Samsung BD-P1600 hands-on

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Mar 26th 2009 at 12:18PM

Oh it seems just like yesterday that we were reviewing the very first Blu-ray player, which happened to also be a Samsung, and now here we are just a few years later with a sixth generation Blu-ray player from Samsung, the BD-P1600. At first glance you have to wonder what's new and is it worth the upgrade from the 1500? So far unless you're crazy about Netflix and Pandora support we'd say no, but we'll reserve the final judgment until after we've had enough time with it to do a proper review.

Gallery: Hands-on with the BD-P1600

Filed under: Blu-ray, Players, Samsung

Tags: bd, bd p1600, BD-P1600, BdP1600, blu-ray, blu-ray player, Blu-rayPlayer, features, hands-on, pics, pictures, samsung, Samsung Blu-ray, SamsungBlu-ray

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

treacherous @ Mar 26th 2009 12:34PM

My amazing girlfriend bought me this for my birthday last weekend. So far, I love it.

29... I feel old...

Neutral

Andrew Dale @ Mar 26th 2009 12:52PM

Wish my wife would buy me one of these. Or maybe a 3600 just to be nice. :)

Neutral

Oskiee @ Mar 26th 2009 1:19PM

My parents bought me this for my birthday this past weekend ( 3/21 ). Its my first Blu ray player, but so far its amazing. Netflix+Pandora on it is amazing.

Low Ranked

Mike H @ Mar 26th 2009 1:17PM

After the problems both my brother and I had with our 1400 player (Samsung charged us both $50 to replace a bad component) and problems I have heard about 1500 players, I would be very leery about getting the 1600 players. Reliability of Samsung players has gone downhill. I replaced my 1400 with a Sony 350.

Highly Ranked

StarTrekNubian @ Mar 26th 2009 1:29PM

Dude you're full of shit. Samsung makes great players. I've had a 1500 for months now with no problems.

I swear you hear all the time about Samsung's "horrible customer service" and how their bluray players "always have issues" yet there's no proof at all. And they must not be happening a lot since no news agency or group has ever reported on this seemingly widespread problem.

I'm not saying Samsung is perfect. No company is. And furthermore the earlier Bluray players from ALL the companies were having issues. So why exactly is Samsung always singled out?

Highly Ranked

Ignatius @ Mar 27th 2009 1:19AM

I had a few problems with the Samsung BD-UP5000 I bought, it had some kind of problem with the laser assembly, and even though it was out of the labor warranty, Samsung fixed it for free, although it did take them four weeks to fix it.

Past that, it's been a great player.

Highest Ranked

Patrick @ Mar 26th 2009 1:21PM

i love the composite cables in the picture...

Neutral

Ben @ Mar 26th 2009 1:21PM

Nice catch Patrick. It is a big joke around here that all the Blu-ray players come with composite cables, so are sure to include them in the picture.

Neutral

kcmurphy88 @ Mar 26th 2009 1:41PM

They supply those so that the Monster Challenge has a basis in fact.

Neutral

Chad @ Mar 26th 2009 6:07PM

you can use them as component... :)

Neutral

Titanium @ Mar 26th 2009 11:39PM

I was thinking that same thing. It's really hard to get a 1080p picture with those old things. :)

Highly Ranked

JDS @ Mar 26th 2009 1:45PM

where is the 4600 already????

Neutral

James @ Mar 26th 2009 2:53PM

I purchased a BD-P1600 last week. It would not play some of the new releases from Netflix. I returned it to Best Buy for another unit. The replacement unit works great. So there may be something to reliability with specific units - perhaps quality control during manufacturing. However, the new unit works wonderful with good picture and sound + Netflix streaming. I am very satisfied.

Neutral

cesar @ Mar 26th 2009 3:16PM

I have the BD-P2550, which also streams netflix and pandora. What is the diffrence with this model?

Neutral

chumley @ Mar 26th 2009 3:38PM

Your 2550 should have better video quality because it has the highly-regarded HQV video processing, whereas the new models do not.

Neutral

FarmerBob @ Mar 26th 2009 6:12PM

Just got an eMail from Samsung specifically addressing this and they say that they still use the Reon Chips and in the P3600 which I asked about. So I would imagine that the 1600 has the same. Isn't that the one that everyone is talking about making Samsung's Upsampling and etc. the best? I almost ran out and grabbed a 2550 just for that. But might wait. The only thing I don't like is the shape of the 3600, doesn't work in my equipment rack, but like the features over the 1600.

I would imagine that they would have to be fools to kill one of the best features . . . HQV via the Reon.

But who knows after what they did to the ergonomics of the 3600.

Highly Ranked

foxb @ Mar 26th 2009 8:39PM

First of all, BD-P1600 is the replacement of BD-P1500 which doesn't have Reon chip at all. And I 99% sure BD-P3600 does not come with Reon despite how you heard from Samsung support because most of them are clueless. The only Samung players that have Reon are 1200, 5000, 2500/2550. Rest of them don't have Reon.

