The freezing issue is not addressed much in Blu Ray forums and not at all with the Toshiba… probably because it’s too new. Now I’m gun shy about picking another brand.

So in conclusion I’m saying Caveat Emptor with Toshiba.
Rating: 1 / 5

I purchased this unit twice from two different stores and had to return them both for the same problems. It’s not my TV or cabling as the same setup works fine with a Samsung player I have. Bottom line, I wanted to love this player but it was consistently unwatchable.
Rating: 1 / 5

context: she has a toshiba 32in lcd 720p hdtv and fios hdtv box. i have a sony s370 blu-ray player, sony a/v receiver, vudu bx100 hd streaming/download box, and dish vip411k hdtv satellite box with external hard disk dvr, output through an akai 42in plasma 1080i hdtv monitor and 7.1 sony speakers. we both have 10mbps (actual 8mbps) verizon fios internet connections.

price: keeps dropping. worth shopping.

appearance: excellent.

setup: easy for the player in general, but a bit fussy for online streaming services. must establish external accounts and link/activate player with pc online at same time. steps, sequence, and codes differ for each service. no hdmi cable included, so bring your own.

blu-ray: tested with parts of iron man and all of crazy heart. faster startup than sony s350, and maybe faster than the s370. excellent reproduction, as expected.

internet: toshiba says you must use only their $50 usb adapter if you want a wireless connection. that sucks. when are manufacturers going to stop the proprietary hardware b.s. they hope to drive related product sales? nice try. instead we moved her wireless cable modem nearby, ran a wired connection to the player, and added a generic fifteen dollar usb wireless adapter to the pc. done. did not try a generic usb wireless adapter on the player, so maybe someone else can post that.

vudu: added device to my existing vudu account. compared to the dedicated vudu bx100 hd box running amadeus software, player-based (720p?) hd streaming with 5.1 surround sound was comparable/excellent. same familiar menus except for first screen. vudu even gives you a one-time first movie credit. nice. did not try streaming (1080p?) hdx because vudu brazil public beta test sofware on the vudu 100 hd box caused frequent (extremely irritating) buffering stops. actual 8mbps connection was too slow. vudu website now says you need at least 9mbps (actual) for hdx stream. vudu bx100 performance remains excellent.

netflix: added device to my existing netflix account. used this for first time on other than pc to stream free films from instant queue. such a deal. image quality seems comparable to vudu (720p?) hd streaming. appears we were also getting surround sound, although was not really paying attention to that. fastforward/backward menu bar is same as for streaming through my toshiba laptop, but for some reason different from streaming through my sony s370 player. definitely prefer the toshiba version with incremental image preview boxes rather than non-visual timeline readout.

pandora: when accessed directly, you must enter your username/password digit-by-digit every time using the player remote. a real pain. when accessed via vudu, you initially enter and store your username/password and instantly logon thereafter. slick. just like with the vudu box. much easier to access via vudu.

remote: control of internet content appears inconsistent from service to service. frustrating. vudu cursor movement more flexible with toshiba remote than with dedicated vudu remote on their box. would be good to have a key guide for each service.

rated overall at four of five stars primarily because of the proprietary usb wireless adapter thing.

have fun …

july 5, 2010 addendum: we’ve now watched several films in blu-ray, dvd, vudu streaming, and netflix streaming formats. no static or freeze problems as described by others. can’t explain based on our experience. i just ordered two more bdx2500s since the amazon price dropped to $128, one for my office toshiba 32in 720p lcd tv, and another for a friend. a real deal with free ship + no tax. beware of tigerdirect price guarantee … they only give you the overcharge in their own funny money for your next order. bestbuy gives you real money credit back on your charge card.
Rating: 4 / 5

The menu and network issues experienced with the C6500 were resolved in the C7500, and the Netflix steaming quality is great. And as you’d expect with most blu-ray players, the blu-ray disc quality is great.

Some things to note are:

If you use the stand, the display isn’t readable but that isn’t a big lost and if you lay it flat or wall-mount it that shouldn’t be an issue.

The entire top panel slides to the left (requiring 6in of space) revealing the disc tray.
Rating: 5 / 5

I do have a big problem, however, that is keeping me from giving this a 5 star and for the moment, preventing me from enjoying all the aspects of the TV that I had hoped for.

It has to do with Viera Cast. I chose this particular TV because I wanted to enjoy such online content as YouTube and Pandora Internet Radio. I wasn’t overly pleased that I needed to purchase separately for $90 from Amazon a Panasonic DY-WL10 Wireless LAN Adaptor to make this happen, but went with it.

