Samsung BD-P1500

Product Survey: Blu-ray Players

This BD-P1500 marks a third generation of Blu-ray disc players for Samsung, and the manufacturer has combined technical maturity with a subtle external redesign in its latest offering. Moving on from their innovative P1000 and P1400, Samsung have here chosen a sober, more refined design, with a simple flat front panel replacing the angled controls of the earlier models. We were a little disappointed by the inputs and outputs on offer. Video signals, for instance, are either provided by RGB component, or HDMI version 1.3, which performs upscaling of DVDs to 720p or 1080p as necessary, with no other options available. The audio available also represents the bare minimum. An analog stereo output and an optical audio are complemented by the HDMI port. Irritatingly, though, even though the player can decode a whole range of digital audio signals (Doly Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS and DTS-HD), you won't be able to enjoy any of them because it doesn't have a 5.1 or 7.1 audio line out.