CES 2011: Samsung shows off superslim Blu-ray player

LAS VEGAS--Samsung went small with its BD-D7000 Blu-ray player and it's going slim with the BD-D7500.

Samsung claims the BD-D7500 is the world's slimmest Blu-ray player, coming in at 0.9 inch deep. It has a silver, brushed metal look, with a slot-loading disc drive on the side. It's certainly an eye-catching design, although we prefer the small footprint of the BD-D7000 to the BD-D7500's razor edge.

Aside from the slim design, the BD-D7500's features are similar to those of other high-end Blu-ray players Samsung is showing at CES 2011. It's 3D-compatible and also has built-in 2D-to-3D conversion processing. Of course, most 3D TVs we've reviewed in the last year can also convert 2D content to 3D, but it will provide buyers with another option for 2D-to-3D video processing.

The BD-D7500 also has built-in Wi-Fi and can access Samsung Apps, which opens up a wide variety of streaming-media services, including Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Pandora, Blockbuster, and Twitter. New for 2011 is Samsung's Smart Hub, which is a unified search feature that looks through all of the streaming-media services for content and also makes viewing recommendations. Of course, that's what Google TV promised too (and didn't quite deliver), so we're eager to see how Smart Hub works in practice. The BD-D7500 is also DLNA-compliant, so you can stream your personal music, photos, and videos from a connected PC.

Samsung also has a new "1-foot connection" feature for Wi-Fi connectivity, which allows you to connect to your router without using a password if the device is within a foot of the router. This feature only works with compatible Samsung routers.

Samsung says pricing will be announced closer to the release date, and right now there's no specific release date except "first half of 2011."

http://ces.cnet.com/8301-32254_1-20027395-283.html