Samsung

I know that blu-ray players don’t have anything directly to do with the iPhone or iPod Touch.  Although, like the Pioneer Elite receivers I discussed in a previous post, you could plug your iPhone or iPod into the front USB connector on some of these newer blu-ray players and playback video, audio and photos.

But, I’m assuming, based on the demographics of our valued readers, that many of you have or will buy blu-ray players.  Since I have had experience now with 3 top of the line players, I thought I would pass this experience on to you and hopefully it will aid you in your own buying decisions.

Samsung Player crashed and froze

The first blu-ray player I bought, in December 2008, was the Samsung BD-P2500.  It was a variant of the BDP2500 that was specifically made available for sale through Best Buy.  Its main claim to fame is/was its video transcoding and rendering processor, the Silicon Optix Reon HQV, as well as one of the first blu-ray players to stream Netflix via its ethernet connection to your home network.  The Samsung’s quality of video rendering and its up-converting of standard definition DVDs was breathtaking…BUT…

The problem was that the player was not ready for production.  Samsung rushed it to market without adequate QA and bug-fixing.  After 4 months or so, the player started to freeze unpredictably and intermittently on disks – even new ones that I had just unwrapped and was playing for the first time.

I looked in the online forums for Samsung blu-ray player owners, and the numerous horror stories regarding this and other Samsung blu ray players were dismaying.  The stories (in the hundreds) showed Samsung’s basic contempt for its customers.  ‘Buy our expensive products that aren’t production ready and then we will ignore you.’  Contrast this with Microsoft, which retroactively extended its Xbox 360 warranties to cover the dreaded ‘red ring of death’, which affected me. I sent in my Xbox 360 and had it back fixed in 2 weeks having spent not a single penny. If Apple can match that customer experience let me know.

And, by the way, I had checked the forums prior to purchasing my Samsung blu-ray player but the problems really didn’t start to surface en masse until after my purchase.

I tried updating the firmware, but this didn’t help (and many others complained of turning their 2500s/2550s into bricks when they did the updates – another bug that Samsung didn’t address prior to releasing to market).  When I looked at my warranty, I realized that it covered 1 year of parts but only 3 months of labor.  I called Samsung and was told that it would cost me $85 in labor plus shipping both ways.  So, in other words, to fix a problem caused by the manufacturer, I would have to pay over $100 on a purchase of $350.  Since I had not bought the warranty from Best Buy, I had no recourse there.

So, I wrote an e-mail (and a subsequent e-mail when he didn’t respond to the first) to Tim Baxter, the President of Samsung North America. I explained that I had previously owned Samsung DVD players and other products, and been a satisfied customer.  I told him what I’ve told you above, and explained that he could either fix my blu-ray deck and keep me as a satisfied customer or turn me into a lifelong avoider of Samsung products and that I would use my voice to tell others, truthfully, what I had experienced.  He never bothered to respond.

LG failed, too

The next blu-ray player I bought was an LG BD-390, LG’s top-of-the-line blu-ray deck which has all the bells and whistles and sells for around $350.  I bought this one from Best Buy as well.  In short, it had a good picture but not stunning compared to the Samsung.  It had problems with a number of blu ray disks that I hadn’t had problems with on the Samsung (when the Samsung was working that is), and even gave me the equivalent of a Microsoft blue screen of death (”BSOD”) onscreen during a blu-ray disk being played!  I returned it for a refund to Best Buy within the 30 days of purchase.

Oppo works great!

But this tragic story of woe actually ends well.  I bought an OPPO BDP-83 blu-ray deck from Amazon.  Oppo has a great reputation and it’s easy to see why.  Instead of rushing its blu-ray player to market as Samsung does/did, it did an alpha and beta program to perfect its players and had early trial customers VOTE on whether it was ready for production!  The Oppo comes with an Anchor Bay VRS video processor (Anchor Bay now owns DVDO, a former leader in standalone video scalers and transcoders) which does a beautiful job. It also plays DVD-Audio and Super Audio CDs.  It comes beautifully packaged – talk about an ‘unboxing’ experience!  It’s clear that Oppo respects its customers, cares deeply about its products and stands behind the quality of its work.

I have had not a single disk problem with the Oppo and the image quality is beautiful.  Easily as good or better than the Samsung.

Panasonic good on the lower end

If you want a great lower-end blu-ray, I understand that the Panasonic DMP-BD60 ($200)  or DMP-BD80 can’ t be beat, though I cannot attest to this firsthand.

The moral of this story

If you want the best blu-ray deck out there from a company that thinks you’re worthwhile and not a moron, then buy the OPPO BDP-83.

Don’t buy Samsung AV products, esp. blu-ray.   Read the forums for yourself, particularly the AVForum among others.  You will see that Samsung North America has contempt for you once you have bought the product.  Moreover, it rushes products to market long before they are production-ready.

And if you buy through Best Buy, make sure to buy the extended warranty.  This is one time when buying the in-store warranty makes a lot of sense.

As Hans and Franz on Saturday Night Live used to say, “Hear me now and believe me later”.

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