This is my first Blue Ray player and I love it.
Took a chance on this Samsung and ordered it without a lot of information availabe because it is so new but glad I did.
Just got it out of the box today and everything works great. Easily set up the wireless to my home network (and it saved the IP address and encryption key info so I do not need to sign on each time).
There are few units (if any) with all the features this unit offers at this price.
This unit offers solid access to You Tube, various videos on demand services, Pandora (love Pandora!), and it sees all my videos and photos on my computer in multiple ways (with their Samsung PC Share Manager and direct acess) all through the network. The pics load a little slow, but the files are big. Pretty sure if I reduce them down access will speed up.
Decent You Tube search feature (for a TV remote as a typing device). Easily found my own You Tube videos.
In any case, all locked in solid with minimal hassle.
I would give it 5 stars except there is still a learning curve on managing my PC folders and I am still getting the hang of some Samsungs apps, but I am confident it will all work out. I initially entered the encyption key incorrectly and did not get a password error but instead it just said the IP address was wrong. A restart with the right key resolved all.
The first HD video I played was a home video made on my Canon HD Vixia HF200 consumer video camera and it looked absolutely great. For a first view, this player is excellent. Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 15x Optical Zoom
I already have a Samsung 40 inch LCD HD TV so I also figured they would compliment each other.
Oh, by the way, I had a customer service issue that was not the fault of Amazon and they resolved it in grand fashion. Absolutely superb customer serivce. Superb.
Yep, I am a happy camper with the whole deal
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March 17 - update
I continue to enjoy this player. I had one blue-ray disc that did not work right - a rental, subsequent discs worked fine. I also see services being added. A few free games (nothing great, but there), Blockbuster on Demand is now installed, weather, USA today, and more is coming. Still, my favorite feature by far is being able to view shared files on the TV from my laptop computer through a wireless connection via the home network.
Viewing seemed a bit slow at first, but once I began compressing the JPEG's to a more "uploadable" size, they snapped through slideshows with ease. Camcorder videos formatted to WMV are easily played from my laptop and watched on the TV - and they are smooth. It is just so cool to create it on my laptop and watch it on my TV. Just amazing stuff. Love it.
Had to re-enter my encyption key once right after a software update but other than that one time, have not had to enter a password again. One other software update had no effect.
I upped the rating to 5 star. It is excellent. I am already beginning to take it for granted like a good chair that always just works. Not sure what else I can possibly expect at this price. Samsung BD-C6500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
I plan on keeping this review up to date, so as things change I will keep adding to it. I will also try to answer any questions in comments.
April 2, 2010
I received this player from Amazon today. Within the first hour I had it hooked up to my home theater system, connected to my wi-fi network, updated the firmware over the web, connected to Netflix, and connected to Pandora. At that point I was ready to log in to Amazon and post a 5 star review. I am glad that I held off because there have been a few problems, but not enough to make me want to return the player.
Even though I have the latest firmware, 1009.1, Vudu does not work for me. I get an error message when I try to start it (I will post the error here tomorrow; right now I am watching a movie!). I was able to set my location in Accuweather and change it from Celsius to Fahrenheit. However, when I went back into Accuweather the location was correct but it reverted back to Celsius. I went in and out of it several times and set it back to Fahrenheit but each time it would go back to Celsius.
I went to the Vudu site and did some searches on Samsung, but could not find anything helpful. I also did some Google searches without much luck. The most useful information always pointed back to the Amazon reviews for this product.
I played a regular DVD and it did an OK job although it seemed a little over-exposed. I will update my comments as I play more DVDs. I haven't played a blu-ray DVD yet because I don't own one but will pick one up tomorrow.
Pandora radio sounds excellent! I have a Pioneer VSX-9040TXH receiver (which I love -- highly recommended) with some quality 5.1 speakers and the sound is amazing.