Highly Ranked

Matt @ Mar 26th 2009 10:32PM

The 3600 does not have the HQV chip. The only thing it has over the 2550 is a wi-fi dongle.

Neutral

t-bone-c @ Mar 27th 2009 11:57AM

actually the 3600 has divx support and pc streaming, which the 2550 does not, which is what's making my decision so hard. i wish i could get a rundown of upscaling quality on the 3600 to help me choose.

Neutral

Mike @ Mar 26th 2009 3:54PM

Does the door come off easy? I would be sticking one of these behind some glass doors in the entertainment center and don't really have a need to flip down the front door each time to put a disc in/take it out.

Neutral

Andrew Dale @ Mar 26th 2009 4:01PM

Hmm... I wonder about this too. I'd definitely prefer to take it off.

Neutral

jason @ Mar 26th 2009 4:35PM

the door is your display for time left and if i recall the eye is on the front also for the remote

Neutral

Kevin @ Mar 26th 2009 6:22PM

The door swings down and goes up automatically when opening/closing. Does not get in the way.

Neutral

zargon @ Mar 26th 2009 4:45PM

I think I will pass and get the Oppo Blu-ray player when it comes out.

Neutral

foxb @ Mar 26th 2009 8:41PM

Wow. You know Samsung quality based on ONE player you owned? I've owned couple Samsung DVD players in the past and BD player. The chance to get a perfect working unit out of box for me is 50/50. Count yourself lucky.

Highly Ranked

Bizket @ Mar 28th 2009 2:38AM

I am still annoyed that customer service told me months ago that the 1500 was going to get an update to add Netflix and Pandora functionality, and not only has it not happened but they release a replacement unit that does have it.

Not to worry though, I sent them a strongly worded email so this should be rectified soon.

Ahem...

Excuse me but the joint is burning out.

Neutral

Scott H @ Mar 31st 2009 9:23PM

We purchased the Samsung BD P1600 Blu Ray player just two days ago and the out-of-the-box experience is an initial "not bad". I've held off of buying into Blu Ray because this technology seems to become even more quickly obsolete than computers or TVs. But for the price and the features, this seemed to be as good a time as any. In some ways I wish we'd have gone for the 2550 for the 7.1, but my Denon receiver gives me decent feed to the rear so it's mostly a moot point. Picture quality seems to be quite good, although I'm still feeding my HD set with component cables -an HDMI to DVI cable is on the way and we'll see if there's any improvement (my TV has no HDMI, nor does my receiver). For what it's worth, given as clear a picture on our 61" TV as we have from DVD and HD cable broadcasts, Blu Ray almost seems to be too high priced for the results, but I must admit that the upconversion of DVD IS good -an improvement over my cheapo DVD -possibly better than the Denon DVD player the cheapo replaced. Truth be told, I'd go all Denon if possible, but this Samsung is getting the nod now. It's fast loading enough for me but I'm leery of the swing-down door. Looks like the tray could catch on it while closing. What the hey, it's only a step away to open it while using it, and since discs don't hop in and out by themselves, closing it can't be any harder, and if it helps keep dust and cat hair out, mo' bettah. Time will tell if this player is worth it, but Net Flix isn't swaying me. I don't want an unlimited account and getting the cable guy over here for a feed install isn't high on a priority list. All I want is clear picture and this BD -P1600 seems up to it. I love my Samsung computer monitor so I'm not put off by the name (not as much as by other "name" products I own). Let's see how it goes in a couple of months for a better performance call ...

Neutral

FarmerBob @ Apr 7th 2009 12:21PM

The other day I went to my nearest and dearest BestBuy to pickup one of the last two P2550's in the state and got to talking to the Sales Rep. He was waiting on reports on the 3600 before he made his choice. But we did some investigating through BestBuy and from what I have since gotten from Samsung (not a chatty group) and that is they made their own version of the Silicon Optix Reon chip to replace that in the last releases. So far it is not proving to be as good as the industry standard SO Reon. Their explanation to BestBuy was to make the new line more affordable. "More Affrodable!" they're the same price as the old models. So the Sales Rep grabbed one of the 2550's, brought the other out for me, but I chose to wait. Even though they were marked down to $314.00. This may have been a big mistake on my part but I really hate this kind of product deception (all the secrecy and lying to me directly) – plus it looks like my 7 month old Samsung DLP is crapping out already. So Samsung is not one of my favorite flavors at the moment. I'm hoping that Pioneer (what all my other gear is) or another brand see the advantages of the BD-P series and does the same. Plus as noted above, product obsolescence is quick these days. Just color me gun-shy.

Neutral

Quake97 @ May 15th 2009 9:44AM

Does anyone happen to know if the rear USB port can be used for storage via a thumb drive? Everything I'd read said the rear port is for the wireless dongle. I don't see why it would matter, but I wanted to ask before buying. There's no way I'm going to use the front port and have the panel down all the time. Thanks.

Joe

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