Unfortunately, after going through the manual process for the “connection test,” I received approving check mark up until the last line — Viera Cast. There I received an X, or “Connection to the server failed — Check communication with the Viera server.”

Or, in other words, I have yet to be able to access any online content, though the TV is shown as active or connected on my network. I have FiOS and a wireless router. I have spoken to Panasonic and FiOS techs and have been bounced back and forth with no solutions to date.

If anyone who has the Panasonic DY-WL10 Wireless LAN adapter and used the manual method to connect to the Viera server successfully has any advice for me, I am all ears and eyes???
Rating: 2 / 5

I, too, get pauses during a Netflex broadcast. It does not bother me. If it does occur, it usually happens early in the movie and only once.
Rating: 5 / 5

The set up was fairly quick and easy, except when I tried to use the systems WEP. I could not get the Sony to accept my “key”. I do have a hub sitting right next to my television, so this was not really a problem. I did not spend much time trying to trouble shoot this problem. I have read in many places that the wireless set up is easy, so perhaps it was user error. After connecting the unit to the hub, I instantly went over and down loaded a system update and activated some network enhance features which I think gave me some extra on line content. I went to the Sony web site to register my product to receive the enhanced feature and my model number was not listed. I guess I may have to try again at a later date.

Playing from a USB device. This was a great bonus feature for me that I was really looking forward too. To finally have one device that will play video content from a network, USB and internet could be a dream come true. I plugged my Maxtor 750GB USB drive into the Sony player and the decive was noticed by the Sony. I scrolled over to the device under

The reason for the 3 stars is the fact that I could not play any content from my USB drive, and no streaming from connected DNLA services.
Rating: 3 / 5

The greatest asset of this player is the multiple video streaming options it gives you from different services. Netflix, Amazon On Demand, Pandora, NPR, YouTube and other channels like Wired, Epicurious, Style, Michael Jackson, Dr. Oz, Howcast, eHow, Golflink and more. The list goes on. The interface is much better than Panasonic as that just opened up a window on my screen for Youtube videos while this player fills up the screen. It seems more compatible with my Panasonic HDTV than the Panny Blu-Ray player.

This player is 3D ready although I don’t have a 3D TV yet. There is a network update you have to perform to use it. The wireless set up is pretty easy through the interface and guides you step by step.

The start up is quick, it has an option for even quicker start up but it consumes more power. The upscaling is pretty good. I docked one star as the Netflix streaming is still slow, although that may be due to Netflix than the player. The streaming is definitely better than through my Wii.

If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone download the free BD Remote app. I can never find my remotes and it comes in very handy and has a very cool interface where you just slide your finger along the screen rather than having to press buttons. There are many screens on the app that allow you to work all the controls on the player.

Rating: 4 / 5

I have it connected to Sony STR-DH800 7.1-Channel Audio Video Receiver (Black)the set up was extremely quick and easy (I changed both the Blu-Ray player and the receiver and still the set up was extremely quick).

I am using Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote Control. The programming was extremely easy and the remote was able to pick up all the Sony commands without needing extra steps.

Rating: 5 / 5

1. The fan produces an audible low-frequency hum which reverberates through the shelf that holds it. Perhaps a foam damping pad would solve the problem.

2. The controls are supposed to be fully integrated with a Samsung TV, but prepare to spend a lot of time and concentration fiddling with the remotes and navigating the menus (separate ones for the TV and speaker/Blu-Ray unit) to get the system to do what you want. The system responds slowly and erratically to the remotes.

3. It spends a lot of time trying to read a disk, even when the slot is empty, and while it does, the system is unresponsive.

4. The ipod dock is pretty much useless. Among the problems:

-Navigating a long song list is an interminable process– you have to scroll slowly and alphabetically down the list.

-There is a half-second dropout at the beginning of the first track: the first song you play will be missing its first note.

-With my iphone, there was a constant clicking sound superimposed on the music.

-With another ipod, the unit froze trying to read in the song list.

-The shuffle function is disabled, so prepare to listen to your songs in alphabetical order.

The sense I get is that the ipod function was thrown in at the last minute without a lot of testing.

Bottom line: It’s not a terrible choice to accompany a Samsung TV, but it could have been a lot better designed.
Rating: 2 / 5

Edit: now that I’ve been using this for more than a week, I can say that I’m quite happy with this purchase. I have plugged in my TV to the system to use as external speakers and the virtual surround sound is more than adequate for my tastes. I can’t go beyond 25 (max is 50) on the system volume without pissing off my neighbours.

