclusion
Many people say that Samsung has a bad history in blu-ray players in the past and that is true with their earlier blu-ray players. Now people are saying that Samsung made a commitment to improve their blu-ray players and they started with the BD-P1500. The BD-P1500 has gotten good reviews from users, even from Kris Deering, who is a well regarded expert in home theater video performance and now writes for Home Theater Magazine. This is some of the proof that Samsung made a commitment in improving.

Now onto the conclusion on the BD-P2550. I think that this is Samsung's best Blu-ray player. So far, I haven't had any problems with it. It produces excellent blu-ray pq and excellent dvd performance. This is maybe the best dedicated blu-ray player under $500. Anyway, I bought the 4 year service plan at Best Buy for on this blu-ray player due to higher resale value on it if I decide to sell it and on Samsung's iffy past.

Bravestime

Thnaks for your in-depth review. Sounds like you got a great player, enjoy.

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Kage

After a week of using the P2550 I came with this conclusion:
I had high expectations with the P2550, but this blu-ray player is not the right one for me. A few days ago I bought the Sony BDP-BX1 at Costco and it seems to be the right one for me for now. I was thinking of getting the Pioneer BDP-51FD but decided that its too much money for me to spend. Can't wait till the new Pannys BD35/BD55 and the Sony BDP-S550. Currently, I'm selling the P2550 with the 4 year warranty instead of returning it to the store, because I returned too many items to the same store and they got a return tracking system in their network. The store manager got paged to talk to me about my excessive returns.

Chris Gerhard

What problems did you have with the Samsung player?

Chris

Kage

I had no problems with it. Its not the right blu-ray player for me.

Chris Gerhard

Your review sure sounded like it was a very nice player. The right Blu-ray player would be one you do have problems with?

daleb

Sorry to beg the point, but I think Chris and others are curious as to the specific reasons it was not right for you. Features, video or audio performance, or interface connections? It might certainly be important to others looking at the same player. Your opening post makes it sound quite flawless. It would seem you were quite committed with the 4 year warranty purchase.

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Samsung PN50A650 plasma, Arcam AVR350, Dali Ikon6 (Vokal2&OnWalls), Outlaw Audio LFM-1EX sub, Anti-Mode 8033B, Oppo Digital BDP-83, Polk XM Tuner, Furman Elite power conditioner

Kage

The reason why I added the 4 year warranty is for better resale value.
Come to think of it there were a couple of deal-breakers with the P2550 that I did not like and they are:
1. The Samsung info display is not great. The Sony has very good one. The Sony BDP-BX1 tells you the resolution, the type of video codec with bitrate, audio codec its using, and it shows the time into and remaining time in the movie.
2. The P2550 has an annoying charm when its done powering up and when I power down the P2550. I know that it can be turned off.
3. Fan noise is a little louder than the BX1.
4. The BDP-BX1 has a slighty better Blu-ray picture quality.

I went to Frys on August 30 and saw the Sony BDP-S350 for $329.95 and I decided to buy it. Yesterday I returned the BDP-BX1 back to CostCo do to these reasons:
1. Better price at Frys.
2. I prefer the retail model over the Costco version.
3. I think that that the Costco's version is missing a few features from the retail version, like the Dolby TrueHD internal decoder.

I heard the Sony is going to lower the price on the S350 to $299.99 sometime this month. I'm within the 30 days price match policy at Frys.

Chris Gerhard

I like this feature too and mssing that would be a consideration for me as well.

Chris

pnorth_12

It's funny that people don't like the "charm" at power on/off - by the way it can be turned off.... (read the manual or just look in the setup LOL). The other thing that some mention is the "bonus view" alert in the upper left hand corner, it can be turned off too - think it's called "on screen message"

I currently have the 1500 and am planning to return it for the 2550 - I love the 1500 for the most part and am looking forward to the new one with HQV.

pnorth_12

the one thing i'm still not sure of is how much onboard memory it has? wish it was list in the spec's - why don't any of the BD players list it or even the profile? It sucks and I think it's deceptive on the part of all BD manufacturers....

bboncorr

after owning my current samsung BD player i have come to the conclusion that i will never buy samsung again. the model is listed in my sig.

i have had nothing but issues. it seems i need to update the player every single week or next months BD's will not work with this player. not only that but even after the update there is many times i need to still switch the movie half way through because this player starts ruining the movie by skipping or dropping the audio.

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Living Room
pioneer kuro plasma PDP-5010FD (9.9)
Denon 4308CI (9.5)
B&W 683's, HTM61, 685's (9.0)
Sony PS3 (9.0)
Sony BD-S350 (9.5)
HSU VTF-3 MK3 sub (9.0)
Harmony 1000 (9.5)
XBOX360 + HD DVD (9.2)
Nintendo Wii (7.5)
Netflix Roku (9.0)

Gaming Room
60A3000 (8.7)
Halcro ssp200 (10. perfection)
Deftech BP7004, C/L/R2002, BP2X (8.7)
Sony Remote Commander (7.0)
Toshiba HDA35 (7.9)
Samsung 1400 (5.0)

Bedroom
Panasonic TH-42PZ85U (8.7)
Tivo HD (9.7)

daleb

I would seriously consider this player, based on my own experience with the Samsung 5000 duo player. But I can certainly understand bboncorr's reservations based on his problems with the 1400.
But I think the proposed Oppo BD player would be even a better choice than the 2550 overall.

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Samsung PN50A650 plasma, Arcam AVR350, Dali Ikon6 (Vokal2&OnWalls), Outlaw Audio LFM-1EX sub, Anti-Mode 8033B, Oppo Digital BDP-83, Polk XM Tuner, Furman Elite power conditioner