On the same day I received this bluray player, I was informed by Samsung that neither this BD-player nor any of this year's bluray players (announced so far) will support 2D to 3D conversion. I was really let down by this, as my previous bluray player (the 2011 BD-D6700) was a sleeper hit as one of the BEST 2D-3D converters out there! Some have even said the 2011 Samsung 3D BD players were as good, or better than a 3D Bee stand-alone converter
One comparison that showed how good it was, is that I could pop in a 2D bluray and take turns converting it on both my 2011 D8000 Samsung 3DTV, and on my 2011 bluray player. The bluray player would always win hands down and the 2D to 3D conversion process was done 10x better by the D6700 than by the TV. If the result on both were supposed to be "near 3D results" I'd say the conversion on the TV was almost 2.5D while the BD player converted to a stunning 2.9D
So Samsung confirmed my fears that this player (the BD-E6500) would not convert 2D material, and I later found that this is also stated somewhere within the first few pages of the manual. I was very, very much looking forward to seeing how Samsung could have further refined the 2D-3D conversion process, and now I find out that my most beloved feature got the ax! If you're not a 3D junkie, you may not care, but why spend 200+ on a 3D! blu ray player unless you actually care about the 3D features! Apparently Samsung never considered that!
So here's what you do get with the E6500:
You are getting 1 gb of memory on board (pretty standard these days)
More way to connect with your other devices (Soft AP etc)
Disc to Digital feature (supposed to be the big feature $this year$)
2 HDMI INPUTS and 1 out (instead of 2 HDMI OUT as I loved having last year)
Functional Web Browser
3D playback from a 3D bluray
Up to 7.1 HD Audio
So when I first opened the box, I noticed that the BD player's black/grey design was nice as expected. But unfortunately the remote looks small and cheap now. They changed it and made it a lot more compact, but even my wife thought it just looked cheaper
Ok, so here are some notes I made when I first got it, and added to later on. They cover pretty much everything you would like to know:
Product updates upon setup
Smart Hub updates upon setup
Several/almost all Apps update upon selection of an app (when you first use that app)
Feels like a step down from last year's models, for being the highest model released this year
The BD player's menu is a little faster/smoother to navigate than last year
The menu system has been overhauled and is now identical to last year's Samsung HDTV's menus
I was not impressed by the Web Browser. In fact I couldnt' stand it after about 1 minute of use with the directional pad of the remote as my "mouse". There is an option to use a wireless keyboard or mouse with this player and I did and went back and found the browser quite usable. It even lets you move the mouse around within the Smart Hub itself which is nice. I'd say the browser speed and functionality are comparable to the browser's on last year's higher end Samsung Tv's. Browser could be and should be faster for the price point. If they added a dual core processor to these bluray players (like they are doing with the 2012 high end TV's and like even most smart phone's these days include) it might make their web browsers worth using everyday. As is, it's not
The Youtube function seemed to work well enough
When entereing text with the remote, an onscreen keyboard pops up instead of the horrendous numerical pad of pre2012
The Family Story and other "BIG" primary features seem lost in translation. Give this thing some more processor power and speed and maybe then your whole family might consider making it the "hub" of their network
I see a lot of people getting excited about the Disc to Digital feature. I'm not and never have been impressed. Could it be handy to have digital copies available on the go? Yes. But isn't that why most blu ray combo packs already come with "digital copies?" If you already have those, why the need to pay around $1 for each movie that you want to use the disc to digital feature for? It's no coincidence that it's not free, and that it's this year's big feature
2 HDMI in. Why? For those who don't have a sound receiver? Why would you want to spend $200 or more on a blu ray player that puts out 7.1 sound if you don't even have a sound receiver as your "hub" with hdmi inputs anyway? Dual HDMI OUT would have been more useful, both for those whose receivers aren't 3D capable and for those who just want to send a separate hdmi out for their video pristine and untouched directly to the TV
I could not find an HBO Go app (but it is an available app on my Samsung tv for some reason)
There is still no Amazon video app (Come on already!)
So there it is. I hope this helps you make a better informed decision than I did. I had no reviews to help me decide, and there was very little detail on the features of this player. But so goes the fate of the early adopter
In conclustion let me say this: This is a good 3D blu ray disc player. The areas where it fails, are where a lot of bluray players fail. But I shouldn't expect to get the processor speed and features of a PS3 at this price point...or should I? (bit of sarcasm there) This newly released bluray player and me just don't get along because I know that it is a step down (even with the new features) from my 2011 Samsung bluray player and at times it just seems cheap (the remote for instance)
Why couldn't they have kept ALL of the previous features AND added the new features on top of that. That's all I was asking of Samsung. That's all I AM asking. Of the announced list of Samsung BD Players, this one (E6500) is top of the line. There has been no mention as of yet of a E6700, E7000, or E7500 to match those higher end models of last year, and there may never be. I'm hoping they will be announced and address some of these issues mentioned and create the PERFECT blu ray player (It may not be perfect but it would be pretty close :) Until then, I'll keep on dreaming that next time they won't take two steps forward and three steps back
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