Samsung BD-D5500

When unplugged, the front panel has no distinguishing markings or buttons except for a silver Samsung logo on the left side and a covered USB port on the right side.

When plugged in but not turned on, it only shows a touch-sensitive power symbol next to the disc tray. When you turn it on, however, it comes to life and lights up an LED information display and touch-sensitive Stop, Play/Pause, Menu, and Eject buttons.

The 1.5 by 16.9 by 8.3-inch (HWD), 3.8-pound Blu-ray player is black and mysterious.

The back panel holds an HDMI output, another USB port, component and composite video outputs, an optical audio output, and an Ethernet port.

The remote is an 8.5-inch-long slab with large, flat buttons laid out in a fairly sensible manner.