Blu Ray Player Samsung BD P1600 and LG BD 370
Written by Ingo in computers , technology , tags: Blu Ray Player , LG BD 370 , Media Player , P1600 Samsung BD
Like many, I flirted for some time with the purchase of a Blu Ray player to benefit from high-resolution videos. Given growing expectant shelves with Blu Ray discs on the shelves of shops and at the same time of falling prices for the players it was now so far recently. Actually I was looking for a media player, thus a device to play music, videos and photos from USB hard drives or over (W) LAN. These various devices were considered, which had all their pros and cons. Then I had problems in the advertising of an electronics market in the description of an actual Blu Ray player, which includes a USB port and one LAN port had. That would be the two-flies-with-a-flap-solution: a Blu Ray player for Blu Ray playback, which can simultaneously take on the role of the media player.
The Samsung BD P1600
So I came to the next shopping trip with a Samsung BD P1600 home. This even has two USB ports (front and back) and a LAN port for a cable network and is also wireless-ready, which means using a USB wireless stick I get wireless access. The seller assured me that the player handles the tasks required of me.
At home I spotted the device and then examined in more detail: The P1600 looks very elegant and appealing, the touch buttons and the front-panel looked very good. The connection to the environment via HDMI and digital audio (Toslink) was easy, so I could jump start the first Blu Ray disc. Just noticed that the Samsung next to the soft whirring of the drive itself still produced a further noise, because he has a fan. The picture and sound were not fully convincing, as was expected.
Now it was because the Samsung BD P1600 to his skills as a media player test: The USB stick is detected directly and via the menu you have access to the files contained there. When first I tried it with music: the MP3s were running smoothly, but unfortunately it was all my WAV files (I like uncompressed music) at first did not know what was for me a serious minus. Information displays only in JPEG format, which is the other most important format. Then came video: On the USB stick was a ripped DVD, and this he pointed to does not even speak the playback of a DVD from a USB disk is not possible (only AVI / DIVX files). Speaking of disk: All my USB hard drives were not recognized! In the manual there was something in the sense of "oversized hard drives may not be recognized correctly. However, all disks were tested by me certainly not oversized (which may always say that), but had just 160 to 500 GB. The solution was that the Samsung recognizes only with FAT32 formatted media, not those that are formatted with NTFS, but this is again standard for hard drives.
The flop was the next LAN access: It put out that this is only meant to receive BD Live, a service that we can display additional information and bonus material on the films from the Internet. This is the same for WLAN, which incidentally seems to be possible only with a special USB-WLAN-Stick from Samsung (who also costs only 69, - € 
Conclusion: The Samsung BD P1600 went back to the dealer.
Some research brought out to connect, that most Blu Ray players also USB and LAN, but they too have the problems mentioned in the same or similar form. Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity, Blu Ray look. So I needed another solution. After we had studied various media players, and had been considered instead to buy a Playstation 3 (we are no computer players and also do not like), but we tried it again with a Blu Ray Player: LG BD 370th
The LG BD 370
This works with its blue-lit control wheel also visually appealing, also has USB, however, (just behind a front flap) and LAN connection. Picture and sound are also convincing, which came in some forums complained about stuttering so far, fortunately not on (perhaps helped the newer firmware). As a media player but he is much better. He also does play WAV can not, but at least DVD playback from a USB stick (although without the menu structure). The on-screen menus also see a lot better. He can also stream files over LAN not really from the network, but you can browse videos on YouTube and watch as a bonus and he has no fan, and finally he was cheaper.
Anyone interested in one of these devices, has further information on the following Amazon link.
