Samsung's BD-P1500 Blu-ray player in stock, in the wild

by Darren Murph, posted May 13th 2008 at 4:59PM

Remember that ~~April~~ June release date that Samsung just threw out not even a month ago for its twice-delayed BD-P1500? Yeah, apparently that's not entirely accurate. A few shots here prove that the firm's latest BD-Live-ready Blu-ray deck is indeed hitting at least some store shelves already, with this particular one being spotted in a San Diego Wal-Mart. Better still, the price was pegged at $348, or a full $51 less than the published MSRP. In other words, keep a sharp eye out for this puppy -- it's probably worth the extra $50 over the Funai NB500.

[Thanks, Rob]

Gallery: Samsung's BD-P1500 Blu-ray player in stock, in the wild

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Players, Samsung

Tags: bd-p1500, blu-ray, in stock, in the wild, InStock, InTheWild, pictures, player, samsung

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

foxb @ May 13th 2008 5:16PM

So when is the promised firmware update for this new purpy will be out?

Oh wait, I'm still waiting for the promised firmware update for my BD-UP5000 (that was realease Nov. 2007). Maybe with the new player on sale now, we may finally see the firmware for the old dog coming soon :(

Don't be a fool to buy the new Samsung players. Give it a year or so for Samsung to fix all the bugs. They never release bug-free players.

Highest Ranked

Achilles @ May 13th 2008 5:49PM

I hate to agree with you but it makes sense. Isn't this one still lacking DTS-HD "High resolution?" It's ready to be upgraded by a firmware upgrade but when will that happen???? The fall? Next year?

Neutral

Ron @ May 13th 2008 5:59PM

Sounds like October..

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9926996-7.html

Highest Ranked

Achilles @ May 13th 2008 6:04PM

Ron:

That links states that the 2.0 live update might be in October, however the DTS-HD "High resolution does not have a release date as of yet, not according to that link you provided. It also will not decode DTS-HD Master Audio, even with the firmware update.

Neutral

Michael @ May 13th 2008 5:45PM

Assuming this does what is promised... then this is the first player to truly beat the PS3 for someone who just wants Blu-ray access right? It can do everything the PS3 does (in regards to Blu-ray playback), is a full $50 cheaper than the cheapest PS3... and it has infrared (for all of us Harmony freaks)!

Since I have my PS3 already with an infrared solution, I'm set, but if I were in the market right now, I think this is what I'd go for instead.

Neutral

Galley @ May 13th 2008 5:54PM

It's profile 1.1 only, so the PS3 still wins.

Neutral

Achilles @ May 13th 2008 5:59PM

The P1500 has BD Profile 1.1 Bonus View and is BD Live Ready.

It's "ready" which means that the firmware update will be out sometime next year maybe???

Neutral

WebDev511 @ May 13th 2008 7:17PM

The companion cube would be upset which would result in your own depression if it does not get to enjoy the true enrichment of BD Live!

Neutral

Michael @ May 13th 2008 7:36PM

@WebDev511

No worries, my companion cube is happy... I have my PS3 all updated with BD-Live capabilities already!

Neutral

resare @ May 14th 2008 12:49PM

I wonder if it is as slow as other blu-ray players, if so PS3's 30 second load beats 3 minute disk load of other players (of course it consumes about 5x more power while doing so...)

Highly Ranked

Gus @ May 15th 2008 9:35PM

What a couple of knob jockeys you two are!
Please explain to me and the rest of the world how these POS players are going to sell to J6P!!! Forget what they MIGHT be priced at 6 months from now, how are they going to sell today!
No one is buying BR standalones now, but because you two are blind zealots, it doesn't matter what the market is saying, J6P is going to rush out and buy these POS players at 5x the price of DVD,...... ROFLMFAO,

I always said I will buy BR when a quality product is cheap enough, but idiots like you two are fast turning me off that idea!!

Highly Ranked

Gus @ May 15th 2008 9:36PM

^ ^ ^ ^ ooops, wrong response ^ ^ ^ ^

Neutral

DrXym @ May 13th 2008 5:48PM

The Funai won't be at $298 for long. Walmart will drop the price as more mainstream brands start selling at $350 or less, as will be the case the further through the year we go.

Highly Ranked

Gus @ May 13th 2008 11:27PM

C'mon Zim, take the blu goggles off for a moment, they must be on too tight I think the blood flow to the brain is getting choked, but seriously, how can you really see growth in the J6 pack market that shops at Wally World for a, lets be honest here, dubious quality Funai BR player that is 5 x the price of a DVD player, during the height of a recession bordering on depression???!!

