Samsung BD-D7500

Samsung's BD-D7500 Blu-ray player is another one of those products that claims to be 'the slimmest on the market'. As part of the brand's new range of 3D Blu-ray players, this model boasts 3D compatibility, a 2D-to-3D conversion function and Wi-Fi connectivity. It also comes with a high-end price tag.

Hardware & Design

At just 28 mm thick and with a slot-in disc drive, the BD-D7500 is certainly a slim and attractive piece of kit. Once you start handling it though, it doesn't quite live up to expectations. While the front may look like anodised aluminium, it's actually aluminium-effect plastic—a material that's more likely to pick up scratches and which is less shock-resistant.

The only physical button on this Blu-ray player is the ON/OFF button. And what about that big circle in the middle? Well, it's a purely aesthetic addition. There's a simple Play/Pause logo in the middle surrounded by four touch-sensitive buttons for controlling playback. Plus, the whole thing lights up like a Christmas tree, although this can thankfully be switched off so as not to distract you from your favourite films.


The only USB port is situated on the left edge of the device. That's a bit of a shame for the product's design, as anyone looking to use BD-Live content will end up with a USB flash drive constantly sticking out of the side of the device. A second port on the back of the product would therefore have been handy. Other connections offer the bare minimum, with an HDMI port, a composite socket, and optical and analogue 2.0 connections for the sound. However, we do like the fact that the D7500 has built-in Wi-Fi for access to Samsung's connected services, such as Smart Hub, or DLNA devices.


Samsung has had the very good idea of equipping this Blu-ray player with a slot-in disc drive. As a result, films start playing in under 20 seconds once the drive has sucked in your disc, as you don't have to wait for the drive tray to come out and go back in again. That's the fastest time we've seen yet!

Picture Quality

We've recently updated our test procedure to use the Sony KDL-32CX520 as our TV of reference thanks to its excellent colour fidelity. This makes it easier to identify any inaccuracies in colour reproduction caused by the Blu-ray player:

The BD-D7500 reproduces colours accurately

The D7500 reproduces images pretty much perfectly in both 2D and 3D, with clean, crisp results. There's a 2D-to-3D upscaling function but, as usual, it's not up to much. In fact, the result can be quite random. All in all, the 3D upscaling function is more for marketing than anything else, so you're better off sticking to genuine 3D sources.

The upscaling is certainly better than in Samsung's previous generation of Blu-ray players but it's still no match for the PS3 Slim. The BD-D7500 is quite prone to aliasing—an effect that only Sony's console manages to keep under control.

Audio Formats

Both DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD are available via the HDMI port. If your home audio setup isn't compatible with these formats, however, you can enjoy DTS and DD audio via the optical connection. If need be, you can even stick to good old stereo via the RCA sockets.

Power Consumption

This Blu-ray player isn't too power hungry, using 14 to 16 watts for Blu-ray playback and just 0.3 watts on standby. These aren't the best results we've seen, but they're still on the better side of average.