Tag Archives: Samsung

Getting Audio To Work When Streaming Netflix Movies With Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray Player

Update: January 10, 2020: Note: As of December 1, 2019, Netflix will no longer work on Samsung’s Blu-ray players.

This is mentioned in other places on the internet but thought I would add this here as well. When attempting to stream Netflix movies with my Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray Player, I would hear no audio with any movie title, including the Heroes Season 1, Episode 1 that they like to use for troubleshooting purposes for some reason. For reference I am using the latest firmware as of February 7, 2011 (version: BSP-C6500WWB-1020.1 ) with an optical digital cable connection to my Denon AVR-3806 A/V Receiver.

Following advice I found on the net, my current workaround/solution:

Before going into the Netflix application, go into the Pandora radio application and listen to any radio station/channel first. Then, exit Pandora and go into Netflix to watch whatever and the audio will work. I have no idea why it works but it does. It’s either a bug in the player’s firmware or a bug with the Netflix application the player uses. Before you can use Pandora you will need to setup an account with them and then configure the player to use it. The instructions for all this are covered in the manual and Pandora’s site. Using the basic Pandora service is free so no need to worry about any costs associated with it.

Hopefully this will help anyone that runs into a similar issue. πŸ™‚

Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray Player Added to Home Theater

Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray player - top, front viewMy sister and brother in-law gave me my first Blu-ray player for Christmas which happened to be the Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray Player. Thanks guys! Following are my experiences with this player so far. I’ve debated with myself what to include in this post and I’ve decided to focus on the installation, setup, and normal playback of music and movies.

Installation

Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray Player - rear viewThe installation into my home theater system was pretty easy as all I did was disconnect the component video and optical digital audio cables from my Denon DVD player and hook them into the Samsung player. While my Denon A/V Receiver does have some HDMI connectors, they are only HDMI 1.1 and the Samsung player uses the HDMI 1.3 specification and I’m not entirely sure what functionality might be lost (Wikipedia article on HDMI). From what I’ve read so far I think I would loose the ability to play the Blu-ray DTS Master Audio streams.Β  Anyway, since my Denon DVD player has no HDMI connectors, I just connected everything with component video cables at the time because I already had those cables handy. I may change everything over to HDMI; however, I would need to buy at least two more HDMI cables. One for my DVR and one to connect my receiver to my Samsung HDTV. I did get one HDMI cable for Christmas which I could use to connect the Blu-ray to the receiver with. My parents have the same Samsung HDTV that I do and is connected to their cable box via HDMI and, to be honest, I can tell very little difference between the pictures.

This Blu-ray player also has both WiFi and RJ-45 Ethernet internet capability. I decided to use the wired connection by running a 50-foot Cat5 ethernet cable to the router in the other room where my computer is. While I do have a wireless router, I’d rather use a wired connection for a more consistent, stable, and probably faster internet connection (better for streaming movies through Netflix or other service). This also lets me keep the wireless portion of my router disabled.

Setup

After I turned it on the first it went through its configuration routine. Honestly, I don’t remember what order things happened in. I think the first thing it did is ask about the TV Aspect ratio (I chose 16:9 Normal) and type of internet connection (I picked wired).Β  After this, it connected itself to the internet and recognized that a firmware update was available. I let it go ahead and upgrade the firmware. After it came back alive, I configured it as follows (I am only including the relevant audio/video/network settings I could chose based on my connection methods):

Display

  • TV Aspect: 16:9 Normal – So that all content would have the proper aspect ratio. I don’t like seeing 4:3 content stretched.
  • Resolution: 1080i – This is the best component video will do.
  • Progressive Mode: Auto
  • Still Mode: Auto

Audio

  • Digital Audio: Bitstream (Audiophile) – I choose this to get Dolby Digital signals when playing Dolby Digital content via the optical connection.
  • PCM Downsampling: Off – My receiver is capable of handling 96KHz signals.
  • Dynamic Range Control: On – It was the default so I’ve left it here for now.
  • Downmixing Mode: Surround Compatible – My receiver supports Dolby Pro logic and all those other surround modes.
  • DTS Neo:6: Off – Let my receiver handle this.

Network

  • Network: Wired – Internet Protocol and DNS both set to Auto.

Normal Use

So far I have played the three Blu-ray movies I have and several DVD movies, including several on DVD-R media. I have also played normal Audio CDs and a MP3 CD on CD-R media. The only weird thing that has happened so far is the player did freeze on me once in the middle of a DVD movie and once while navigating the menus on another. All I could do was hit the power button when this happened. I was able to go back and play the section of the movie that the player froze on several times after it happened so I’m not sure what caused the lockup as the disc itself appears to play fine. Likewise, I was able to navigate the menus successfully on the other disc afterwards.

As far as the picture quality goes it’s fine. Nothing to complain about. It may just be all in my head but I do think the DVD images are slightly better than my Denon DVD-2200; however, without being able to compare them side-by-side for a more objective comparison it’s really hard to tell. The one thing I do like more about this player is its ability to play 4:3 content in the proper aspect ratio. My Denon would play 4:3 content in a stretched mode when configured for a widescreen TV.

