Samsung BD-P2500 Blu-Ray Player

I was recently given the Samsung BD-P2500 blu ray player for Christmas by my dad.  I had talked about it with him earlier and was quite surprised to see it show up via UPS.  I couldn't wait to get it going.

The 2500 is not a very good player right out of the box.  If you don't have the internet, and who doesn't really, the BD-P2500 isn't for you.  Nor any Samsung product really.  Samsung gets the hardware right, then writes the software/firmware on the fly just to get the item to market.

I hooked it up via HDMI (1.3) to my Onkyo surround system via a Monoprice HDMI switcher.  The BD-2500 also has analog 7.1, though most anyone looking hi-end will use HDMI from what I have gathered.  It also has an optical out if you are using that. 

The easiest/best setup is HDMI. 

Anyway, I was excited to get this out of the box.  I noticed in the manual there isn't any mention of Netflix.  That worried me a little. 

Once it was hooked up, the handshake with my Onkyo was clunky at best.  Not good.  So I grabbed my thumbdrive and downloaded the latest firmware.

Updating the firmware was as easy as anything you'll ever do.  Unzip the downloaded firmware to your thumbdrive, put your thumbdrive in the USB port on the back of the 2500.  Wait.  Pull the drive out after it powers down and turn the power back on.  Simple and fast.  And it gives you a working player.

After the update, the handshake with my Onkyo was instantaneous.  Also, on the initial screen, there was a Netflix icon.  YAY!

My other blu-ray player is my PS3 and that is what I've been using.  To me, from what I've seen on my 61" Samsung A750, blu-ray is blu-ray.  It looks and sounds fantastic.

What makes this DIFFERENT from many other players is the Netflix capability.  PS3 doesn't have it yet.  Xbox 360 has just added it, but in order to use the Netflix streaming, you need to have a Gold membership at $50 per year.

With the 2500, all you pay for is your Netflix membership.  Just make sure you have FAST DSL or cable. 

I figured I'd write about the setup of the 2500 and that I am quite impressed with it thus far.  I guess there are some more updates coming from Samsung that will further unlock the sound capabilities of this player and a couple of other things I have read online.

I will be waiting for those updates, though the 2500 is pretty awesome to me right now as it is.