For a long time I have been using a PC as a Blu-ray player with Cyberlink’s PowerDVD software but since I got a 3D TV (see my review) I have been trying unsuccessfully to get 3D Blu-ray’s playing on my TV. It looks like it is a problem with my PC’s integrated graphics card so I look at alternatives and in the end it worked out cheaper to buy a dedicated Blu-ray player so I got Samsung’s BD-E8600.
The player has USB, HDMI, Network, Coaxial audio output and WiFi. Connected over HDMI it uses Anynet+ to communicate to the TV so the TV’s remote will control the player and when playing a 3D film the TV switches in to 3D mode. When playing a Blu-ray I found it took about 10-15 seconds to startup which is a lot faster than my PC.
The BD-E8600 has the same apps as my Samsung Smart TV, so you get apps from Netflix, LoveFilm, Youtube and BBC iPlayer as well as many other apps. There is also a web browser built in which I found a little clunky to use. The apps work very well and for some reason the video quality on LoveFilm is much better than running through a PC. The player also has a DLNA client (Samsung AllShare) so you can browse DLNA/UPnP servers and stream videos, pictures and music to the TV.
With it having video apps and a DLNA player and my TV also having the same features I find I am using my HTPC less and less and now it’s mainly acting as a TV server.
One thought on “Samsung BD-E8600 Blu-ray Player review”
Hi Ian, I have the same Samsung set up here in France. What’s outstanding with the apps in your DVD player is that I can cable the TV to a router that goes through a UK Proxy (to get iPlayer, Netflix etc), and the DVD through to standard local Internet to get the local equivalent. Best of both worlds!
Expats have been able to get Sky for years, but getting UK geo-protected IP so simply is a real move forward.
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Hi Ian, I have the same Samsung set up here in France. What’s outstanding with the apps in your DVD player is that I can cable the TV to a router that goes through a UK Proxy (to get iPlayer, Netflix etc), and the DVD through to standard local Internet to get the local equivalent. Best of both worlds!
Expats have been able to get Sky for years, but getting UK geo-protected IP so simply is a real move forward.
Keep up the good work!