usability, price, design, size

reliability

80% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

Samsung’s debut UHD Blu-ray deck is an impressive machine, offering dazzling 4K pictures and loads of features for a lower price than you might expect – although Panasonic’s pricier rival offers a better performance.

Speedy loading ; Sharp pictures ; Most affordable UHD Blu-ray player on the market

Sound and picture need refinement ; No display ; Fiddly remote

A capable UHD Blu-ray player, but not the best

Impressive 4K HDR image quality ; 4K Netflix and Amazon onboard ; Two HDMI outputs for AV receiver compatibility

Journeyman build quality, and noisy ; Not a great-sounding music player ; Remote uses a coin battery

Samsung's stripped back 4K Blu-ray player is just what your Ultra HD TV needs, but early adopters are expected to pay a high price for better pixels.

Great 4K image quality ; Curved design looks slick ; Works great with Samsung setup

Doesn't feel premium ; DMP-UB900 better all-round

While the K8500 doesn’t eke out quite as much of Ultra HD Blu-ray’s glorious quality as its only current rival, it’s the sort of good-value option the new UHD disc format needs

Fantastic picture quality, additional HDMI output, 4K streaming apps

Price will be a barrier to some entering this ecosystem, limited initial title availability

If you were in any doubt about the relevance of optical media then rest assured: Ultra HD Blu-ray is stunning, offering a premium experience that surpasses other current options.

The Samsung UBD-K8500 has a reasonable price for being the first of its kind. It can play back 4K Blu-ray discs with HDR, delivering the best video quality available today. The player offers quick loading times and has plenty of streaming apps...

Unless you have an HDR-capable TV, the improvement in video quality over standard Blu-ray and streaming is minimal. Only a handful of 4K titles are available today, and some showed minor video quality issues themselves. The remote control can sometimes...

The Samsung UBD-K8500 4K Blu-ray player delivers the best in-home video quality ever, but only owners of the latest, most expensive TVs need apply.

Perfect playback ; Excellent 4K upscaling ; Twin HDMI outputs ; Decent features set ; Simple setup

No Dolby Vision support ; The fan is quite noisy ; Remote is small and fiddly ; No display

The Samsung UBD-K8500 is a great Ultra HD Blu-ray player that has been designed to offer a comprehensive set of features in an easy-to-use package. The player itself is nicely designed and reasonably well made and our only real compliant would be that...

Best video quality available today ; 4K, HDR, and wide color gamut ; Zippy operation ; Reasonable price for a first-gen device

Frustrating remote control ; Streaming apps aren’t HDR compatible

To get the best of what the K8500 has to offer, you need to have a lot of pieces in place. You’ll want the best 4K Ultra HD discs, and you’ll need a next-gen 4K TV with solid HDR processing, and either exceptionally deep blacks (OLED!) or an LED TV...