Samsung BD-D5300 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Netflix issues [updates below]
I bought this primarily to stream Netflix, so that's what most of this review is about. I've previously used my Xbox360 to stream but since I don't really play online games spending money for a yearly gold membership seemed like a waste. However, now that I've experienced the Netflix app on the player I'm thinking the extra money on a 12 month membership may be well worth it.
The user interface is less than desirable, but it gets the job done. You can browse titles, your queue, etc. All the major functionality is there. One issue is that any command you send to this app, play, pause, scroll up or down, has about a two second delay. Why, I don't know, but it is annoying. After some use (like watching a couple episodes) the app seems to slow down, like it's running out of memory. One time it was so bad it would take 10 seconds from entering a command to execution. A reboot of the player fixes everything, but give me a break. There's obviously some fundamental flaws in the programming of the app, probably a memory leak. Hopefully this will be addressed by an update to the software.
The way the app buffers isn't the best. When the streaming quality drops down it tries to do it on the fly. This can cause some problems with dropped audio, dropped frames, and a/v sync. The xbox interface stops playing to adjust the quality and buffer, but there's none of the above issues. On the players app there's no way way to see the quality of the feed you are getting, where the xbox shows you a nice graphic similar to wireless signal strength bars.
Another buffer issues is that any time you decide to fast forward it re-buffers, no matter how short you are fast forwarding. I never had that problem on the xbox unless you forwarded a large enough amount to overrun the buffer. Why fast forward? I don't want to listen to the celebrity interview during Top Gear or the opening titles of a tv show. Also, with the command delay previously mentioned you'll probably overshoot where you want to stop.
[update]
I've received the latest software updates and the new smarthub starts instantly. But I've had an odd issue with Netflix where an episode stops playing saying there was an issue. Start it up again and it will continue for a 10 seconds or so and stop again. I ended up watching the episode on my computer with no problems, so I don't know what the supposed issue was. I assume something about the way Netflix encoded that episode caused the Samsung app to have an error. I hope I don't run into that anywhere else.Player issues [update below]
Not really an issue, but the audio setup for BluRay has some misleading descriptions onscreen. What ever you do don't bother sending either of the re-encoded signals to your receiver as you'll definitely have audio sync issues. I just sent the unprocessed bitstream signal and my 12 year old receiver decoded it just fine. It's not 96 kHz Dolby HD but will do just fine until I decide to get a new receiver.
If you also have a Samsung TV the any-net feature can be a pain with your universal remote (Logitech Harmony). Unfortunately the player only has a power toggle command, not separate power off and on commands. After powering off the player I go back to watching tv as normal, but at the end of the day I power off all my devices with one signal from my remote. My tv shuts down as it should, but because the player only has a power toggle command, the player comes back on. And with the any-net feature it sends a signal to your tv and powers it back on. Why they just can't have the extra lines of code for separate power commands I don't know. My workaround was to use an option in the remote software program to always keep the player powered on, which means it never receives a power toggle command unless I specifically send it.
[update]
I have to downgrade the rating on this unit as I've had more time to play BluRay discs. I'm sending a digital audio out signal from the optical port to my receiver and having A/V sync issues. I've watched an action intense movie like The Matrix with no sync issues, but last night I tried to watch a comedy, The Hangover, and immediately the sound is out of sync. Typically it is the action films that cause sync issues as the extra processing added by your TV causes the lag in the display. I'll see a frame dropped every now and then, and thought that might be the system trying to keep sync but I don't believe that's the case. What discs play better than others seems to be hit or miss. Playing the sound through the TV speakers removes the problem. On some discs I've been able to get sync back by rewinding a little bit, but eventually the problem starts to build up again. I've also had it where that trick did absolutely nothing. The way I see it, the only way you are going to get good A/V sync is if a) you only listen through the TV speakers, b) your TV has a digital audio out port that allows the signal to be passed through without downgrading it. Unfortunately my 40" Samsung 6300 doesn't allow that, it downgrades it to a 2.1 signal. c) you have a HDMI compatible receiver. Even c may not help as I read that often people still need to program in a sound delay, so if the root issue is that the delay varies by disc because of some processing issue inherent with the player you are stuck adjusting your settings for every disc. And that's if the delay stays consistent throughout the movie.
General Info
Here are some times I recorded, all approximate (1 Mississippi):15 seconds to power on. 25 seconds to enter smart hub (app interface)[update, now instant as long as your internet connect has established]. 20 seconds to boot Netflix app. 10+ seconds to load BluRay disc, varies with the disc.
Overall I would give this product a 3[update 2]; a 2 for the Netflix capabilities and 4 [update 2] for the BluRay disc player.
[Update 3] Sometimes a disc would not load, it would just try to boot forever so I would need to power off. Also, random freezing issues with netflix. I returned it and bought the equivalent level Sony BDP-S380. Much better user interface, no issues so far. Not looking back; sad to think of the month lost being an unpaid beta tester for Samsung. Love their TV, but have yet to have a good experience with any of their disc players.

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