The other features of the player that I have tried so far are: streaming movies from Netflix, listening to Pandora radio, watching YouTube videos, using Twitter from it, and playing with the Samsung AllShare feature that let’s you play music and videos from your PC. I will write separate posts about each of these experiences; otherwise, this post would become way too long.

So far I would to give this player a thumbs-up. πŸ™‚

Several Movies Added to DVD and Beginning Blu-ray Collection

As is usually the case after the holidays, I’ve added several movies to my DVD and now beginning Blu-ray collection.

Here’s a list of my new DVD movies:Avatar DVD

Here’s a list of my first Blu-ray movies:

Like previous additions, I’ve scanned in at least the front case cover images and have included a trailer for the movie, provided I could locate or make one.

Obviously, to play the Blu-ray movies, I must have received a new Blu-ray player for Christmas also. I did! πŸ™‚ I got a Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray player from my sister and brother in-law. By the way, they also gave me a year free subscription to Netflix! I will be writing a separate post about my experiences with this player and the features that I’ve tried. Right now I am trying to decide if I want to write a single post or a separate post for each aspect of the player that I’ve tried. Having said that, my initial impressions at this point are that I like it. Once again I’d like to thank my mom, dad, sister and brother in-law for all this cool new loot! Love yah guys! πŸ™‚

Getting My Samsung LN52A650 HDTV Serviced

A few days ago my TV started having power-on problems. I would turn the power on and it would cycle itself on and off several times before finally coming on. Each day the process seemed to take longer and longer. Each cycle consisted of a relay click, the startup/shutdown sound, no image being displayed and would then repeat this process. The second to last cycle I would see an image briefly before it powered down again to return and stay on. The problem only seemed to happen if I turned the TV off for a period of time. Once the TV came on it seemed to otherwise work fine except for the clock loosing it’s setting each morning.

The TV was outside of the 1-year Samsung warranty. At the time I did purchase a 2-year extended warranty from Circuit City which is now being handled by Assurant Solutions. I still have 1 year left on the extended warranty so I wasn’t overly concerned. I did some searching on the net and found: How Do I Use My Circuit City Extended Warranty Now?

I decided to call Samsung first and I’m glad I did. As it turned out, my TV’s model, serial number, and symptoms happened to match certain criteria where they gave me a 1 time free of charge capacitor replacement repair.Β  I got the impression that my TV must have been part of a “bad batch”.

Later that day, someone from Professional TV, Inc out of Oklahoma City contacted me to set up an appointment to come by the next morning (April 29, 2010) to work on the TV. The tech arrived as promised and commenced to repair the TV after showing him what it was doing. He agreed it was due to failed capacitors. After helping him take the TV down and laying it on the floor on top of a floor pad, he took the back and stand off and removed the circuit board with the failed components.Β  Following is an image of the TV with the back removed, after the circuit board had been removed:

Samsung LN52A650 Repair

He then used a soldering iron to desolder the two bad capacitors that had failed with bulging caps and holes on top slowly leaking their contents. He also replaced two other capacitors that usually failed in these circumstances to be safe. All replacements had higher voltage specs. Here’s a pic of the two failed capacitors:

Bad Capacitors from Samsung LN52A650

He then replaced the circuit board and plugged the TV back in while it was still on the floor to make sure it would power up which it did. Yay! After cleaning the dust that had accumulated in the TV and replacing the back cover, we placed the TV back on the stand and reconnected it to my home theater system. He also dusted off my stand while he was at it. Everything worked fine and has continued to since! πŸ™‚

So in the end, the complete process was painless, took less than 24 hours to have a working TV again, was free of charge, and everyone I spoke with was professional and understandable.Β  I commend Samsung for ultimately standing behind their product even though it was outside the manufacturer’s warranty.Β  I should also note that they offered the 1 time free repair to me after getting my information, rather than me asking or demanding it from them. This does give me the confidence to purchase future products from them.

I have searched the internet concerning this issue and realize that not everyone else has had the same experience. All I can say is that this was my experience with my TV.

Samsung LN52A650 52″ Widescreen 1080p LCD HDTV added to Home Theater

Samsung_LN52A650Well, after many years of wanting to get a widescreen TV, I finally bought myself one! It is a Samsung 52″ 1080p LCD HDTV, model LN52A650. I’ve had it about a month and love it! As it turns out, according to the AVS Forum, it is one of the better models to get. Needless to say I’ve been watching a lot of movies on it lately. I am actually behind on adding movies that I’ve bought to my website. I’ll get around to adding those later.

Star Wars III DVD ImageI currently have my Denon DVD-2200 DVD player and Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8240HDC DVR cable box connected to my Denon AVR-3806 A/V receiver, via component cables which are then connected to the TV via component cables. On the right is an image from my DVD player I took while watch Star Wars Episode III.

I have learned much concerning HDTV since purchasing this and following the AVS Forums and will most likely write another article concerning what I have learned about all this HDTV business. πŸ™‚