So, I found it very difficult to find instructions for doing a hard reset on an early model Samsung Galaxy Player (model YP-G50EW). There are various key codes that are reported, but the one I found to work is:
Hold down Volume Up, Volume Down and the Home/Menu button, then hold Power until the Samsung logo appears. The release the power button, but keep the other buttons held down.
Now you are in the Android Recovery menu and you can continue with normal reset operations!
As always, hope this helps somebody!
