 LG BD300 vs. Samsung BD-P2550 / 2500 -- a clear winner!! |
| Review Date: December 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Kaio, Santa Monica, CA |
I was sold on the LG BD300 since I first heard about it a year ago and have been waiting for it ever since. I was planning on getting it until I heard about the Samsung BD-P2500 and figured I should at least research it a little before buying the LG, and boy am I glad I did!! That's when I found out Samsung made a sister model to the 2500, the BD-P2550. The 2500 and 2550 are identical except except for one feature, the 2550 adds Pandora Internet Radio. A small difference, you might think, but Pandora takes the purchase to a whole other level of enjoyment! As you can deduce, I ended up buying the Samsung 2550 and absolutely LOVE it! But since the 2500 and 2550 are so similar, and I've encountered a lot of people trying to decide between Samsung 2500/2550 and LGBD300, I figured I'd add my 2cents.
The main things that turned me off LG and onto Samsung were:
1- Samsung BD-P2550 has Pandora. I wasn't sure if I'd use this service or not so went to the website to check it out. I have to say, I really like the service and have been making good use of it via the Samsung. Sure, you can listen to Pandora on your computer, and maybe even hook up your computer to your home stereo system. But having it there and ready to go on the Samsung has been great! I really love it and love that I can listen on my home theater setup. I also have TVersity streaming to my home theater setup via my DirecTV receiver, and its possible TVersity can pick up Pandora too, but it would be lacking the same interface available on the Samsung BD-P2550, and the menus look great on my plasma TV. The Pandora feature alone beats the LG BD300 in my opinion, and the little extra money for the Samsung is more than worth it to me.
2- LG has NO internal flash memory while the Samsung has 1gb flash. This is useful for BD Live features and makes the experience easier and more enjoyable.
3-Samsung's video upscaling of regular DVDs is SUPERB! I'm very picky about video quality and I thought the picture looked spectacular. This is due to the superior chipset inside the Samsung, which LG is lacking. And naturally, Blu Ray disks look awesome too.
I admit, I never tried the LG so I'm not making a true test-drive comparison here. All I can say is I was totally sold on the LG and waiting a year for its release, but in the end, I'm glad I picked Samsung BD-P2550 at the last minute.
A word about Firmware updates:
Updates are easiest if you hook up your player to the internet via the network port on the back. This is also the only way to get BD Live content, so you may want to hook it up that way if you can. The player automatically configures the network settings and connects to the internet automatically. My player did need a firmware update, but the process was very simple. Just select the upgrade from the player's setup menu and it takes care of the installation by itself. The upgrade only took about 20min, then the player rebooted and I was good to go. No issues. No hassle. No sweat.
I have to give the Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-Ray player top marks. It's truly awesome and I'm glad I got it. I bought a Toshiba HD player last year before the bottom fell out on HD-DVD and then returned to Amazon for a full refund. I didn't mind returning it since most the disks I tried playing locked up and wouldn't play. But I was disappointed HD-DVD died. But in the end, everything worked out for the best and I'm very happy with this Samsung. And no disk lockups as with the HD-DVD I tried last year.
Incidentally, Netflix streaming actually looks pretty good considering it's not HD. And soon they'll be streaming HD quality, so that'll be cool to try. Maybe I won't even need to rent disks anymore and will just stream everything. Also, the player's menus and interface are clean and easy to use and it was a breeze to setup the player with my Harmony 1000 remote.
So between Netflix, Pandora, superior DVD upscaling and superb Blu-Ray picture, it's hard to beat the Samsung BD-P2550. It's a giant leap into future technology and will remain cutting edge for years to come. It's awesome!! Go for it!!!!
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Not Feeling Blu With This Player
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| Review Date: November 19, 2008 |
| Reviewer: W. Mueller, Aurora, IL. |
This player is simply awesome. The updated firmware to get Netflix and Pandora comes with the system in a CD form. Just load it up and, wait a few minutes to update and your on your way. There are many pros to this player which I have mentioned above. The Netflix streaming is really good assuming you have a very fast (high bandwith) internet connection. I have DSL with 6MPS speed and can get all circles filled and movies play without any glitches. Very satisfied with the results. Pandora is great for what it is. When you want to listen to music, it will find any music you like and play it automatically. I have it installed on my computer as well and use it all the time. So far I have not had one issue with this player. Blu-ray playback is just fantastic. Not all BD discs are the same in picture or sound quality. Can not wait until Black Night is released next month. This will be worth the purchase alone. This is one movie you just have to have on BD to do it justice. Sound is wonderful as well from this player. It has an internal decoder for many of the formats with the exception of DTS MA. I can't figure out why Samsung left this one out? This player comes equipped with 7.1 analog output and just begs for DTS MA. So far this is my only complaint. If I upgrade my receiver over the next year or so this will not be an issue.
This is one great player and deserves your attention. Samsung has done an excellent job with this player to bring many outstanding features to a stand alone player at a great price point. I picked up this player at Best Buy for $349. Best buy has extended their return and price match policy for any player purchased until after the holidays. No excuse not to pick one up as they will refund if this player goes low on Black Friday. I have heard this player will probably go for as low as $249. With the extra $100, time to pick up some BD movies. Do yourself a favor and go out and pick up one these.
