A:AnswerYou can play media from a USB stick. It's also used to update the software in case you don't hook it into the Internet. It's also used to store BD-Live content which sounds grat but in reality is often used to download more trailers (commercials) so you might not want to keep it in all the time if you want to skip commercials. You can also hook up a USB keyboard for typing in search terms though wired keyboards are listed as unsupported.
A:AnswerNTFS is a listed supported file system and you'll never hit the file size limit. exFAT is NOT listed as a supported file system but if it's working for the other answerer then perhaps there was an update. The file size limitation for NTFS is NOT 4GB. It's much higher.
A:AnswerThe M9500 is built much sturdier with improved components. The K8500 was there first ultra HD blu-ray player and the current model is a step up in performance and quality. However, the M9500 doe not support 3D whereas the K8500 does.
A:AnswerYour player defaults to Auto for audio format. If it isn't detecting the capabilities of the sound bar try going in to settings/sound and change the output method to Bitstream.
A:AnswerThe player supports Atmos and DTS:X via Bitstream in passthrough mode. This means the player just sends the raw sound data to the receiver or soundbar and the receiving devices decodes it instead of the players. Netflix is a bit weird for Atmos as they have enabled it for devices that encapsulate Atmos which is only a few devices and no players that I'm aware of. There's not that much out there and only one Atmos title on Amazon Prime but you can get that to work. VUDU should work fine but I haven't tested it. As far as streaming HDR it works with both Netflx and Amazon and should work with VUDU but as I said I haven't tested it. I imagine Netflix will open up to more devices in 2019 as far as Atmos goes for their small selection.
A:AnswerAnyone with a Q series TV should compliment it with this player. I have the same XBOX and there are a couple of quirks. First the menus etc. like the data shown when you press pause on the XBOX can't hold a candle to the experience of the Samsung player. While it might be easy to control once you are inside, it's a few extra clicks to get started on the XBOX. You also have to install Atmos separately on the XBOX which has the weird effect of encapsulating everything. You could be listening to a 2 channel stereo track but your receiver will report it as Atmos because the XBOX is encoding EVERYTHING that way. No telling what that does to the upscalers.
On the other hand because of this encapsulation, Netflix allows Atmos content on the XBOX for a slim number of titles. So if you have Atmos then play those titles on the XBOX but for everything else do it on a more complete player. If you have a Q series TV and don't have Atmos then you've got some more purchasing to do.
