What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
25 AUG 2008
Samsung BD-P1500
Shrewd online shoppers will find the
Samsung BD-P1500 for the paltry sum of £170. That’s pretty impressive, considering that just over a year ago the cheapest Blu-ray player was the £300 PlayStation 3.
So, the Samsung spinner might have price on its side, but it’s a mixed bag on the features front. Out of the box, the BD-P1500 is only Profile 1.1 enabled, though this isn’t a massive problem as Samsung has a firmware update in the pipeline.
You’ll be able to carry it out via disc or over the internet, using the Ethernet port on the back of the player.As with the majority of players the Samsung can send bitstream HD audio without any problems.
When it comes to onboard decoding, the player ticks all the boxes apart from DTS-HD Master Audio, which isn’t ideal if your AV receiver isn’t capable of doing the decoding itself. There are no multi-channel analogue outputs, but that’s not unusual in the company of more affordable Blu-ray players.
Plenty of detail and colourThe BD-P1500 has a simple design: the fascia is uncluttered and the fair-sized display is clear. Blu-ray discs load without too much of a wait, the remote control is standard Samsung fare, and the player’s on-screen menus are bold and easy to navigate. But one thing we did notice is that the BD-P1500 is a relatively noisy machine.
The Samsung handles a 1080p/24fps Blu-ray image confidently. Overall stability is good, and the player deftly picks out a decent amount of detail in the bustling Las Vegas casino scenes littered throughout 21.
Step down to a standard-definition DVD and the Samsung still manages to muster a decent upscaled image. Colours are evenly balanced and motion is relatively smooth. But it’s apparent that more-capable players in this test do treat you to a clearer, sharper, more precise DVD picture.
The BD-P1500 doesn’t disgrace itself, but the top players do offer improved performance.
Movie soundtracks are ?red out in an expressive, open manner: the heavy dialogue during
21 sounds clear and concise if a little weedy.
Switch to a livelier disc such as
Iron Man and you’re left wishing that the Samsung had a bit more clout in the lower frequencies. Explosions don’t have the heft and authority that the Panasonic can produce, for instance.
If you’re on a very restricted budget, the Samsung will do the job, but others will do it better.