January 7th, 2009
CES 2009: Samsung's new Blu-ray players and home theater systems
Samsung is beefing up its Blu-ray offerings with its announcement earlier today of two new Blu-ray players and three Blu-ray home theater systems, including the first Blu-ray sound bar. As with its HDTV introductions this afternoon, the company hasn’t divulged price or availability yet, but they may be worth the price and wait if they perform as well as they are stylishly designed.
Though the BD-P3600 has a lower product number than the BD-P4600 (pictured), it’s actually the higher-end of the two new Blu-ray players. While both units come with support for BD-Live (Profile 2.0), which adds Internet-based features to compatible discs, along with an included 802.11b/g/n USB adapter and the ability to stream movies from Netflix’s on-demand service for subscribers, only the BD-P3600 can output 7.1 channel high-definition audio as an uncompressed PCM signal for the best quality reproduction. On the other hand, the BD-P4600 is a mere 1.5 inches thick and can be wall mounted. It also has the red accents that some other Samsung “Touch of Class” designs have, which may or may not be to your liking.
For the design-conscious, Samsung has refined its sound bar system to incorporate a Blu-ray player in the form of the HT-BD8200, which also comes with a wireless subwoofer. As with other sound bars, the HT-BD8200 provides virtual surround sound for those who don’t mind not having the full multichannel experience (and its related clutter). At 2.6 inches deep, it, too, can be wall-mounted, and with the optional wireless USB dongle, it can handle BD-Live features and Netflix streaming video.
If a more conventional design suits your taste, the HT-BD7200 comes with two speakers, subwoofer, and the Blu-ray player/audio processing unit. The speakers are crafted from kelp, which Samsung claims provides improved audio clairty over the usual paper-cone designs. Like the HT-BD8200, this system only offers the 802.11b/g/n adapter as an option. Finally, the HT-BD1250 is a conventional 5.1 system that also features speakers made from kelp, but comes with 1,000 watts of power and the ability to handle HD audio like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Sean Portnoy spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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