By Matthew Moskovciak, CNET.com
05/06/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/others/0,39037618,44700447p,00.htm

Samsung was the first manufacturer with a standalone Blu-ray player, but in 2008 it often felt like the company was struggling to keep up with Panasonic. When Panasonic released the first Profile 2.0 player, Samsung was still shipping Profile 1.1 players with promises that future upgrades would get its player up to snuff. Now, just a few months into 2009, it appears the tables have turned.

The Samsung BD-P1600 comes complete with all the features we now expect on Blu-ray players, including Profile 2.0 compatibility and onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. But the BD-P1600 goes beyond the basics, adding improved operational speed and Wi-Fi upgrade capability with an optional USB dongle. By far the BD-P1600's biggest fault is its annoying flip-down panel that occupies the entire front of the unit. However, if you can live with the design misstep, the BD-P1600 offers excellent value for its performance and features.

Design

The BD-P1600 features a sleek and seamless front-panel design which, at first, left us wondering where the disc tray was. That's because the entire front panel actually flips down, similar to Panasonic's earlier Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD30. Luckily, Samsung's tray opens and closes when you eject a disc using the remote control, but we still didn't like it. One reason is that the buttons--even open/close and power--are hidden under the panel, so you'll have to flip it down by hand to make any other adjustments. Also note that there's a USB port under the panel, so if you plan on using that port for BD-Live storage (perhaps because the back port is occupied by the Wi-Fi adapter), you'll have to leave the panel down permanently--which isn't a nice look. Lastly, the door feels flimsy and we wouldn't be surprised if it broke and stopped popping back up automatically after a while.

Of course you'll be using the remote, and not the buttons on the unit, for most commands. The included clicker is a substantial redesign over previous players, but in some ways it's a step back. Most of the buttons are logically positioned and there's good button separation, but important buttons like Popup Menu, Disc Menu, and Title Menu are stuck at the bottom of the remote and confusingly labeled.

The BD-P1600's user interface is visually appealing, with vibrant colors and HD graphics. While the eye candy is nice, we weren't fans of the layout for the setup menus, as we found the vertical alignment confusing. (Those with high-end Denon receivers, like the AVR-3808CI, will notice a resemblance.) Luckily, you'll rarely need to access the deeper setup menu system, so it's a minor issue.

Features

Like almost all 2009 Blu-ray players, the BD-P1600 is Profile 2.0-compatible, which means it can playback the Internet-enabled BD-Live feature available on some new Blu-ray movies. You'll need to have the player connected via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, as well as hook up a USB thumbdrive for storage.

The BD-P1600 has onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. That means it can decode those soundtrack formats so they can be played back on almost every HDMI-capable A/V receiver. Bitstream output is also supported, if you'd rather the decoding be done in your receiver. Those looking to play DVDs with legacy DTS formats such as DTS 96/24, ES, ES Matrix and Neo:6 will be happy to note that the BD-P1600 has decoding for these formats, unlike players which feature DTS-HD Master Audio Essential.

The BD-P1600's connectivity is standard. The main connection is the HDMI output which is capable of handling 1080p HD video and high-resolution multichannel audio. There's also a component-video socket that can output Blu-ray at 1080i and standard DVDs at 480p. Audio connections are basic, including an optical digital-audio jack and an analog-stereo port. There's also an Ethernet port on the back, plus a USB port that can be used with the Wi-Fi adapter. There's an additional USB port on the front panel as well.

Performance

Image quality on entry-level Blu-ray players isn't always up to par, so we were interested in how the BD-P1600 would handle our tests. We started off with Silicon Optix's HQV test suite, with the BD-P1600 connected to a Sony KDL-52XBR7 via HDMI.

The BD-P1600 outperformed our expectations on the test disc. It aced the Video Resolution Test, producing the full detail of Blu-ray without any jaggies showing up on the rotating white line. Next up were two video-based jaggies tests and the BD-P1600 performed well again, with crisp image quality free of jaggies. It also passed the Film Resolution Test, depicting both the initial test pattern and the long panning shot of Raymond James Stadium without major image defects.

We switched over to actual program material, and the BD-P1600 didn't let up. We fired up Mission: Impossible III and the panning sequence at the beginning of Chapter eight looked perfect, lacking any moire visible in the stairs. It also handled Chapter 16 well, with the trimming of the limo looking jaggy-free as it approaches Tom Cruise. Next we looked at Ghost Rider and the end of Chapter six was properly rendered, with the BD-P1600 showing no moire in the grille of the RV as the camera pans away. Last up was the video-based Tony Bennett: An American Classic and the BD-P1600 did an acceptable job, with only a few jaggies visible in the striped shirts of the dancers. It's worth pointing out that we got nearly identical performance on all these scenes from the stepped-up Via BD-P3600, as well the Via Panasonic DMP-BD60.

One of the biggest letdowns of Blu-ray compared with DVD so far has been how much slower and less responsive standalone Blu-ray players are at loading and navigating discs. Samsung's new 2009 players, including the BD-P1600, have made a lot of progress in this regard. For example, the BD-P1600 loaded Mission: Impossible III in just 16 seconds, compared with 21 seconds on the Panasonic DMP-BD60. The differences are even greater on discs with elaborate menus; the Samsung loaded Spiderman 3 in 1 minute 3 seconds, compared with 1 minute 27 seconds on the DMP-BD60. Beside just disc loading, we found the BD-P1600 to be considerably more responsive than most Blu-ray players--and nearly as speedy as the PS3--although just a tad slower than the stepped-up BD-P3600. If you like to demo your favorite action scenes for friends, the quick navigation is a blessing.

There are still many more movies available on standard DVD than Blu-ray, so standard-definition performance still matters. We started off looking at test patterns from Silicon Optix's HQV test suite, with the BD-P1600 upscaling to 1080p.

The BD-P1600 started off strong, resolving all the details of the initial resolution pattern without any image instability that we sometimes see on lesser players. Next up were two video-based jaggies tests, and the BD-P1600 stumbled, failing both tests as jaggies were visible on the rotating white line and three pivoting lines. On the other hand, it had no problems with the 2:3 pulldown (film-to-video frame rate conversion) test, as we couldn't see any moire in the grandstands as the race car drove by.

We moved onto program material, starting with Star Trek: Insurrection, and the BD-P1600 deftly handled the introduction, rendering both the hulls of the boats and the curved bridge railings smoothly. We flipped over to the difficult introduction of Seabiscuit and the BD-P1600 performed well again, lacking the jaggies and other image distortions that so frequently show up on this disc. That said, we had the Panasonic DMP-BD60 on hand to directly compare, and we'd give the nod to the Panasonic for DVD playback as it had a slightly cleaner and sharper look to it.