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Reviews of Samsung BD-C5500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
Customer Review: This is a good BD player in general, but one of the main reasons for the purchase was for playback of shared video files on my network. They play fine, but you don't have an option to FF/Rew or Pause these files during playback. My other Samsung player does this without an issue. In contacting Samsung, they confirmed this is not an option on this model and offered no explaination or solution in sight. If this function is not an issue for you, then go for it. Otherwise, look for another purchase option. I'm waiting to hear back from Vanns to see if they will take it back in exchange for another model...
Customer Review: Bought this at Costco, and three months later am very disappointed. First, the unit is very, very slow. Often, it takes a few minutes to load and start playing a DVD or BluRay disc. Sometimes, the player gets stuck and must be restarted to play a disc. Skipping previews or segments on the disc is very, very slow and often impossible. Second, the Netflix interface is not great. Even the Netflix interface on our Wii is significantly better than the BluRay. In fact, we bought a Roku to watch streaming content because we thought this unit was too slow and unpleasant to use. Third, there is no "resume play" feature. When you play a disc and stop it half way through a movie, the player cannot remember where you left off and simply begins the disc again from previews and leaves you at the initial menu. This is especially annoying when you have small children who only watch portions of movies at a time, and even more annoying when you want them to watch the movie in Spanish, which requires going through the initial setup every single time you push play. I'm returning this to Costco and getting a different brand.
Customer Review: I've been using this player for three months now. Overall, I'm pleased. The setup was pretty straightforward and software updates installed without a problem. The network connection is hardwired to my router. DVD and Blu-Ray quality is very good and Internet streaming from my Netflix account is actually better quality than it was when I hooked up my Vista based laptop using the same HDMI connection. There are a few drawbacks. First, is that the machine will occasionally hang when trying to access a Netflix movie. This is probably due to my Internet connection (10Mbps/5Mbps) being congested, but the problem is that there is no way to back out of the connection screen without turning the player completely off and then back on. Very occasionally, the player will reconnect during playback and throttle down to a lower quality. Again, probably due to Internet congestion. Luckily that does not happen very often.
Second, the machine will hang if I insert a DVD before it is completely booted. The DVD will start to play and get as far as the FBI warning screen or so and then stop. The remote becomes unresponsive. Again, the only way around is to remove the DVD, restart the machine and insert the DVD after it is completely started and the main menu is onscreen. I've learned to let the machine boot before inserting the disk.
Third, when accessing Netflix, I will sometimes have to re-activate the machine. I don't know if this is a glitch on the Samsung or at Netflix, but it means running to my computer to re-enter the activation code. Slightly annoying. This has happened maybe four times in three months.
Finally, navigating the net is agonizing using the remote and the simulated cell phone keypad. You have to use the arrow keys to navigate the onscreen keypad and then tap for the right letter. Maybe someone who does a lot of texting won't mind this, but I found it to be excruciating and it limits the usefulness of other features like YouTube videos. Searching for a favorite video is just too slow and inaccurate. The ability to attach a Bluetooth keyboard would be a great feature. Maybe that's reserved for a higher price point.
I use this machine almost exclusively for DVDs and to access my Netflix instant queue and for that it works very well, if you follow its protocols. For the price, I'm pleased not to have to hook up my laptop and to have a remote to pause/play instant movies.
Customer Review: I have a Samsung plasma TV, and bought this player because it integrates incredibly well with it using a nice single remote. Very happy.
BUT the built-in PC connection is only for Windows computers. No love for Apple owners. So a big piece of functionality stares at me, unusable, because Samsung doesn't play at all with Apple. Very unhappy.
AND this player does play some digital content, like Netflix, very nicely. BUT It does not play the new Hulu Plus. For that you need a Samsung 3D player, even though Hulu is not 3D. Double extra unhappy.
Customer Review: After I got this, I wish I hadn't. I had to configure the player in order to play DVDs, a feature that should have been set before I opened the box. Worked fine for a few months after that, but then started acting up. The player makes a whining noise while playing many DVDs and BDs, but not all. It also beeps and makes awful noises through the speakers when the disc tray is open. And it started turning subtitles on by itself and the only way I could turn it off is by shutting down the player then opening and closing the disc tray.
Samsung in general has been going down in quality over the past few years. If I were you, I would buy a different brand.