So far: TV speakers < < HT-BD8200 < 5.1 system.

The internet capabilities are a great extra to have. BD and DVD replay works great on my LN52B750. Only peeve is that remotes aren’t compatible with each device and once in a while, my TV goes into a “mode not support” state and I have to restart the TV before I can use it. Hope Samsung will fix these problems in the future.
Rating: 5 / 5

Overall, its overpriced .. It has some problems, I should have sent it back, but I didnt. The Netflix streaming is cool, but The HT-BD8200 does hang during netfix play, and needs powered off and back on every few days. I will live with it till its oblsolite.

The sound IS better than just TV speakers, but the loud fan noise kinda offsets that plus.

When I first called Samnung Tech support to report the flaws they had never heard of the HT-BD8200, whats up with that? finally after a week or so of calling for support, was told they have no plans to update the firware. I was given an option to send it back to Samsung for repair at my expense. I choose to just live with the flaws, but I kept thinking to myself, I bought it new, I should not to have to live with a repaired unit. I expect the repaired replacment would have been somone elses return with its own set of problems, and at least i know whats wrong with this one .. hahaha

Bottom line.

1)There are many formats listed in the manaual that clearly state will not play

2)This sound bar does not integrate with samsungs own high end TV’s(cant speak for other TV makes and modles)

3)Loud fan noise

4)Flawed WIFI causes interfearance with other devices on your local Wireless

5)loose USB ports on internal circuit boards may be contributing to its issues

6)special TV sound and video features become disabled (at least on my 8000/8500 LED TV’s)

7) There are some oddities with 8200 powering itself off when nteflix play times out, but not the TV.

There are some oddities with 8200 powering off the TV when removing a DVD, and closing the drive but not the 8200.

I see a lot of reviews from people who have paid full price, and are totally happy. I would question those, seriously …

I say, buy it, and see for yourself. Just make sure they have a liberal return policy and dont pay full list price. I predict You will see it for $500 or less. Prices are droping on this unit for a reason.

(update, I did see this priced at $480 during christmas)

Lower price = fewer expecations. for the right price, its a GREAT sound bar.

Rating: 2 / 5

So after all of my hunting, I found the HT-BD8200. I thought it would be perfect. I could get rid of the stack of stereo and AV components and replace them with this. In theory it can replace the Radio tuner, CD player, DVD player, Blu Ray player and receiver.

I received it, hooked it up and started admiring it (I discovered rather rudely that Samsung does not put an HDMI cable in the $800 box so had to go buy one). The wireless subwoofer is awesome and I was able to hide it out of view behind the couch. The unit itself looks like it was made for my TV. It’s the same glossy black glass look with the red touch of color.

I had visions of wall mounting my TV with the HT-BD8200 wall mounted right under it (it comes with a wall mount kit).

The controls on the unit are super cool touch controls. No buttons, just symbols on the top of the disc drive area that light up. Just touch the glass over the control and a small beep lets you know it’s activated.

It comes with a wifi adapter so that you can stream netflix, pandora, blockbuster etc. to it over your wifi network at home.

I could babble on forever about the cool things it does which is why it breaks my heart to have to list the bad things and ultimately why I had to return it.

Once I got over the thrill of having a new toy, I started to notice buggy behavior that makes me think Samsung rushed this out or cobbled it together without enough QA testing.

- “MODE NOT SUPPORTED”

Since I connected the unit to my TV with HDMI, it activated the Samsung “Anynet” feature which basically let’s the TV and soundbar talk to each other and activate Samsung specific features. For example, when you put a disc in the soundbar, it’ll automatically change the TV to the correct input and start playing the disc so that you don’t have to go through the “source” menu on the TV. What I found was that from time to time I’d put a disc in the soundbar, it’d change the source on the TV but then the TV would just display “Mode Not Supported”.

Nothing in the manual said anything about this error and a google search came up with a million unrelated postings about the error on various Samsung products. I was able to get around it by switching the HDMI cable to another port on the TV. When the error would come up again, I’d switch it back to the original port and it would work again. Pretty crappy for an $800 product.

