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With 4K Blu-ray on the horizon, do you need a 2k Blu-ray player than can upscale? The BD-J7500 has only a short window to impress, but it does just that.
We liked
It's fast, it's slick, it's packed with apps and it sprays digital content around a home network with ease, while picture quality is impressive across the board. The 4K upscaling – which is engaged automatically if you attach the BD-J7500 to a 4K TV – works well. Decks like this may not sit atop the AV tree for long, but that doesn't mean it's not a mightily impressive effort.
We disliked
The BD-J7500 has last year's Smart Hub on-board, which may limit its shelf-life. The concept of touch-sensitive buttons along the top is good, but they're poorly labelled and hard to see. I'm also conscious that 4K upscaling will soon be outmoded by the arrival of natively 4K Blu-ray players, due at the end of this year – or possibly next Spring. Either way, only a very low price will save decks like the BD-J7500 come 2016.
Final verdict
There's very little about the BD-J7500 I didn't like, but with 4K Blu-ray discs and players incoming by the end of 2015, we're struggling to see who the target market is.
Sure, the BD-J7500 makes a smart shortcut for those who want apps and networking without having to buy a new TV (though games consoles work just as well in that regard), but much cheaper machines are available – even from Samsung – that do all that in a near-identical manner. And those planning to buy a 4K TV this year should probably wait for a 4K Blu-ray player to appear.
However, it's such a slick, fast-working and app-packed deck that the BD-J7500 is hard to ignore. Besides, with 4K looking like it may be 2D-only, could this be one of the last 3D Blu-ray spinners in town? If it is, the BD-J7500 represents a slick and solid last hurrah.