Who is the target market you see racing out to buy this, personally I think it will be dead in the water, IMHO the top end of the AV market, cash flow positive BR buyer, has more chance at the moment than the J6P sector, and that sector is struggling!

Neutral

Mark @ May 14th 2008 4:10AM

@Gus. Both players are for sale in Wal-mart. I think they know a little bit more about selling stuff to their target audience than you do.

Low Ranked

DrXym @ May 14th 2008 6:48AM

Gus, what part of what I said makes no sense to you?

Walmart sell various Blu Ray players. Naturally feel free to whinge that nobody wants to buy a Funai player no matter what the price. Clearly Walmart beg to differ or they wouldn't be selling them in the first place. Clearly Amazon and others beg to differ because they sell them too under different brands. Clearly stockists offer a range of players at a range of prices because they recognize that different customers have different budgets and needs. Clearly as the year progresses the prices will lower as the competition heats up.

As for the Funai player. It's a bit barebones for my liking but avsforum members seem fairly upbeat about it. It'll be $250 in a few months and probably $200 by Christmas.

I truly expect that six months hence the usual HD DVD crybabies will still be stinking up the forum with yet more silly reasons that Blu Ray is failing when clearly it isn't.

Highest Ranked

Gus @ May 14th 2008 7:01PM

OK, so BR stand alone player sales are tanking world wide to the BR set with money, but Wally World have the answer and are going to shift lots of crappy low quality ones to J6??!!
You BR fanatics are a laugh a minute, just stop and think about it, forget the HD DVD knee jerk reactions, this is not about formats, this is just common sense, there is no chance these players are going to sell in any volume at WW, you know it, I know it, so stop being so defensive and aggressive.

Neutral

Mark @ May 15th 2008 8:56AM

@Gus. That's not what he said at all. Are you being willfully stupid or does it come naturally?

Neutral

DrXym @ May 15th 2008 12:47PM

You HD DVD crybabies have been whining about prices for so long, that when they inevitably come you have to invent some other lame reason they won't sell. It is quite obvious the Funai will sell. It will sell extremely well especiallly as the holiday season approaches and the price drops down to $200. Of course pretend that the player doesn't matter. In which case I recommend you buy a Samsung or another brand player which are bound to be sitting around the $300 mark in 3 or 4 months time.

Highest Ranked

Gus @ May 15th 2008 9:37PM

Neutral

Douglas Brace @ May 13th 2008 5:51PM

I would like to point at that Engadget's sister blog EngadgetHD said that the Samsung BD-P1500 was going to be released in May 2008. What month is it?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/06/samsung-intros-bd-p1500-blu-ray-player-bd-up5500-combo-player/

Neutral

Douglas Brace @ May 13th 2008 5:52PM

Oops. I thought I was one Engadget.

Neutral

Douglas Brace @ May 13th 2008 6:01PM

According to the Samsung news release below from April 28, 2008, the BD-P1500 will be BD Live "in the days ahead."

http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/news/newsIrRead.do?news_ctgry=irnewsrelease&news_seq=8078&search_keyword=&from_dt=&to_dt=

Neutral

Mr. E @ May 13th 2008 6:49PM

This is great news all around, especially the initial price. Hopefully Samsung has learned from their serious burnings on past players, and this one is bug-free.

Neutral

Paul @ May 13th 2008 7:30PM

I hope Samsung improved upon the BD-P1400. That player seemed to have mixed reviews. http://tinyurl.com/5urgyp

Highly Ranked

jjmisterx @ May 13th 2008 8:59PM

Still $258 away from the magic number!

Highly Ranked

Jimmy @ May 14th 2008 11:06AM

$258 away?

So you are either suggesting that this player needs to be $90 or $606 dollars. I am going to infer that you mean the player needs to be less than $100 before you would buy one. This may be the case and I assume you did not buy a DVD player until it was under $100? Maybe, but lets look at facts anyway.

Minimum DVD player prices were about $500 when they first came out in 1997. By the end of 1999 there were a grand total of about 6 million units sold. Approximately 4.1 million in '99, 1.2 million in '98, and 400,000 in '97.

It took nearly five years on the market before the price fell to $100. In fact the first $100 DVD players made news in the New York Times. They ran a story in February 2002 about how the Christmas of 2001 was so special because of DVD prices hitting this new low. They also point out that DVD was the fastest adopted new gadget of all time and that it took VCR's nearly 30 years to drop to that price point.

