Samsung (BD-F5100) Blu-ray Disc Player -(Certified Refurbished)

I had researched Blu-Ray players diligently for a few months, so I knew this was the one I wanted; I just had to wait until the price dropped sufficiently. And, then I found this! I have no problem with refurbished items, so here we are.I intentionally waited to do this review until the unit had a good shakedown period. The device is absolutely perfect for my use. It plays Blu-Ray discs beautifully. Disney cartoons are mind-blowing - you can see every stroke of the drawn frames, and it's like watching hand-drawn art in motion (which is what a cartoon *is*, but, seriously, you can really *see it*!). We watched The Avengers last night, and, well, I found it hard not to count the hairs in Tony Stark's goatee.I know these are qualities inherent to the Blu-Ray format, but they are apparent, accessible and flawless in this Samsung 5100.Additionally, DVD playback is excellent, and upconverts nicely. Netflix works as advertised. YouTube would work fine, if my ISP wasn't a worthless... but that's another story.What really surprised me was AllShare. Once I installed the software from the Samsung website on my over-10 year old desktop that I use as primarily as a music server, and figured out to tell it to share one folder at a time, and not the whole drive at once, I was able to seamlessly watch downloaded video, stored on my computer or ext. hard drive, through the player. There are some limitations as to what formats of video will play, which I have not been able to make sense of, aside from just that some older videos won't play, but I kind of appreciate that it just flat out will not play a poor quality video.This function has become at least as important to me as playing Blu-Rays, and I'm thrilled that I can do it without the need to connect my ext. hard drive directly to the player.Speaking of connections, these couldn't have been simpler. One power cord, one HDMI cable, and one ethernet cable (this unit does require a wire and proximity to a router for network connection - if you want wireless, take one step up to the 5700 player), and everything is good to go. Once connected, it ran a system update (and I think has run one since, all automatically), and work without a care..As for controls, the menus are all fairly intuitive, and work well. The remote is responsive and well labeled, though a tad compact; looking for the menu controls in the near dark was a bit challenging, but only a bit. I only mention it to be thorough.The unit controls themselves, as you can see in the pictures, are in the unusual top-mounted configuration, which does make this unit inappropriate for a rack layout or stacking (unless it stays on top). It works perfectly in my configuration, though, and slides exactly under my stand-mounted TV. The controls are not buttons! They are touch-activated, so a light swipe across one of the four cardinal points will activate its respective function. This gives the unit that extra touch of class, and makes the entire experience feel like you're using a truly high-end-device. Which, after all, you are, and I'd expect nothing less from Samsung.Overall, this unit is worth every point of those five stars!

This bluray player has worked great. I was worried that since it was refurbished that it would have problems, but it is problem free. The packaging didn't look brand new but it wasn't bad. The player powers on quickly, it only takes about 5-10 seconds. I also like that when you pause a movie, the onscreen interface tells you how long the disc has remaining, rounded to the nearest minute. This player is pretty small so it doesn't take up a lot of room on an entertainment center and the remote is only about 8-10" long and fits comforably in my hand. My only complaint about this player is that the buttons are totally flush so powering on the player and ejecting the tray is easier with the remote, but that could be a problem if the remote is lost.

I’ve had this Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray Disc Player - Manufacturer Refurbished for a month and a half. It worked fine for the first month with no issues. Now it is completely unusable. It has a DVD stuck in the machine and the system is frozen on the DVD start menu. The return period has expired so I’m out the money I paid. Save your money!!!

I know it seems trendy to many people to buy technology which has only all the latest functions and capabilities. However, I, for one, value simplicity and ease of use and maintenance more than having every premium (usually needless) function. I just wanted a simple Blu-ray player when I replaced my old analog TV/DVD/VHS combo with a new flat screen HDTV. Being a bit of a minimalist, I decided to go with this product due to the unbeatable price, the good average review and the simplicity of the system. All I can say is my wife and I have been very pleased with this product. Nothing fancy, just plays Blu-ray movies in beautiful HD on our 720p HDTV, and does so well. No skips or any other issues yet. I also like how small and sleek the player is. Anyway, if you are looking for the best Blu-ray player for your buck, look no further.

I bought two of these to use in a rental property. The price was good and I assumed that Manufacturer Refurbished meant that there would be some sort of quality control. Both players shipped in plain brown boxes with Styrofoam inserts. The inserts had pretty much disintegrated and made a mess. One of the players had the front of the disc tray popped off and the other one did not have a remote control. After a little tinkering I was able to fix the disc drawer. Both players work OK, but the fact that two of two had a problem makes me wonder about the whole lot of them. I just happened to have a spare Samsung DVD remote laying around which seems to control the basic functions of the player. If I were you, I would look elsewhere.

I'm hoping that this player continues to work for us. I bought this "factory refurbished" because it was the same as another we bought new that I really liked. For the record, I love the one I bought new about two years ago - still running great with no issues. This model is apparently no longer in production. I was nervous about buying refurbished, but felt comforted by other reviews. What is disappointing is that you can tell it is not new, despite some saying that it was unnoticeable. The cord was held together with a rubber band, and although inexpensive, you miss out on the "free" batteries that we get in our pretty new box. I'm also pretty sure that the one I bought new came with an HDMI cable, but perhaps not. This one does not come with one. The player itself appeared to be used, but not in bad condition. Some of it may be psychological as you know you didn't get to pull off all the clear sticky tape that makes you feel like a new owner. I just hope that it works well, as it is a pain to send back, particularly at this price point. In hindsight, should have let go of my desire to buy a "matching" player to my existing one and gone for new.