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.

Connectivity

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.

Update 27/10/2008: New firmware from Samsung means that the BD-P1500 is now compatible with both DivX and BD-Live content.  You can read more about the changes here.

Beside the audio and video outputs, there are also USB and RJ45 network connectors, both of which are designed to assist in flashing the device's firmware rather than adding any extra funcitonality--which is not to say they might not be useful for something else later!

Audio Decoding - and Re-encoding

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.

On the other hand, Samsung have realized this is a limitation and the P1500 can re-encode Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD signals as DTS which can be pumped out of the optical audio out.

This should go some way to consoling those who installed full Home Cinema surround sounds systems.

All of the sound signals can also be carried as part of a HDMI signal to your TV's speakers.

In Use

Between switching the P1500 on and inserting our test disc and seeing the first frame of a movie, we waited 45 seconds.

While this may seem a long time, it's better than a lot of other Blu-ray disc players out there.  

Plenty of first- and second-generation models easily surpassed a minute, and some took nearly twice that long.

As ever with Blu-ray, picture quality is stunning, with contrast and color both handled perfectly.  Movies encoded at 24p also look impeccable.

When playing regular DVDs, performance is just as impressive.  

Upsacling to 720p or 1080p is far superior to that offered on most TVs, and isn't far behind what's offered on the PlayStation 3, which has certainly become a reference.