LG caused quite a stir at CEDIA Expo last month when they showed off their new BD300 Blu-ray Disc player with Netflix streaming movie support. It didn't take long for another manufacturer to answer the call for instant media gratification. Samsung's latest Blu-ray Players, the BD-P2500 and BD-P2550, will be eligible for free online feature upgrades today to enable streaming movie downloads from Netflix. Owners of the BD-P2550 (available exclusively at Best Buy) will also gain access to the Pandora streaming music service after the upgrade.

The upgrade will be available for download at www.samsung.com/bluraysupport

With the upgrade applied, and a Netflix account, current owners of these Blu-ray players will be able to instantly watch any movie or TV title from a growing library of more than 12,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix (BD-P2500/BD-P2550) and music from Pandora (BD-P2550). The BD-P2550 will also get a BD-Live firmware update today (the BD-P2500 already supports BD-Live). Later in the month (October 30), both players will get a firmware upgrade to support decoding of DTS-HD High Resolution Audio.  No word yet on DTS-HD Master Audio which is currently only supported on both players via bitstream output.  [update - 1/2/2009: Samsung's latest promise was onboard DTS-HD HR and MA decoding by the end of 2008, but that didn't happen - stay tuned as this still may come in a future firmware upgrade].

In addition to Netflix movie access, the BD-P2550 will be able to stream music though the Pandora music service allowing owners to discover new music and stay up-to-date with their favorite artists. The free Pandora service allows you to select artists you like and uses your preferences to generate a custom internet "radio station" that broadcasts your chosen artists as well as others that Pandora's proprietary learning algorithms think you might also like.  I tried it out and found that its recommendations were spot on based on my predilection for 80s techno - it was like a mixed tape I would have made for my girlfriend in 1987 (shhh... don't tell the wife).

Both players already include best-of-breed DVD upconversion to high definition resolution via on-board Silicon Optix HQV processing as well as 7.1-channel analog audio outputs.  Now, with the addition of Netflix and Pandora support, they present a strong feature set that is currently unmatched by any other Blu-ray Disc player.

Where to Buy:

BDP-2500:

• Samsung BD-P2500 Blu-ray Player with Netflix (Amazon.com)

BDP-2550:

• Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-ray Disc Player with Netflix and Pandora (Best Buy Exclusive!)

More information:

• www.samsungusa.com
• Rent movies from Netflix!
• www.Pandora.com