Given the finality of the format war, we can't say we're totally shocked to hear that Samsung will be pulling the plug on its recently announced
BD-UP5500 HD DVD / Blu-ray combo player, but still, it's not good news for folks planning to pick it up for kicks (or watching their library of HD DVDs). Interestingly enough, Sammy had already planned to axe its current flagship hybrid player -- the
BD-UP5000 -- this May, just months after it went on sale and
began taking heat for not meeting expectations. On the plus side, the firm's latest BD-only player was a
real gem, so hopefully we'll see lots more where that came from in the future. Oh, and if you're weeping this very moment at the thought of never getting to see one in person, feel free to
click here and live vicariously through us.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kcmurphy88 @ Mar 6th 2008 12:26PM
I suspect that Broadcom killed their dual-mode chipset and that pretty much ends all these things.
andy @ Mar 6th 2008 12:39PM
Sammy killed the BD 1400 too.
Just in a different way. :D
Why don't they just admit that they can't make anything that works anymore except marketing, so they're just throwing in the towel.
FrankTheCrank @ Mar 6th 2008 12:39PM
I'm certain Leo Laporte bought one of these.
Jody @ Mar 6th 2008 12:50PM
How exactly was sammy's last BD player a gem?? Profile 1.0, terrible remote, no DTS-MA.
Only upside was the $279.99 w/ 8 free moves deal on this thing in Dec at costco.
Raptor007 @ Mar 6th 2008 1:45PM
Not terribly surprising. I think most people who would be interested are already picking up the BD-UP5000 at a sweet deal right now.
I really enjoy my 5000, so I hope Samsung continues to support it. Recent firmware updates suggest they will, but we're all still waiting on that "big May update" to fix the major audio issues.
mcrexx @ Mar 6th 2008 2:41PM
Samsung makes flashy junk all the time. On paper, they are amazing products... in reality, they are poorly constructed, hardly tested and full of problems.
Zixxer @ Mar 6th 2008 3:13PM
last nail in the coffin
TrentD @ Mar 6th 2008 3:33PM
Oh shut up...
Zixxer @ Mar 6th 2008 3:36PM
lol
TrentD @ Mar 6th 2008 4:22PM
Seriously, it's not funny anymore :)
Zixxer @ Mar 6th 2008 4:38PM
:-)
kcmurphy88 @ Mar 6th 2008 3:13PM
If they fix the audio issues, the BD-5K will be among the best BD players there is, never mind the HD DVD. Nearly nothing provides DTS-MA out on 5.1.
Jove @ Mar 6th 2008 3:16PM
let's bring out the conspiracy theories:
"I think Sony payed them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just know it!"
phew, glad to get that out of my chest. Now, on to my comment. I think we all saw this coming. The other wasnt very good and now that the 'format war' skirmish is over, makes complete sence. From a buisness point of view.
regeya @ Mar 7th 2008 1:36AM
Eh, it just makes good business sense. If you have a reputation for building junk, and by many reports the 5000 was junk, who's going to spend that kind of money on junk except idiots?
Remember, some of those same idiots that would buy one of these also bought fairly small million-dollar homes with variable-rate mortages and without having the income to support it LOL
In all seriousness, I'm sure other posters hit it on the head; it was likely going to go from expensive to impossible to build dual-format players, and with Toshiba doing the incredibly quick axe of the HD DVD format, it just didn't make good sense anymore.
No, I've not taken advantage of those killer sales yet. I'm still mulling it over. With all the gloom and doom over the economy, I'm a little nervous about spending money on frivolous things...and yeah, I realize that not spending right now only compounds the problem, but like a lot of people, to spend loads of cash right now it'd have to be on credit, which ALSO adds to the problem.
I'm still keeping an eye on falling prices, though. Haven't bought yet, and as I've said here and elsewhere before, I waited a long time for DVD, and I can sure as heck wait for BD. :->
Jay D @ Mar 7th 2008 8:01AM
Well... one less Samsung piece of crap for unsuspecting customers to buy !
BrotherEstapol @ Mar 8th 2008 3:13AM
Damnit, I was hoping that Sammy would continue so I could get me a combo player that was 2.0. :(
Then again, it seems their track record wasn't too flash, so it probably would have been shit anyways...
JeffDM @ Mar 8th 2008 3:25PM
Can we hope that they'll just axe their entire Blu-Ray division? I thikn it's in their best interests. Whatever goodwill that people will give them in considering their player, will not last much longer if a disc doesn't work properly in their trashy player. Seriously, they're the worst in the Blu-Ray player business.
Kova @ Mar 11th 2008 12:51PM
Most of you are mistaken and are making comments without actually testing the unit. I personally own the Samsung 5000 and it's far superior in many ways compared to 4 other players I've tried. I've tested it against the Panasonic, Samsung 1400, Sharp and Sony. First off the 5000 is MUCH MORE responsive then all these other players. You hit Stop, Play, Fast Forward, Next Chapter and it responds almost instantly. Other players DON'T that. There's a big lag time when you hit these buttons on other players. The 24fps works awesome and makes a huge difference if it's not built into your HDTV. But the best part is the Sharpness feature. Most units DON'T come with this feature. When I set the 5000 on "Low Sharpness" it was a much clearer picture then when I set the Panasonic on the MAX setting of +6. So when I set the Sharpness on the "Middle" setting, it makes the Panasonic look like crap. The "High" is to sharp and only useful on regular DVD's. This feature alone is incredibly useful for Blu Ray's that need a slight nudge of crispness and it's EXTREMELY helpful in regular DVD's that need a like big boost of sharpness. This feature alone is priceless to me and it works far superior to any other player that has it. Again, most don't. The combination of upscaling to 1080p + the sharpness ability takes regular DVD's to a level that other players can't even touch. Playing HD DVD's is it's weakest point but who cares??? HD DVD has gone the way of the Dinosaur. I could care less that Samsung is dropping the 5000 as long as they include these awesome features in the next player to come out. Like I said, the 5000 responds faster then any other player out there so I hope they maintain that in future players and I hope other companies get off their ass and fix that problem in the current players. Since this is going to be discontinued, you can pick one up for about $500 and it's worth every Penny. The Panasonic DMP-BD30K cost that much and didn't perform as well as the Samsung 5000. I'm holding on to mine until Samsung or another company surpasses the quality of this machine. Don't believe me? Get you hands on one and you'll see for yourself.