This second-generation Ultra HD Blu-ray player delivers exceptional performance and value, especially for heavy Netflix or Amazon users.

There's no doubt that the M9500 is a very capable 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player that can be setup with the minimum of fuss.

In total Samsung has created a very good player but because of a few drawbacks and omissions it will never become a really great one. If playing 4K UHD discs is your only concern then the UBD-M9500 is more than just a good player offering spectacular image quality and excellent sound playback. The lack of 3D Blu ray and Dolby Vision support is the Achilles heel of this player and if you care for any of these two then there are other options to consider. If not then it’s a worthy player for your viewing entertainment and one we would definitely recommend.

What all this amounts to is a major "win" in the usability department: if you're after an Ultra HD Blu-ray player that will provide a genuine upgrade to the connected functionality in your living room and offer a better user experience than your older or other brand TV, then the M9500 succeeds in doing that where some players don't, making this a first-class choice.

The Samsung UBD-M9500 is a fantastic 4K player with a ton of bells and whistles and, while the $399.99 MSRP seems a tad hefty, the current Amazon price is $327.99, which is still high, but better. Luckily, Samsung gives a great HDR unit with fast WiFi, tons of 4K apps, mirroring capabilities, and streaming onto your mobile devices quite easily. Still, there is no support for Dolby Vision yet, which isn't a deal breaker yet, but in the near future, it might just be.

After a rather cheap and cheerful debut 4K Blu-ray player last year, Samsung has stepped up its game considerably with the M9500. It performs better, it looks better, and it provides some genuinely innovative and useful features. A couple of other potentially key features have gone AWOL, though, and its UK price feels rather high.

This is a super-svelte Ultra HD Blu-ray player with a great interface and remote. Playback is excellent with the formats it supports. But we missed SACD playback and the player doesn’t support Dolby Vision, which might render it obsolete sooner rather than later.

It’s rather expensive versus the Xbox One S, but the UBD-M9500 has a few tricks up its sleeve

Samsung’s next-gen UHD Blu-ray deck improves on its predecessor with a beefed-up feature list, a slick new operating system and stunning 4K pictures. Build quality could be better, however, and it lacks features found on rival players.