I got the Samsung 3600 at Best Buy today on sale for $349. It came with a deal where if you buy a Samsung player, you can get the Star Trek motion picture collection for $19.99, so that, plus the sale price, plus the included streaming abilities, had me sold. I've got it all set up and working. PQ and sound are great. I haven't tried any SD discs to see if the upconversion is any good. Even if it isn't, my HD-A1 is still sitting pretty right underneath it, so I'm not worried. The only spec I didn't think to check was if the player did its own DTS-HD MA and TrueHD decoding, but since it has 7.1 analog outs, I assume it does. Right now that's not much of a concern as this player is going in my bedroom as a backup, or at least until Netflix streaming comes to the PS3 and I can switch the two players.

I was thinking about getting that player. I didn't realize it was on sale this week. It still shows $399 on the website. Is this an in-store only sale?

It might have been. It didn't say "as advertised" or anything, it just said $349. My only issue with the player is that the remote is not backlit.

I think at this point the only Blu-ray player with a backlit remote is the Sony S550 and the Costco BDX1 (S350). You and I are spoiled with the XA1 backlit remote (I picked up a few spare XA2 remotes as well). Really wish the CEs would provide a backlit remote with their "premium" players.

Pushing my question on the Samsung 1600 to the new page, just in case.

Finally picked up the Panasonic BD80 from Amazon. Very pleased with it.

I got it for the analog outs and they work quite well. The speaker controls limit distance settings to pairs, as opposed to individually (which is a problem for me because of an oddly shaped room). But all the speakers in the system can be adjusted individually for dB. Speakers can be set to "large"or "small", of course. Crossover is fixed at 100Hz, as opposed to being adjustable.

I haven't played with it yet, but the manual says that the player has slow motion and frame-by-frame advance, something lacking in some players. No subtitle button but they can be accessed through a player menu button, as opposed to having to wade through the disc menus. Overall, the remote is pretty intuitive but I have now programmed my Harmony 880 to handle my entire system, so I won't be using it anymore.

Can anyone confirm whether the BD60 has this feature as well?

^I was hoping that someone with a BD60 would answer your question. However, I can say that the manual covers both the BD60 and BD80. Features specific to the BD80 have a symbol identifying them as limited to that model. The BD80 symbol is not present in the discussion of slow motion and frame-by-frame advance. So, it appears that the BD60 has these features also.

My apologies for not doing a more thorough search before asking, but I want to know if it would make sense for me to pick up a Blu-ray player for my new 27" 720p, or does Blu-ray only really shine on 1080 sets?

Personally I would say no. 32" is like the bare minimum IMO.

^^Depends on the seating distance. If one is sitting at 3 feet or less from a 720p 27 inch screen, the improved resolution of Blu-ray should be apparent.

Also, there are other factors to consider, such as the greatly improved color on Blu-ray Disc as opposed to DVD. And the audio is improved on BD versus DVD, if one has a good surround sound system that can take advantage of it.

Yes, a Blu-ray Disc player is probably not worth the extra money for most viewing situations with a 27 inch screen, but it is still something to consider.

A Blu-Ray player may also be worth it to you if you look at in terms of buying for the future. For instance, if you think 2-3 years down the road you may have a larger television, you could invest in a player and movies now (if you intend to buy movies) with the idea that you'll have a growing Blu-Ray library which will still look at least as good as DVDs today on your 27" set. On the other hand, an advantage to waiting until you invested in a larger TV would be future generation Blu-Ray players that will likely be much cheaper, along with much cheaper movies.

Anyone know if you can use just any USB wifi adapter for the Samsung 1600, or if it has to be a special Samsung "dongle?"

Figured I'd mention this in here, for those who don't check the bargains forum:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-bargain...t-125-off.html

Samsung BD-P1500 is now $179.97 on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-P1500-1080p-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B0014H16V0/ref=xs_gb_20_left-3_5_B0014H16V0?pf_rd_p=451293501&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1DFZNDRTPM1BN2ZA2JXD

And I'd tell everyone to avoid it because the 1600 + 4 cheap $12.99 movies equals about the same price with the current promotion.

Bought that player on Amazon.com three weeks ago (before any retail stores had it) for 261.00 with no tax and free two-day shipping. Frickin steal.

Anybody have some thoughts on the Samsung 3600 v Panasonic BD80? I need 7.1 outs, so the lesser of those two would not work (e.g. BD60). I was set on eventually getting the Panasonic, but I've seen some pretty good deals on the Samsung - plus I might get more use out of Pandora/Netflix than widgets on the Panny.

I would choose Panasonic over Samsung simply because of reliability. You hear alot more complaints about Samsung.

Another issue to consider with the Panasonic BD80 versus Samsung 3600 using 7.1 analog outs, are the speaker control options. The BD80 ones are decent (unlike the Sony S550):
Each speaker can be individually adjusted for volume. However, distance settings can only be done for pairs and the crossover setting is fixed at 100 Hz.

I don't know how the Samsung 3600 handles these adjustments since I haven't had the chance to read up on it. Might be better, might not.

Edit: Samsung BD-P3600 Operating Manual

The reason these adjustments matter is because most receivers don't have the ability to make the adjustments to signals using the analog inputs (to do so would require re-digitizing the analog signal, which is not a good thing to do).


The BD80 is available for $323 from Amazon, or a few dollars less from one of their third party sellers.

Oppo BDP-83
Features and Specs
Operating manual
Enjoythemusic.com Review
• June 2009?, MSRP $500
• Profile 2.0
• 7.1 channel analog output, speakers adjustable for distance and volume; adjustable crossover
• Onboard decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for output over analog and HDMI
• Bitstream output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI 1.3 to capable receivers

Has anyone purchased the Samsung 3600 & Star Trek Collection and later returned the player?

If you do they deduct the normal price of the Star Trek site from the refund?

The Panasonic DMP-BD80 is $275 at Amazon today, lowest I've seen there, although it is a bit less Electronics Expo: $270, shipped. For those who need analog outs, this would be a good buy. For others, the DMP-BD60 should suffice, currently $210 at Amazon.

Amazon prices fluctuate quite a bit, so this price may not last (or it might be lower tomorrow).

I want to get a BD player for my brother for his birthday. I want to spend as close to $200 as possible. Any thoughts?

I was looking at this one today while at Sam's Club: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...256&pCatg=7404