This also happened to be the Christmas that the PS2 launched with a built in DVD player.

But back to sales numbers:
2000 :: 8.5 million
2001 :: 12.7 million
2002 :: 17.1 million

Now consider that Blu-ray is almost exactly 9 years offset. So Blu-ray needs to get a player out for less than $100 before Christmas of 2010 to be on par with DVD.

One last thing. If you look at units sold from launch date. If you count the PS3 as a Blu-ray player then Blu-ray is actually outselling DVD in their respective life spans. If not then blu-ray is behind DVD by about 70%.

Highly Ranked

kcmurphy88 @ May 14th 2008 10:26PM

Yeah, but DVD was up against the 15-year-old VHS, and not even SuperVHS which never took off (and that LaserDisc thing nerds had). The difference was simply impossible not to appreciate.

With Blu you have to spend $500 so that you can buy $30 discs to play on your 42" 720p set that you have 12 feet away. Which means that the difference is marginal to the eyeballs. And the competition? The $5 DVD, or the $1 rental machine.

Sure DVD took off. So what?! Apples/oranges.

Blu needs to solve the pricing problem soon because the visual difference to anyone who doesn't have the newest bestest TV and AT LEAST 5.1 Dolby Digital isn't all that compelling. It can't survive on early adopters and that's all it has. And some of _them_ adopted the other thing.

Neutral

Raul @ May 13th 2008 10:30PM

Looks like Best Buys are getting them in by this weekend for $399
http://www.bluraydar.com/samsung-bd-p1500-in-wal-mart-in-best-buy-this-weekend/

Neutral

Eric D-J @ May 13th 2008 11:02PM

West Coast BBY warehouse had 710 of them today

Neutral

Matt @ May 13th 2008 11:40PM

Samsung, sorry you're doing your best to support Sony and Blu Ray, despite them screwing you and selling the PS3 for just $50 more.

Neutral

Mark @ May 14th 2008 4:16AM

You make it sound like they are some poor downtrodden CE. Samsung wouldn't sell bd players if they weren't making money from doing so. btw Toshiba and Samsung own a joint stake in a factory that makes bd players. Toshiba's 1st gen player (whenever it finally appears) may well be a skinned Samsung player underneath due to that relationship.

Neutral

HDpurist @ May 14th 2008 12:21AM

Sammy products are in general junk. Wonder what happened to their BD/HDDUD combo player....I mean, do they even support those units that were even sold? And thier LED LCD...what a hunk'a junk....1-bit LED processing.

Neutral

Hooterman @ May 14th 2008 10:12AM

What a trash comment. Samsung products are some of the highest rated products out there.

Neutral

SLKabaker @ May 14th 2008 2:45AM

I bought a BD-P1500 from Best Buy in Schaumburg, IL. I am very pleased with it. The BD-P1400 was a very successful unit in both sales and quality. I am pleased with the Playback. Also, as far as the Audio is concerned, it will BitStream over HDMI. So, just as in years passed when all DVD Players required an external Reciever to decode DTS, so does this Player. I have purchased a Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH which can handle the new HD Audio formats, and the BD-P1500 passes along DTS-HD MA just fine. Other than Panasonic (which when it comes out will be $699.99) and the PS3, what other player is coming out anytime soon that supports (or will...) BD Live. I would highly reccomend this player.

Neutral

Achilles @ May 14th 2008 10:53AM

Wal-Mart has it for $348 and BestBuy will have it for $399. Something is not making sense here?????? Did Wal-Mart make a pricing mistake?

Neutral

mntwister @ May 14th 2008 11:02AM

This player will bitstream Dolby True and DTS MA and is 2.0 BDlive ready. At this price, we finally have a player under 400.00 other than the PS3. I think this is an important introduction, this could hit $299 for the holidays (or less)!

Highly Ranked

Achilles @ May 14th 2008 5:15PM

According to the official press release dated April 23, DTS MA is not available on this player?? From the official press release:

"True audiophiles will love the BD-P1500 for going beyond standard Dolby Digital audio playback to include Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD High resolution (scheduled to available later this year via firmware update)."

Also, the 2.0BD Live-Ready is going to have to be a firmware update that is scheduled in sometime in October (no official word yet).

DTS-HD High resolution audio firmware update does NOT have a release scheduled yet.

What's up with shady practice Samsung???

Neutral

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