Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsPlethora of problems. Long read with updates.
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2015
You definitely have to have certain tastes to appreciate the design of this player. No LCD screen. Not even a power light letting you know it's on. You literally have to go to the Blu-Ray source on your TV and see if there's a picture to know if it's even on or not. That's ridiculous but I could get past it if everything else worked OK. I played a Blu-Ray and a 3D Blu-Ray and they worked OK. I also streamed a movie from the front USB port via USB 3.0 thumb drive and it plays and FF/REV all fine with no problems. It didn't remember where I was in a movie via the USB port after a power cycle like the F5900 did though which sucks.
The part of mine that didn't work was the Wi-Fi. It just wouldn't connect. It locates my network immediately and has full signal strength. I tried the password and it always failed. Tried WPS and it fails after a 2 min countdown. Tried security key from the router to the player and it failed. Tried security key from the player to the router and it failed.
So then I unplugged something from my wireless bridge and plugged it into that and voilà it worked and it accepted the password with no problems. Problem is I need that spot on the bridge for something else and this thing was supposed to have working Wi-Fi. So I got on the phone to Samsung support and spoke to Tier-1 for close to an hour and he couldn't get it working either. He told me Tier-2 would call me back. A while later this same guy calls me back and says he's transferring me to Tier-2 (why couldn't he have done that when I talked to him the first time?). So then instead of someone answering as I assumed was going to happen I'm put on hold. I wait on hold for about 20 minutes before I hang up.
I have lots of devices connected wirelessly to my network (TV's, tablets, computers, phones, printers) so I know how to do it and this player simply doesn't connect. I'm going to replace it and see it that helps. Will update with results.
Update:
OK so I got a replacement unit. I plugged it in and everything worked fine, even Wi-Fi, for about a week (didn't try the USB port or a 3D movie). I typed in my wireless password and it immediately connected like it's supposed to. Then one night I was watching a movie, not even a Blu-Ray just a DVD, and the movie glitched out for a few seconds. It froze up, pixelated, skipped etc and the player made clicking noises. So I hit rewind to play through that part of the movie again because if it was a bad disc it will mess up in the same spot every time. The second time it played through that part perfectly so it wasn't the disc it was the player that glitched out. I immediately think oh no and stop the movie and go into the Network settings and do a network test. Wireless Connection Failed. Also the Screen Mirroring feature no longer worked either this time. So the first unit was broken out of the box and the second unit lasted a week before it broke.
You've got to be kidding me! A power cycle didn't help, unplugging it from the power strip didn't help, even a reset (hold in the eject button until you see the reset screen) didn't help. So I'm done with this model it's absolute junk, both hardware and software. Like another user said even the unit body is cheap, flimsy molded plastic they couldn't even spring for aluminum or a simple power light. I've been a long time supporter of Samsung and have owned, and still own, many of their products (TV's, PC monitor, cell phones, tablets, Home Blu-Ray players) and I've got to say their quality control has become garbage.
I strongly advise everyone to stay far away from this model it is pure junk.
If I can find a player that works good I'll come back again and let you know what I got.
Update 2:
Well, I tried the Sony BDPS5500 and guess what? The Wi-Fi didn't work on that model either, nor did the Screen Mirroring work often enough or stable enough to say that it actually worked. At least the Sony accepted my wireless password and connected to my network but it was a dead connection. There was no Internet connectivity over Wi-Fi. This Samsung doesn't even get past the password stage and connect to my network. Like I said earlier I have lots of things connected to my network wirelessly so this isn't user error. These new 2015 models are just junk. Either that or I've been unlucky enough to get a bad one every time I order.
I don't know what's going on with these 2015 models but they are all garbage. My older Samsung F5900 didn't have any of these issues before it finally died. It connected to Wi-Fi just fine and the Screen Mirroring feature worked every time and these new models are in the same location the F5900 was in.
So between this and the Sony BDPS5500 I guess I'd have to go with this one for a few reasons. One, I have a Samsung TV so this units remote controls more of my AV hardware whereas the Sony remote only controls the Sony BD player and also because the Sony remote is waaaaay too small for my hands. I'm ordering a THIRD unit of this Samsung model now and maybe miraculously it'll actually work this time. If not, I can connect it to my bridge for Wi-Fi or I can just stream through my TV where the Wi-Fi never has any issues.
Cross your fingers the third unit actually works!
Update 3:
Just got the third player in today. The setup went smoothly. The Wi-Fi connected and has stayed connected so far. Screen mirroring works. Streaming from a thumb drive works. I haven't tried to stream anything like Netflix or Youtube yet but I have no reason to think they won't work as long as the connection stays up. Haven't tried a 3D movie yet either actually, guess it was a little soon for the update. If they don't work I'll come back and edit this out.
Now for the part we knew was coming. There is a problem with this unit as well. The drive tray doesn't eject at times. The eject button on the player doesn't work. The eject button on the remote doesn't work. Even resetting the player doesn't work. I have to literally unplug it from the wall (power strip actually) to get it to work again. Then it will work for awhile before messing up again it seems. I've had to unplug it twice so far because it wouldn't eject and it just arrived at my house this evening. Soooo that's not a good sign. I'm gonna mess with it for a while and see if this goes away or not. If not it's going back and I'm not getting another one.
This is a very poorly made player.
*On a side note it says on the box that there's 250+ apps available. There's nowhere near that many. I just counted up the pre-installed (only like 5 or 6) and the ones available from the Opera Store and there was only 155. And I think I counted the pre-installed apps twice so maybe more like 149ish. Anyway no where near 250+.
Update 4:
After a month the Wi-Fi lost connection again. The player is in a location of the house that gives my phone 5 bars of signal strength and every other wireless device around the player works fine wirelessly (including the wireless bridge, TV, another Blu-Ray player, Roku, etc.) so it's just this cheap player. I finally just made a spot on my wireless bridge and am using it wired instead but one of the reasons I got this was specifically because it was wireless.
Another thing I have since discovered is subtitles do not work when playing .mkv's on a thumb drive through the USB port. It will allow you to turn subtitles on and even select which sub track you want but no text ever appears on-screen. Garbage.