- “Misbehaving Night Light”

Like my TV, the soundbar has a small accent light at the bottom of the center of the unit. You can set it to be on while the unit is on, off, or all the time. I set to to be on when the unit is on. When I went to bed I turned the unit off and the light went off. The next day when I came home from work the light was on and the unit was off. I checked the setting in the menus and it was still set to be off when the unit was off… but it was on. Annoying

- “Ghost in the machine”

The soundbar started to turn itself on by itself. The first time it happened I thought maybe I had left it on without realizing it. So I made it a point to verify it was off when I went out the next day and sure enough it was back on when I came back that night. I had to start leaving it set to an unused input before turning it off to make sure it wouldn’t come on blasting the radio mid day or mid night.

- “Low Volume on TV”

The volume when watching movies or listening to CD’s can reasonably loud. Don’t get me wrong, you cannot ever go deaf listening to this unit on max volume because it just doensn’t go that loud but watching TV, the max volume seems to be roughly one third lower than on movies. I found myself watching tv on maximum volume all the time. If it was loud outside or someone was making noise in another room, max wasn’t loud enough.

I thought maybe the HDMI audio was the issue so I went and bought an Optical Cable (buy the AmazonBasics one, good price and decent quality). I hooked up the Optical cable to my TV and the result was exactly the same. I then hooked the optical cable directly to my cable box. Exactly the same. Nothing could make the soundbar louder while watching TV. The TV speakers themselves were often similar in volume or louder than the soundbar. The difference was that the soundbar had richer sound. Still not acceptable when the main reason I’m buying it is because I need more volume.

- “Anynet” annoyance

As this list grew and my patience thinned, I finally hit the last straw. I wanted to play a music CD while putting around the house. The TV and soundbar were off. I turned the soundbar on and dropped in a CD. The soundbar automatically activated the anynet feature, turned on the TV and switched to the HDMI input for the soundbar as if I was going to watch a movie. Apparently Samsung didn’t bother programming the soundbar not to switch if it’s an audio CD. “no big deal, turn off the TV” you say? I did… and Anynet promptly shut the soundbar off with the TV. ARRRRGH!

Could I just disable anynet? Sure! But losing a big chunk of functionality when I bought two Samsung products that are supposed to work together is unreasonable to me, especially when they are as expensive as these are.

So I resigned myself to thinking this was a defective unit and I’d give it another try. I boxed it up and sent it back to Amazon. I was ready to reorder a new one, but they weren’t in stock. I decided this was a good thing as if mine was defective, hopefully I’d get a newer one from a newer batch.

I waited a couple of weeks and Amazon finally got them back in stock. I ordered another and it arrived. I connected it and found that only ONE of the issues above had gone away. The new unit didn’t turn itself on by itself. All of the other issues were still there.

I finally had to give up and admit that this product is just not what I hoped for and the quality was not worth $800. I sent it back and am now looking for an alternative.
Rating: 2 / 5

Enter the HT-BD8200.

I knew I wanted this thing when I heard it’s announcement last January. The more I read about it, the more I liked it. It seemed to have every feature I was looking for: compact size, wireless networking, connects to network accessible hard drives to show audio and video and images, streams Netflix and Pandora Internet radio, Blu-Ray (so I can be like the hip kids). Wall mountable, too! This thing was finally released in August, and I scooped 1 up. But, at $800 I started to worry that my expectations were a little high, and that I would be sorely disappointed.

Streaming Netflix directly to the TV is pretty cool. You cannot search for movies to watch through this system, but after you add them to your Watch Instantly queue on the Netflix website, the movie is immediately available to watch through the HT-BD8200. Similarly, the streaming Pandora music is cool, but also has limitations.

My HT-BD8200 is connected to my TV (also Samsung) by HDMI, both of which have the AnyConnect+ feature, which allows the 2 devices to adjust each other depending on what I am trying to watch. One thing I dislike about the streaming music feature; if I switch the TVs input source to the video game input, the music is turned off so that the HT-BD8200 can play the sound from the video game. What I wanted to do, though, was surf the web with the video game console while listening to Pandora’s music. This could be a configuration problem, and there’s probably a way around it, but for now, it’s only slightly annoying.

The 2.1 virtual surround sound is really good. It can definitely put out more noise than I care to find out. With the volume at 20 (I think it goes to 100), I can easily feel the hardwood floor vibrate from the bass. I’m no audiophile, but I appreciate quality sound. The HT-BD8200 produces crisp, rich and clean sound. The virtual surround sound does work provided the sound being played was recorded with surround sound.

I feel like I have only dabbled in its many features. For example, I have not been able to get it to see a hard drive on my computer running Ubuntu/Linux, but a stand-alone networked hard drive should work well.

Yes, it’s expensive, but it seems to have just about everything I can ask a small, wall mountable, attractive system to be capable of.
Rating: 5 / 5