I should stress, though, that in action the pop out disc tray mechanism actually appears quite robust. Its brushed-finish bodywork is pretty plasticky, however, and the disc tray and front-mounted USB port both sit a bit clumsily in their surroundings - especially as the latter is covered by a cheap-as-chips rubber insert. It’s also fairly small for a debut disc player, clearly benefitting from the form factor improvements Blu-ray has enjoyed over the past decade or so. Its curved front edge is quite striking and ties in, of course, with Samsung’s continuing preference for curved TVs. The K8500’s design is a little underwhelming.
But hopefully this notion will turn out to be nothing more than unfair cynicism. Its affordability could also make you wonder, I guess, whether Samsung doesn’t feel confident that the K8500 delivers enough of an upgrade over HD BD decks to justify a much higher price. This is a key point, as making the K8500 so affordable makes it much more likely that anyone in the market for a new Blu-ray player will consider stepping up to Ultra HD Blu-ray instead. The first HD Blu-ray decks by comparison cost around $1,000.
Considering it’s the very first UHD BD player the world has seen, Samsung’s K8500 is surprisingly affordable at $399.
0 kommentar(er)