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All is Good!
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| Review Date: December 14, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. M. Deal, Rochester, MN USA |
First off, I'd like to talk about the player, then I'd like to give some understanding to another reviewer.
I had originally bought a Sharp Blu-ray player and had difficulty with certain DVDs. It wasn't bad, but it had some shortcomings, even after the updates.
I swapped it for the Samsung, and I have to say that I'm really glad I did. I got the BestBuy model for $350, and they had a deal (buy BatMan Dark Knight and get a $20 gift card).
This player does a great job playing blu-ray disks! Full marks here!
The update was pretty easy (hooked up via ethernet). Not perfect though. When I tried the update the first time, it said it couldn't connect to the Internet. I know this was wrong because I had already streamed a netflix movie (not to mention authenticated my account to the machine). The next time I turned it on, it found an update. The reaction of the player when I pushed the enter button was extremely slow. I hit the button more than once which stops the update, even though the player says it is still connected. This might make it seem like the box is taking a very long time to update, when it's not doing anything. The really bad part is, it tells you (like any firmware update) not to turn off the box during an update. Well, mine said downloading so I turned off the box, turned it back on, ran the update again and only hit the enter button once this time. It did the update and all was good. It turns off without any instruction as to what is going to happen, but turning it back on and checking for updates showed that it was up to date. I would deduct a star for the confusion, but since it is only a one time deal and all is well, I allow them to make it up to me.
The netflix streaming is great. The HD streaming is wonderful and the access we have to extra movies/shows is well worth the money over the cheaper Blu-Ray players. This more than makes up for the lost star. I haven't even tried the Pandora streaming yet.
The player starts up way quicker than the other Blu-Ray player I had. The menu is easy to use and understand. Depending on your receiver, you may have to play with the audio setup to get the sound to work (mine had to be changed from the default setting to work).
Another poster mentioned a movie that had trouble with audio on a disk. This happened to us with the movie 27 Dresses from Netflix. It isn't the player, it's the disk. Blu-Ray disks are way more picky about scratches, dust, fingerprints, etc... Take care of your disks and if need be, polish/clean them as directed. A little finger grease will cause the disk to malfunction, causing jerkiness and no sound.
I am very impressed with this player. If you understand the problems I mentioned above (and Samsung should make notes of these issues in the manual or at least on-line) you'll be impressed too. I wouldn't swap it for any other blu-ray player. |
Was: Extremely Satisfied
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| Review Date: March 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: D. Lovett, |
Original review:
We bought this blu-ray player -- our first and only -- in early December 2008 after lots of reading and shopping. I wanted a player that would not only render blu-ray discs beautifully (as probably most 1080P-capable players do), but which would also keep our DVD collection as pleasantly watchable as possible, even by way of comparison. Concerning blu-ray, I hoped to avoid the compatibility issues which I had heard plagued other offerings out there, and I hoped to find a machine that would offer bearable load times for blu-ray titles.
Finally, as a Netflix customer, I was interested in the instant viewing aspect of the machine. But here, I had no idea what to expect, and did not let this feature weigh heavily in my decision to buy. At best, I thought it to be a bonus. At worst, it would simply go unused.
Over the almost 3 months we have owned it, this machine has surpassed all my expectations. Concerning standard definition DVDs, this unit's DVD up-conversion works extremely well. Almost all of our DVDs look very nice now, so good in fact that I am far less inclined to update our collection to blu-ray than I thought I would be. If that's important to you, then this machine is a winner. In fact, we don't use our old DVD player at all now.
Not surprisingly, blu-ray discs are breath-taking on our 52" LCD display. Load times are plenty fast, and system upgrades are flexible and easy if you have any kind of internet access. Significantly, we have had no compatibility issues with any disc.
While the quality of instant offerings from Netflix would not fare well in a brutal shootout with disc-based products, they are usually very watchable, and a pleasant way to spend an unexpected corner of time relaxing. (If the comparison helps, the quality is usually better than standard definition AppleTV, but never as good as AppleTV HD.) Thus, for us, Netflix compatibility has been a very pleasant surprise. Just remember that both broadband internet and a Netflix account are prerequisites for its use.
Likewise, we have enjoyed using Pandora's internet-based music catalogs far more than I thought I might. (With apologies to the Pandora people, I didn't even know what Pandora was before this purchase.) While we haven't used this feature frequently yet, it's a bonus we appreciate.
Update October 2009:
Just as the unit is on the home stretch, now out of labor warranty, soon out of parts warranty, things start not working so well. DVDs and BDs pause while playing, usually for 10-15 seconds at a time. If you scan the disc backward and play through the trouble spot, the unit never freezes in the same place twice, and DVDs play fine on other machines (though of course they don't look as good). Close visual inspection of discs under good light reveals no problems.
Yes, I have the latest firmware update.
Significantly, this problem seems to worsen as the unit warms, causing more pauses as you get further into the movie. Now that my warranty is parts only, I may still send it in for repair, but I'm not happy with this scenario. Shouldn't it work longer than 9 months without needing repair? Thinking hard about just taking the repair money + replacement cost and going with a different brand. The strong performance and happy customer base of the OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD & DVD-Audio has caught my eye. We'll see. |
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