Samsung has released these days the first 4K Blu-ray Player. It seems that Samsung has done it again, being the first company that has released a device like this. The first Blu-ray player was launched in 2006 and it was called Samsung BD-P1000. That player was available at the price of 1,000 dollars.
Well, after 10 years, Samsung has managed to release the first 4K Blu-ray player. At the price of 400 dollars, the new Samsung UBD-K8500 costs much less than the first Blu-ray player back in 2006. In the past, the first Blu-ray player had a big enemy on the market, which was called HD-DVD. These days, the new Samsung UBD-K8500 has a large variety of enemies, including Amazon, Netflix, YouTube and Hulu.
The biggest attraction of this 4K Blu-ray player is the superior video quality, 3,840×2,160-pixel resolution. This means that it is four times bigger than a regular 1080p HDTV. However, what is even more impressive is that it has support for HDR (high dynamic range). This means that this device is capable of delivering far better contrast ration than every other player on the market.
Moreover, Samsung UBD-K8500 is also capable to stream 4K online video services, like Fire TV and Roku 4. Even if it has the possibility to spin 4K Blu-ray discs, customers will not be able to use this feature, because the 4K discs won’t be available until March. However, until then, this player can also run standard Blu-ray discs. As for the design, the new Samsung UBD-K8500 is good-looking especially for a disc player.
It features a brushed finish look and has a curved design that will go perfectly with any curved TV. It is interesting that Samsung insists on continuing to make curved TVs and disc players.
As for control buttons, these are very minimal on the player and another surprising fact is that the unit doesn’t come with a display. So, besides the font-panel USB port, the front of the device is simple and clear. Therefore, the small remote comes with all the button controls that users will need to operate the player.
The buttons placed on the remote are well-chosen, but unfortunately, it lacks dedicated buttons for fast-forward and rewind. This means that users will have to do a long-press on the skip forward/back keys.
On the back of the player, users will see the dual HDMI outputs. This means that if customers’ receiver doesn’t support 4K signals, they can hook it up to the HDMI port. However, this player can also be used to get 4K streams for Amazon Video, YouTube, Netflix and M-Go. Probably, customers who will buy this player are not interested to use it for streaming support.
No, they will care about the 4K Blu-ray disc playback. But, as we mentioned earlier, 4K discs will only be available starting with March this year. As for the costs of Blu-ray discs, they will cost around 30 dollars.
So, is the new Samsung UBD-K8500 a good investment? Will customers continue to buy Blu-ray players or they will opt for video streaming services? We have to wait and see.
