So I may have the chance to pick up a Samsung BD-P1000 from Best Buy for $500 (retail price) with a $200 gift card making the player roughly $300 technically.

For those that have this player...would you recommend it? I am just look for a CHEAP way to get into Blu Ray right now and become format nuetral. I don't really want a PS3 only because of Blu Tooth and would like a stand alone player.

Any thoughts?

I have both the Samsung and the Panasonic BD players, and while I use the Panny in my main home theater, I am very happy with the Samsung. With the latest firmware the Samsung can hold its own PQ wise, though no True-HD which the Panny now has. Fast bootup and disc access. My only complaints about it are the blue lights on the front that can't be turned off and that you have to switch a setting in the player menu when you want to switch between outputting PCM or Dolby Digital tracks. It's a steal for $300 new, IMO.

I bought the Samsung last week as my first blu-ray player and I've been very happy. The picture quality on the best blu-ray discs is as good as my HD-DVD player.

Yeah for the price it's a solid unit, as long as you keep the firware up to date... I am disappointed that it does not have TrueHD, but I've always looked at the player as a stop gap toy for me.

I think there's only been one or two firmware upgrades for the Samsung, unlike my Toshiba HD-XA1. What are we up to on that unit, the sixth firmware upgrade?

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