Page 1 of Best Blu Ray Player

Thinking of treating meself to one of these...

any advice? Good old PS3 or something better? Current system can handle only DTS 5.1 through an analog output. TV can handle anything via HDMI.

Comments - Doc! Help!

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

This item was edited on Wednesday, 16th July 2008, 11:17

Just to add - I am not a gamer at all so the console is likely only to be used for playing movies.

My New Toy

How much do you want to spend?

Dr 42%er


Care in the football community is proved not to work.


It`s not easy being different. It`s not easy being cool....but somehow I manage....

PS3 is a decent player, upgradeable and has the added advantage of being able to run other media from a network stream.

From what I`ve read, the Panasonic DMP-BD30 seems to be the best stand-alone player at the moment... it`s the only player to have Profile 1.1 (which is needed for some bonus features... mainly the Picture-in-Picture thing).

If you`re not too bothered about that though and want a player mainly for the picture quality, then there are quite a few to choose from... the Sony ones usually have a special offer where you can send away for free 3-4 Blu-Ray films - and Play.com have the offer of the Sony player plus 5 Blu-Rays for £30 extra which seems pretty good - ie. £279.99 for the player and 5 movies, or £249.99 for just the player.

Bare in mind - I don`t think you can make any Blu-Ray player multi-regional (yet), so while you`ll be able to play Region B Blu-Rays (and a lot of Region A), you`ll still need your old player if you have a lot of US/R1 DVDs...

Have fun! :)

This item was edited on Wednesday, 16th July 2008, 13:18

I went for the PS3 & couldn`t be happier with it.

Fully upgradeable via the software updates (& wireless - no trailing ethernet cables over the lounge), free online gaming, downloadable games & movie clips, great upscaling, playing avi`s off usb sticks, storing pics, a doddle to upgrade the HDD + you can install linux on it & turn it into a PC.

I only have 2 games (it was brought as a Blu ray machine), but the gaming option is always there if you feel the need :D .

Get the additional blu ray remote & you`re fully kitted up! :)

This item was edited on Wednesday, 16th July 2008, 21:51

Doc - money`s not an issue. I would much rather get something for the long haul. I have no intention right now, but 2-3 years down the line I will in all likelihood be looking to upgrade to a 7.1 with DTS HD capability...

mc7t - think that`s exactly my path if I get the PS3.

My New Toy

Another vote for the PS3. I`m by no means a games player. I bought my PS3 purely for running Blu-rays, and the machine`s upgradeablility puts it streets ahead of the bog standard players. The upscaler in the machine beats the crap out of the upscaler in my standard Sony player.

When I bought my machine, it was bundled with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. I don`t consider myself a games player at all, but occasionally it`s fun to go for a spin around the Eiger Nordwand course. :D

J Mark Oates

The PS3 is bloody good for the money as is the Panny Grover mentioned. They can be vastly improved on if you want to spend the wonga. For instance the Pioneer BDP-LX70A blew the PS3 out of the water in our demo room. But at a grand you would expect it to. That has now gone and they have some new stuff coming. I would keep your eye on that. They are being very bullish about what they have and it will start around the £500 mark.

Dr 42%er


Care in the football community is proved not to work.


It`s not easy being different. It`s not easy being cool....but somehow I manage....

There are some new profile 1.1/2.0 players due out in the near future from Sony and Samsung. I was thinking about the BD-P1500 myself, but from what I`ve read they may have dropped some of the internal audio decoding. The Sony (BDP-S550) apparently has onboard decoding for everything, including Master Audio.

The reason this interests me (and possibly you) is that it means I can get full HD audio through my current amp via analogue inputs. My current player does all the formats except DTS-HD MA, although the Core still sounds good. At some point I`ll probably get an amp with HDMI and bitstream the audio, but if you want HD audio without a new amp a standalone is the only way to go (no analogue outs on the PS3).

Quote:
Bare in mind - I don`t think you can make any Blu-Ray player multi-regional (yet), so while you`ll be able to play Region B Blu-Rays (and a lot of Region A)
More specifically you`ll be able to play US BDs if they`re all region, but not RA titles ;)