Samsung BD-P1500 Firmware Issues

[mh2360]

I could never get the disc update to work, I always use the USB method.

[redcapeman]

so how, exactly, am I supposed to do this is update, then? What is the USB method? In the event I can't get the USB method to work, how can I get the disc method to work?

[redcapeman]

i went to the official samsung page and they said that there isn't a firmware update that will play avi files! How can this be? there has to be a firmware update to play avi files? where is it and how do I get, install it?

[marvel2020]

Use imgburn to burn the firmware to to disc, I'd suggest using a CD-RW for that, just click on the firmware and imgburm should load up and just start the burn.

Avi/Xvid playback has been available in the latest firmware for ages now now.

[redcapeman]

Where can I get it from?

[marvel2020]

The latest firmware is available from the Samsung website(google it), just click on the TV/Audio/Video button at the top, then on the Blu Ray Player option from the drop down menu, on the next page click on download Drivers manuels. software from the support option on the left then enter BD-P1500 in the search, then on the page click on the firmware option and there you will see the latest firmware, just click on the File/Zip and download, once done extract and burn to CD-RW.

[JMC2011]

I just updated my BD-P1500 for the first time since Black Friday 2008. I was very skeptical of the updates, having read about other owners experiences with their players not being able to read BDs or DVDs or DVDrs and DVDrws after performing the updates. In the worst cases the players died completely.
My player updated successfully, and I am happy to report that all playback issues I was previously experiencing with 75% of the BDs I own (230+) have been corrected. It would not play any 20th Century Fox releases. It can now play Avatar Extended Edition and Alien Anthology which are two of the most troublesome releases with widespread player incompatibility and playback issues.
The update was version 3 (110329.01_112409B1_XAA) released 4/28/11 on the Samsung website. I recommend using the USB drive method as it is the quickest and most reliable. If you use a defective CDr (Samsung warns not to use CDrw), or the burn process does not finalize, you will make your player into a brick. Also, internet connections can be unstable if you use the ethernet connection update method and interrupt the process causing damage to the player.
So follow the instructions on Samsung's website carefully, and I wholly recommend this update as you can change your player from being semi-functional to a fully functioning Blu-Ray player as designed.
Also, this model has limited internal memory so using a USB drive as persistent memory storage can solve load time issues, menu and playback issues, and also allow BD Live to function.