I'm thinking that my Samsung BD-P1600 player is on its last legs. It plays DVDs fine but all of the sudden isn't wanting to take newer Blu-Rays. I'm trying a firmware update, but not having much hopes after hearing the horror stories from others after updating. Who's putting out a good reliable blu-ray player now? I know the PS3 is supposed to be great, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much on a player and don't really care about most of the games that are on the PS3 with both a Wii and Xbox soon on the way... Thoughts???? "I do not as a rule seek advice about food from thin people..." - Jeffrey Steingarten
Your problem is most likely the fact that it's a Samsung. I've owned two Samsung DVD players over the years and both of them were pieces of junk. They started out fine but progressively had problems even playing DVDs at all. Maybe Samsung has made some good players but I wouldn't buy anything from them that's supposed to play a disc. And I'd be hesitant to buy anything else from them. Based on brand name alone, I would recommend something from Panasonic or Sony. I have only had minor problems with one particular Sony I bought but have never had a problem with anything from Panasonic in the AV department. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the BR plunge yet so I can't advise more than what I've said.
^ So, as usual, you're just talking out of your ass. You don't own a Blu-ray player yet you feel compelled to make a recommendation. You're just as useless here as you are in other forums. Astro, It's been years since I've done any research on a Blu-ray player, and when I did, I was looking for the best player available. At the time, the best player was made by Oppo. From what I gather, Oppo still makes the best player (a different model than I have). But, based on your post, it doesn't appear that you want to spend a lot (the Oppo BDP-93 is $500). Since I haven't done any recent research on budget Blu-ray players, I'd be foolish to make any suggestions at what you should spend your money on. Therefore, I would strongly suggest that you head over to the Blu-ray Player forum at the AV Science forum and take a look at some of the threads there. I'm confident that, without even asking for help, you will find the information that you are looking for.
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Midnight Max Deactivated User
And put an end to the Chicago-style Thuggery 678 Posts 3/08
Posted - Mar 8 2012 : 11:17PM
Astro- I was one of the biggest bashers of Blu players around (somewhat regrettably so)- I've since changed my tune quite a bit, although having to do firmware updates every 5 months or so (which is sometimes the sad reality of the matter) is still chickenshit. I've found that many playability issues are because of extra features tacked onto the feature disc- for example, the most recent Blu Ray disc I had playability issues with was the Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 feature disc. There's a "Maximum Movie Mode" special feature which runs parallel to the movie's runtime which didn't gel with my player. There were periodic, split-second glitches throughout the movie, which coincided with the exact points that the "Maximum Movie Mode" feature kicked in. I ran a firmware update which successfully fixed the issue. That said, it's VERY important that you follow the firmware update instructions to a tee. Failure to do so could brick your player. I have a Sony BDP-S570 FWIW. The only other problems I've had with the player itself is that it sometimes won't acknowledge that the disc tray is closed, I simply eject and re-insert and that's "fixed" that issue every time... so far. I believe I've had this current player for about a year and 9 months. Funny stuff though, every damned friend I have who owns a PS3 (I do not) claims that they haven't had any problems whatsoever. Fuckin Oppo's are supposed to be awesome but are way too rich for my blood.
BTW - on the topic of firmware, if you don't have the ability to run ethernet to the location where your Blu-ray player will be, make sure that you get a player that has built in Wifi. It will make firmware updates much easier. I'm connected via ethernet and everytime a firmware update is available, I'm notified on-screen. The player then asks if I want to download and update the firmware. It's a quick (3-4 minutes) & painless process. Without ethernet or Wifi access, you need to keep track of when firmware updates are available, manually download them, burn them to disc or copy them to a flash drive and then initiate the firmware update yourself. I had to do that with my first Blu-ray player, when new firmware was coming out a couple times a month (I was an early adopter). Doing that was a big pain in the ass. I have to disagree with Max about firmware updates being a bad thing. I think that the ability to upgrade a player to allow it to do new things that didn't exist on Blu-ray discs when the player was built is an awesome thing. I've owned too many components that became obsolete because of bells & whistles that were available on the next version of the player. With firmware updates, unless the next bell or whistle requires more advanced hardware, that enhancement can be made to your existing player. Edited by - Bill on 3/8/2012 11:31:55 PM
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Midnight Max Deactivated User
And put an end to the Chicago-style Thuggery 678 Posts 3/08
Posted - Mar 8 2012 : 11:44PM
It's admittedly far less a pain in the ass with those setups that are connected via ethernet or Wifi- I do not have that option and must copy onto cd from a pc and then insert into my player a few rooms away. For myself, it's time-consuming and is especially frustrating when you've set aside "movie time" only to be faced with the inconvenience of having to bite into that time with a firmware update.
