Samsung BD-P1500 Review:
The Samsung BD-P1500 blu-ray player looks great and very sleek with a black gloss finish, and the internals are just as good, with the BD-P1500 conforming to blu-ray profile 1.1. The Samsung BD-P1500 is now Samsung’s fourth generation Blu-ray player, and supports full HD 1080p output of Blu-ray discs and up-conversion of standard DVDs to 1080p also. The Samsung BD-P1500 has a built in Ethernet port for interactive features and future firmware upgrades.

The Samsung BD-P1500 complies with BD Profile 1.1 from the box, allowing it to spin such BD-Java-laden discs as Men in Black and Batman Begins (including picture-in-picture) without coughing and spluttering like a 1976 Austin Allegro.

Samsung BD-P1500 will support 1080p playback (not to mention 720p / 1080i / 1080p DVD upconversion), 7.1 PCM, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD HR and MA, Bitstream audio output via HDMI, HDMI 1.3. The BD-P1500 will also feature bitstream audio output of 7.1 PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and Master Audio via HDMI.

If you’re still set on getting a standalone Blu-ray player (and there are a few decent reasons), the Samsung BD-P1500 becomes a more compelling option. Although the $400 price tag might seem high, it’s actually fairly affordable for a Blu-ray player. We’re also fans of its slick design, which takes up a lot less room than the curvy PS3. On the other hand, the Samsung BD-P1500 is currently missing some crucial features, such as multichannel analog outputs, onboard decoding for DTS-HD Master Audio, and Profile 2.0 support. However, if you trust Samsung to live up to its firmware update promises (and there is some reason for skepticism regarding the company’s timeliness), the BD-P1500 will get both DTS-HD Master Audio decoding and Profile 2.0 support eventually. Of course, that leads to the frustrating feeling that the Samsung BD-P1500 is only half-baked right now, especially compared with the fully featured Panasonic DMP-BD50, but then again the Samsung costs $300 less. If you demand a standalone player and you’re not willing to pay for the Panasonic DMP-BD50, the Samsung BD-P1500 is good choice for the money, but most consumers who don’t want a PS3 should still wait for cheaper, more fully featured players in the future.

DVDs are still cheap and plentiful, so the Samsung BD-P1500 DVD performance remains an important factor. We started off our DVD tests with the HQV test suite on DVD, and the Samsung performed admirably at first, passing the initial resolution test and displaying the full detail of DVD. The next jaggies tests were only mediocre, with significant jaggies showing up on a test with three pivoting lines. We were also disappointed to see the Samsung BD-P1500 fail a test with scrolling titles, as the titles looked jerky and difficult to read–most players pass this test. On the upside, the Samsung BD-P1500 had no problem with the difficult 2:3 pull-down test, successfully kicking into film mode in about a second.

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