One of the best blu-ray DVD players. BestBuy sells it for $350 so not sure why Amazon has such outrageous price.

Things I like:
- Netflix and Pandora interface works great
- Blu-ray and DVDs look great

Things I don't like:
- No Wi-Fi interface. Didn't want to run a 50 ft cable to connect it to the internet via my router (DI-624) at the other end of the room. Had to buy a $100 gaming adaptor (WGA600N) to work as ethernet to wireless bridge
- Firmware upgrade wipes out the device settings (timezone, clock etc.)

I bought this player last month and overall am pretty satisfied with the purchase. With the Best Buy holiday special, this was priced only slightly higher than comparable brands and offers greater features.

It was very easy to set up -- it auto-discovers a wired network connection, and the video & audio config are easy to understand. No problems so far with either Blu-Ray or DVD discs.

I picked this model for the Pandora & Netflix streaming options. While I love Pandora, it feels like a novelty feature on the Blu-Ray player. The interface leaves a bit to be desired, but if you just wanted to listen to music without changing "stations" or rating songs, it does the trick. Netflix Instant streaming is the feature I like best. I've watched over 30 "Instant" movies so far, and aside from audio sync problems with a few movies, my selections have streamed without interruption at good video quality. (Note the audio problems are not caused by the player - I tested the same movies on my computer and had the same problem). The Netflix controls allow for pausing and resuming movies - you can even leave a movie and return to it after viewing others (it will remember your "place" in the movie). It was very easy to link my existing accounts with both Pandora and Netflix.

There are a few problems this player, which I did not feel were significant enough to make me return it:
- Power on / load time is very slow - even when no disc is loaded
- Firmware updates are very, very slow to download and install
- When applying a firmware update, all of your config/settings are wiped. You will have to re-configure all of your settings.
- Unclear instructions for firmware update (more below).
- Menu selections are slow to process once selected on the remote
- Netflix option only allows you to play movies in your "queue" and does not allow you to search your queue. This means you have to log on to the Netflix site and add movies to your queue in order to watch them -- and if they are buried in your queue, you better reorder the movie you want, because scrolling through the titles on screen is very slow.

Regarding the firmware update, like others, I have a problem with the update download freezing. When I spoke to Samsung support, they instructed that I could turn the player off and start again. After doing so, the update downloaded without any problems, installed, and the player turned back. (At least it only happened once - with my Wii, sometimes I have to try a dozen times). Both the manual and onscreen instructions say the player will turn back on automatically. In three updates, it never has. You can safely turn it on manually if it hasn't restarted within a few minutes.

Unlike the other reviewer, I experienced no problem with Samsung customer service -- the rep I spoke to was very helpful, diagnosed the problem correctly, and offered to stay on the line while I tried the update again (even though this might have taken 15+ minutes).

Finally, as others have noted, the default factory settings for audio and video are 480p with 16:9 aspect ratio and 5.1 speaker configuration. If this is not your setup, you'll want to configure these before attempting a movie, as it will not play properly with incorrect settings.

Good points:
More functionality than other models. The Netflix and Pandora functionality lift it above rival units and are really worth having.
Nice menu system. A real step up in look and functionality from DVD players and some of it's rivals.
Looks cool. Good minimalist design that will fit in with whatever else is going on in your living room. The remote control is old fashioned looking but idiot proof(ish.)
Wonderful sound and picture. It also does a very good job of improving standard DVDs.

Less good:
You need to have a firm grasp of your home network in order to get the newer functions to work. Some router firewalls will cause problems with Netflix connectivity to name but one issue. You'll need a solid connection through an ethernet cable to get the full benefit of this device. If that's not possible just buy a player. Updating the firmware is also a lot easier with an Internet connection. But really should owners of a CE device be expected to do such things?
Slow. For a new device it should load discs and read them quicker than it does.
Some disc incompatibility issues. The Blu-Ray world needs to hop on making devices like this work seamlessly before they get overtaken by the download world and consigned to the dustbin of history.

Keeping it simple - Samsung's top-of-the-line blu-ray player makes my old dvds look much better, plays blu-rays as I'd expect it to (perfectly), and does both with ease. I'm currently seeing its output on a 32" Toshiba CRT 1080i display, and it looks beautiful. My 46" 1080p Panasonic plasma display is on its way - it'll only get better once that's here.

It's got 7.1 analog audio output processed by a very high-end 24 bit/192kHz audio d/a converter, making this the preferred way to connect to your a/v receiver (unless your receiver has a better d/a converter...but this one is hard to beat). I've got it connected to an entry-level Pioneer a/v receiver this way and it sounds fantastic.

I updated the firmware right out of the box - downloaded the latest from Samsung's website, loaded it on a flash drive & followed the simple instructions in the manual to run the update using the USB port on the back of the player. Now that I've connected it to my router with the Ethernet port, I can get subsequent updates without leaving my couch, and it'll stream my Netflix instant queue movies & Pandora music. A very cool feature exclusive to this player within the Samsung line.

Not sure it's worth $500, but it can be found for less - find one & you won't be disappointed.

My setup:
- Firmware dated 12/02/2008
- Connected to Panasonic 1080p plasma via HDMI cable
- Connected to my 10Mbps wi-fi network using Asus wireless adapter wl-330ge
At first I got a lot of wi-fi connection drop when I used WPA2 encryption, but after changing it to WPA encryption, everything is fine. Maybe this is the asus's issue, and not samsung's.

Pro:
- Netflix and Pandora streaming are wonderful! I got Netflix HD and SD streaming without any issue. The user interface is very easy to navigate.
- Picture quality is superb
- Support 2.0 profile

Con:
- Loading is quite slow. When I powered on the player, by default it tried to read the Blu-ray disc and it took some time before it figured out there was no disc loaded, although all I want is to use netflix/pandora.
I wish Samsung could give users several seconds on power up to give users chance to select netflix/pandora/blu-ray disc.

- I got several (about 4-5 times) audio cut out (about 1-2 seconds) per blu-ray movie. I noticed this issue on both Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P2550.
Well, I got BD-P2500 first, then switched it with BD-P2550 :-) because of Pandora feature.