Ran the firmware update after getting home tonight and still no results. It'll play DVDs but i tried three different Blu-Rays (Horizon & Puss in Boots for new titles, and Battle Beyond the Stars for an older title that I know worked a few months ago) and couldn't get it to accept any of them. After taking fifteen minutes to check around the web I'm actually between the PS3 (not my first choice, but with the success I've heard everybody have with it I'm willing to pay more to get more and I love what I've heard about Sony's support of it) and the Oppo. I can't say I'm fond of spending $500 on the Oppo, but from everything I've read about the player and the company it sounds like it's worth every penny. Thanks for the input, and especially the the AV Science link. I think that's the one I've been trying to remember to check out and couldn't come up with it... "I do not as a rule seek advice about food from thin people..." - Jeffrey Steingarten
How charming. Nice behavior for a mod. Especially considering I wasn't trying to be in any way bothersome. Forgive me. I'll strive to keep out of your domain.
Edited by - randomprecision on 3/9/2012 12:05:54 AM
#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Mar 9 2012 : 12:30AM
I'm still very happy with my PS3. If you're going to get one, try to look for a deal where they throw in the bluetooth remote control, which provides a more familiar interface for playing movies than the game controller does. (It does however, lack a "JUST PLAY THE GODDAMN MOVIE, GODDAMN YOU!!!" button. I don't know if other kinds of blu-ray players are any better about letting you bypass all the trailers and crap, or if you're just always at the mercy of how the studio masters the disc.)
If you have broadband internet service, it might be worth buying a long ethernet cable solely for the purpose of running between your modem and the Blu-ray player when you need to update firmware. It's less of a pain in the ass than downloading and burning. Before I wired my house with ethernet, that's exactly what I did.I agree on both counts. Another nice thing about being connected to the Internet all of the time is the fact that you are notified that a firmware update is available. If you're not watching a movie that causes a problem that night, you can watch the movie and then kick off the firmware update after you are done with "movie time". In your situation, you end up downloading the firmware because you're having a problem and need to update it right away in order to watch the movie that you want to. It's a shame that Sony doesn't have some type of email notification to registered owners everytime a firmware update becomes available. If they did that, you could update the firmware when you want to, instead of when you need to.
That's the case with all players. None of them are allowed to bypass the "rules" of the disc. At least the newer players load a lot faster than the older ones did. It used to suck when you had to wait 2 minutes for a Blu-ray disc to load, only to find out that you now had another 4 minutes of "unskippable" previews to watch.
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Midnight Max Deactivated User
And put an end to the Chicago-style Thuggery 678 Posts 3/08
Posted - Mar 9 2012 : 1:49AM
Astro- it appears to be a BD drive/laser failure (I know, that deserves a "Captain Obvious"). How long have you had it? And have you tried blowing out any kind of dust or debris?
Since you are looking at the PS3 I will weigh in, that's what I use for my blu-ray player and I've been incredibly happy with it. As previously mentioned though, you'll want the remote, the controllers stink for movie play. Also something to remember is that sometimes the PS3 updates can take forever since it isn't just updating the blu-ray firmware but the game system as well.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09
Posted - Mar 10 2012 : 6:39PM
Have you tried downgrading firmware? I've downgraded lots of firmware for motherboards and optical drives to attain optimum performance/features and get rid of bugs, but especially, compatibility problems. Edited by - BYOB_Kenobi on 3/14/2012 1:59:13 AM
Is it possible that the lens needs to be cleaned? I believe Blu-Rays have far tighter tolerances than DVDs, which in turn have far tighter tolerances than CDs. It's possible that your laser isn't strong enough for Blu-Ray but it's good enough for DVD. A thought.
I tried blowing it out without results but haven't done anything to open it up and clean the lens. Might have to try that if I get a moment soon. I'd never upgraded the firmware until now, as it had played everything without a problem. "I do not as a rule seek advice about food from thin people..." - Jeffrey Steingarten
