DTS-HD decoding delayed on Samsung Blu-ray players, Master Audio coming by end of year

The BD-P1500 will get DTS-HD Master Audio by the end of 2008.

Samsung has put out some pretty good Blu-ray players, but the company needs to setup an RSS feed to keep buyers up to date with the constantly changing firmware plans. We got a note from Samsung this afternoon explaining that the firmware update adding DTS-HD High Resolution decoding to the Samsung BD-P1500, BD-P2500, and BD-P2550 has been delayed until the end of the year. That means owners will have to live with standard DTS soundtracks for a little bit longer if they don't own an HDMI-compatible receiver with onboard decoding for DTS-HD Master Audio.

On the upside, Samsung is now promising that all three units will get full DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, rather than the step-down DTS-HD High Resolution decoding. That's pretty good news, and the BD-P2550 is stacking up to be quite a player, with Profile 2.0 support, HQV video processing, Netflix streaming, and now internal decoding for both high-resolution audio soundtrack formats. And, we noticed it's now selling for $350 at Best Buy. Expect a full review from us sometime next week, and find out how it stacks up against the Editors' Choice winning Panasonic DMP-BD35.

[manualfunky]

poor babies cant get HD master sound.... awwww most people wouldnt even know the difference!

[FredT2]

I look forward to seeing the full review. I wonder, though, about Samsung being able to add DTS HD Master decoding, as I've heard that the Broadcom chip it uses is not capable of doing so.

[MrBoylan]

Matthew, I got the same note from the Samsung PR people about DTS-HD MA decoding. But considering the fact that they told me 8 days earlier that "the PB-P1500, BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 do not and will not support on-board DTS-HD-MA decoding" I didn't think it was a good idea to publish the updated news without more definitive confirmation. This seems to be a pretty murky area of the Samsung players' performance...

[FredT2]

What happened to the review? Any update on when it will be ready?

[What_me_worry]

I wish this reporter had done his homework. All he needed to do is visit bluray.com or avsforum.com to find out what owners think of their Samsung players.
Samsung has a reputation of not keeping promises. When the BD-P1200 was only 4 months old it took Samsung over 3 months to fix a FW problem for Pirates of the Caribbean, Ratatouille and Pixar?s Short Films.
Yes, when Samsung players are working the PQ is great, but when there?s a problem all you?ll get for Samsung is ?What problem??
If customer service means anything to you, then consider adding $100.00 to the cost, and get another brand.