At this point I am irritated that Vudu shows up as an app on my player, but it doesn't work and I can't find any useful information about why. I am also irritated that Accuweather, in spite of reports from previous reviewers here, doesn't work. It seems like someone is dropping the ball. It would be nice if the blu-ray player would provide some kind of status about whether an app is functional or not so that I as a user do not have to waste my time trying to fix something if it's unfixable by me.
Right now I am keeping things in perspective. As a DVD player, blu-ray player, Netflix player, and Pandora player it is still worth the money. I am certainly glad that I didn't get just a standalone blu-ray player because Netflix and Pandora both add a lot of value.
April 3rd 2010
I was showing my friend the Internet features of this player today (Day 2) and was surprised that when I went into Vudu, the error message that I had been getting went away, and I was able to start my Vudu service! Setup was very easy. Accuweather, however, still would not keep the temperature in Fahrenheit. More later ...
April 4th 2010
I watched two Vudu movies yesterday. Things worked very well. The HDX quality is very good, as is the 5.1 audio. I don't like the Vudu interface as much as Apple TV's, but the quality is as good or better. There is also a very good selection of movies on Vudu. So, if you want HD-quality streaming videos with great audio, this blu-ray player can do that through the Vudu service. Very nice feature.
I tried a few more things:
Rovi TV listings. You set it up on the blu-ray player. It shows what is on TV over a 2 hour period. It doesn't appear to let someone browse through shows more than 2 hours out unless I haven't figured that out yet.
I added another location in Accuweather. I set both locations to Fahrenheit, exited, went back in and again it reverted to Celsius. Why do they even bother to put out software if they can't do it right? They have had time to fix it and haven't. It gives Accuweather a bad name.
The Blockbuster app appears to be working, but I didn't watch anything because I am a Netflix subsriber rather than Blockbuster.
USA Today news is something I may use. What I like is that I can get titles of news stories by category, and quickly bring up the article. It's a very fast way to get the news compared to a web browser for example.
YouTube appears to be working. There is a log in options so it should be able to access your account if you set one up. I don't have a YouTube account so didn't try that.
At this point I have tested all the apps and the only one not working correctly is Accuweather.
I will try some of the other features this week, including playing a blu-ray. Any suggestions for my first blu-ray movie?
April 13, 2010
I was able to set up Blockbuster on Demand. Even though my main computer is a Mac and Blockbuster on Demand doesn't run on a Mac, I was able to register a new Blockbuster on Demand account on my Mac and confirm it just by entering a 5 digit code on the Samsung player.
At this point I have rented movies using the Samsung's Netflix streaming, Blockbuster on Demand, and Vudu apps, and have been able to listen to music on Pandora. In addition, I have watched many blu-ray movies (about 20 to date) without any problems.
April 18, 2010
I have played more blu-ray and regular DVDs and have not had any problems. Everything played fine.
Tonight I checked for a software update and one was available. I like that I could check right from the player, and not have to download separately. There is an option to use a USB drive, but it's not necessary if the player is hooked up to the network.
A MAJOR ANNOYANCE: AccuWeather is STILL not working. When I go in and change it to Fahrenheit, go out, and come back in, the temperatures are all in Celsius. Who is dropping the ball -- Samsung, it's your player, and obviously you should know about this problem, so WHY aren't you fixing the problem or getting AccuWeather to fix it? Do you care about your product -- well if so, then FIX THE PROBLEM.
Fortunately, the major services work fine: Netflix insta-queue streaming, Vudu, Blockbuster on Demand, and Pandora.
June 4, 2010
AccuWeather now works. The Fahrenheit setting sticks.
This will be the last entry of this review.
I would buy this player again. The Internet features are very nice. Netflix streaming, Blockbuster on Demand, Pandora, and Vudu being the main ones.
I have not had any problems playing normal DVD's or blue-ray DVDs. They don't rewind or fast forward as smoothly as I would like, but it does what it needs to do.
It's not an expensive player, and it does a lot. So, I recommend this player. - Blu-ray - Wireless - Netflix Streaming - Samsung'
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