Your Guide to the Best Products
Best Blu-ray Player: Samsung BD-P3600
Solid video quality + Netflix & Pandora streaming
Updated June 28, 2009 
Set Alert
Update: check out the LG BD390 player; no Pandora but otherwise better in every way. Review to follow.
The Samsung BD-P3600 is our pick for Best Blu-ray Player. Reasonably priced and packed with features, we think many people will find it's the best option for them.
The BD-P3600 supports the Netflix HD internet streaming video service. Connect it to your home network, sign up for any Netflix account (starting at $8.99/month) and you get unlimited on-demand access to over 12,000 SD movies and 300+ HD movies with lots more coming all the time. The streaming HD quality is not anywhere near that of Blu-ray disc, but it is a very convenient feature. The BD-P3600 also supports the Pandora internet music streaming service (an excellent, free, streaming music service that allows you to create custom, commercial-free channels).
The BD-P3600 checks all the other boxes too, including BD-Live support with internal memory and full support for all audio formats. The player's firmware is easily upgraded over the Internet, and recent firmware updates have addressed any limitations or problems you may read about in older reviews (such as disc compatibility, support for DTS-HD Master Audio, etc.)
The only area where the BD-P3600 isn't top of class is in the area of DVD playback, where it is only average. Given that virtually every major movie being released today is now available on Blu-ray, we think this is of limited concern.
The BD-P3600 also has the ability to access music, pictures and videos from your computer, but we found the implementation lacking. Specifically, the system is based on a file share paradigm rather than the newer DLNA standard, and it appears to be incompatible with Windows Vista. Even when accessing shares from older XP based computers, limited file format support restricts usefulness. JPEG photos display fine, and MP3s will play, but video is only supported in limited formats (AVC-HD and DivX, although this was not tested). Samsung does provide DLNA support in some of their other products (e.g. LCD TVs) so why this basic feature would be missing from the BD-P3600 is a mystery.
The BD-P3600 has a Wireless-N USB dongle, but we think you are better off using a single wireless bridge to your media area for all of your components, like our favorite D-Link DAP-1522 Media Bridge which is discussed more fully in our Best Wireless Router review. But either way will work.
For another review of the BD-P3600, check out Home Theater magazine's review of the Samsung BD-P3600. They gave it their Top Pick award, and we agree with their review comments.
The good (+)
- flawless 1080p/24 Blu-ray playback
- Netflix HD streaming, Pandora internet music
- Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD Master Audio (internally decoded or bitstream out)
- BD-Live & Bonus View support with internal memory
- fast and responsive operation
- easily updated firmware
- very quiet (unlike Sony's PS3)
Shortcomings (-)
- only average DVD playback performance
- limited PC streaming capabilities
Where to Buy
RobsChoice.com recommended vendor (avg rating >=4.0 stars based on >1,000 reviews).
RobsChoice.com recommended vendor (avg rating >=4.0 stars based on >1,000 reviews).
