After the entry-level BD-P1500--which was nevertheless a pretty powerful player that would suit most users--Samsung has returned with this BD-P2500 with even more audio and video functions.

The 2500 looks the same as its older sister, with a sober, refined case that adopts the same style as earlier generations of Samsung equipment.

The hardware is bang up to date though, with support for DiVX files included in the most recent firmware update.  The new software also brings improved handling of subtitles, where accented characters in foreign languages present far fewer problems than on some of Panasonic's players, for instance.

An extended selection of ports is available on the back, including a set of analog 7.1 audio outputs.


These allow you to use all sorts of audio formats with an amp that doesn't have the latest generation of decoders built-in.  The only restriction is that the DTS-HD MA can't be decoded and must be sent as a bit-stream to a compatible decoder over an HDMI cable.

Nevertheless, this is a relatively rare format for Blu-ray discs, and always comes with a more compatible traditional Dolby Digital soundtrack.

We still can't understand why Samsung doesn't have a single optical audio out: a coaxial capable is hardly an expensive luxury and would be compatible with a broad spread of users.  If we could forgive this problem on the BD-P1500, it's inexcusable on the BD-P2500.

Test Results

There's a full minutes in between sliding the disc in and waiting for the first image to appear on screen, which is, unfortunately, about average amongst Blu-ray players.

Blu-ray discs are shown in excellent quality, and the upscaling of DVD sources is equally well done.  We weren't surprised by these results because upscaling is handled by the Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) chip. 

Having said that, the improvement over other Blu-ray players is only very slight and the majority of big manufacturers have now mastered upscaling.

A word about the menus to end with--they're exactly what we expect from Samsung, and don't allow you to modify the image.  The only exception is a 'precision' option, but if you turn it up to its highest settings, the picture looks far too artificial. 

Apart from that, the regular settings like brightness and contrast are best handled by your television or video projector.