SAMSUNG BD-J5700 Curved Blu-ray Player Wi-Fi

If you live outside the US, there are many apps that won’t work. Amazon TV, for example, doesn’t work. Very stupid, especially since Amazon is selling it. They’re missing out on many potential Canadian subscribers. Fortunately, I mostly bought it for it’s blu-ray capabilities, its Netflix and Youtube apps which work fine. There are many free apps, but a good number of them haven’t offered new content in years. Some of them just don’t work anymore. There are a few games but they are very basic and are pretty boring. Core functionalities ( CD/DVD/Bluray, USB, etc. ) all work however. The controller is good quality. Some people have complained about having issues with internet. I didn’t get that, but, if you can do it, it’s always better to connect it with an ethernet cable in order to get higher streaming speed. The Youtube and Netflix apps are the same as on my old PS3 console, which means they are very responsive and intuitive. Unfortunately, some other apps are very slow. It’s true that there is no light to show if the device is on or off. You just have to remember to turn it off when you’re done with it. Not big of a deal. I don’t recommend buying this thing at full price to get your money’s worth.

This dvd player works great! It’s fast and reliable for playing DVDs as well as streaming. I say this as if it’s some surprise. Well, in fact it is. I recently purchased the latest SONY dvd player from Amazon with disastrous results. The first unit arrived DOA and the second unit, while not DOA may as well have been. It would not play a dvd with our rebooting and crashing. Many times I had to power-cycle it just to get it to come back. Sony has fallen a long way. I had also tried the LG player and met with nearly identical results to the Sony. I was very pleasantly surprised when the Samsung came up and work as expected. I did have one strange problem with this unit: after the initial menus to connect to my wireless network, etc., it too would not play a dvd and when I went to stream, the screen would always go blank. Fearing the worse (that I had the equivalent of another Sony), I decided to power-cycle the device – I am glad I did. After that, the device has been flawless. I have no explanation for this other than the setup software leaves the unit in some crippled state and power-cycling clears it up.

Thanks to Amazon for a speedy resolution of my Blu-ray player problems!

My ancient Blu-ray player was fine with CDs and DVDs but was beginning to fumble with Blu-rays. Cleaning the read head became less and less effective. Time for an upgrade.

Ordered the Sony BDPS3700 (see my 1-star review of that product). Opened the box on Tuesday, began several hours of fruitless installation efforts. Poor Wi-Fi connectivity (at 15′ from access point!), inability to update firmware over the internet, erroneous error messages re firmware status, total inability to open/close disk drawer due to faulty Child Lock feature.

Net: Many hours wasted, to no effect. Sent product back Tuesday afternoon. Ordered Samsung BD-J5700 the same afternoon.

On Wednesday, received Samsung, attached cables, plugged it in. Setup screen popped up immediately. Entered Wi-Fi password. Done.

One minor glitch — my Samsung Blu-ray player and my Sharp TV apparently disagreed over use of the HDMI-CEC connection. After I turned off the Samsung, it would turn back on after a few minutes. Disabling the HDMI-CEC function on the Samsung (Anynet+) solved the problem. It is probably NOT a good idea to have HDMI-CEC as the system default, but the setting is easily changed, in any case. Personally, I have no interest in the HDMI-CEC function.

Time will tell as to the reliability of the Samsung, but for the moment it is performing beautifully. Great picture, great sound.

Happy Camper!

This is a great product! This is probably the first time I bought a product that was under rated by its own sellers? I have owned several BR Players and this by far, for what I paid, is the best ever. I have spent $400 plus on several BRP’s. They were complicated to operate, to many options! Spent to much time verifying options each time I used them? and they all broke within two years! I was very disappointed to say the least. Deciding to analyze my Blue Ray player “Needs”, I decided I didn’t really need all the bells and whistles (Extra settings I didn’t understand anyhow). I just needed something to play my BR’s, DVD’s and other media. I was quite pleased with the available media capabilities of this particular device and for under $70 bucks too!

My TV like most these days does what my new BR Player cannot, which isn’t much at all. And its much simpler to use.

Its simple, has a great user interface, very self explanatory. Out the box, software updated and operating in under 5 minutes.

Simplicity, I Love It!! My old BRP had so many adjustments I wasn’t ever sure if I had them configured correctly causing me to adjust things constantly. This BRP, out the box provides a perfect picture, great sound, and as I already said many media options including Wireless internet access. Its truly Plug-nPlay.

I will buy again. Great for people who like simple operation without the need to adjust “things” all the time like maybe a teen would do. I should have bought this thing years ago but like most I thought at the time because it cost more the quality was better, because it had all these user interface options it was worth the extra $$, and of course…the more expensive the better…I discovered none of this was TRUE by any means! It may be under $70 but it operates better than the one I paid $400+ on!!

Oh Well….live and learn I guess??? I know Quality dictates a higher price be paid with most things. Not true here. I searched reviews up and down and never found a viable convincing review for a BR/DVD player. Most I read spoke to the “Technology” incorporated into the unit which in my head equalled “More money and more aggravating to use”. Hope this review helps some one thats looking for a simple but modern BR/DVD player maybe go for this one, Its a good choice for baby boomers and the “Tech” savvy alike in my opinion.