People say "avoid Samsung" because they are a cheapjack budget operation.

I'm sure most of their goods are excellent but I would never put Samsung in the same category as Panasonic or Pioneer.

And the recent Samsung dual format player is an absolute disaster by all accounts

I think you need educating; do a little web research to find out just what a cheapskate "Budget" operation they are!
For the record I tend to agree that Panasonic build great products but in a few years time they could be dwarfed by Samsung.

Whether Samsung have moved onto quality is irrlevant.

Many people associate them with cheap budget items - that is their historical reputation

In fact their Bluray players are the cheapest around.

Perhaps a name change might help - it worked for Goldstar who became LG.

Still cheap crap ,but better cheap crap.

The dual format Samsung player is a disaster and Movietyme have pulled it from their site and offered refunds to those who bought it

Yes, you are right in that historicaly they did budget items, just as the Japanese manufacturers did initially, I'm old enough to remember when buying Japanese meant you were buying crap! this is after all a way to break into a market & good Business sense.

As for being the cheapest Blu ray player around; this is a bad thing because?

Quite honestly I could have purchased any player I wanted but The BD P1400 does all I want it to & does it very well, Picture & Sound quality is better than most currently available and yes it's at a bargain price.

I think you're living in the past, their LCD TV's have outsold the major brands many fold, their Panels feature in numerous manufacturers sets.

Customer service is far better than most of the Major Manufacturers, they may have had problems with some players, some years ago I bought a £500 Sony Nicam video & had 5 before I had a working one, when I complained to Sony their response was "Refer to your dealer" yet my experience with Samsung has been totally the opposite.

I think we all have brands we like & dislike (I have several I don't like) I just don't think it is right to rubbish them if you don't have personal experience of them. I know that a number of individuals in this forum regularly go Samsung Bashing & given the volume they sell I guess it's inevitable but I'm also sure there are numerous people who have also encountered problems with the Big name Japanese brands.

As for a name change, I think you find Samsung will be around for a long time!

Very good points.

Early adoptors have to accept they may not get a finished product and should really know better

The BDA had to respond to HD DVD, they couldn't let it have the HD market to itself and for everyone the competition may have had negative impact on mass adoption thanks to consumer confusion it helped mass adoption by forcing hardware prices down to levels I doubt anyone in the business really wanted so soon.