Page 1 of Blu-Ray with onboard TrueHD Audio Decoder

Looking to buy a blu ray player - or at least starting thinking abt it. Some requirements:

1. Need it to do 576i over HDMI for DVDs
2. Region free for DVDs if possible
3. On board TrueHD decoder - which should be able to feed into my amp via coaxial/toslink (no HDMI on the amp)

Good pic quality, cheap etc. etc. the works. Any suggestions?

My New Toy

If you use optical/coaxial it won`t matter if the player can decode TrueHD - you can`t pass it over those types of connections (not enough bandwidth). For the rest of it, take a look at the new Sony BDP-S350, I think it does everything you`re after and is Profile 1.1/2.0 ready.

My receiver cannot handle TrueHD so I want the player to do TrueHD - maybe I could use analog 5.1 :)

My New Toy

You could use analogue 5.1, but you specified optical/coax in the first post ;)

Take a look at the new Sony BDP-S550, big brother fo the 350. Does everything that player does, but comes with 1GB of flash memory for BD-Live, 7.1 analogue outs and (eventually) the capability to decode Master Audio internally. The last bit is in the specs, but the US website says it will be coming with a future firmware upgrade. It also has a few other bits that are nicer, such as a backlit remote. You can get them for about £300 delivered if you shop around, although they aren`t actually released for a week or so. I was supposed to have mine last week until the date slipped >:(

This item was edited on Tuesday, 16th September 2008, 20:29

Been waiting for the Sony. 300 notes is a bit on the steep side, but then ;)

What abt this? http://www.stegen.com/product_info.php/cPath/61/products_id/1046?osCsid=5641db85d3949dec4d321e8fd0828a3d

My New Toy

Panny has discontinued that model already, if you can believe it. New flagship is the DMP-BD55.

Been reading up on that and I think will plonk for it once it is released. Looks pretty good and does everything it says on the tin.

Trouble though is the DVD portion - Panasonic Singapore (where I am) say they have no intention of releasing this model anytime soon, so will end up buying from the US.

You know whether the DVD part is region coded or not?

My New Toy

As far as I know, yes, although there may be remote hacks that can be done with service remotes or One-for-All style remotes. The Sony can be hacked in this way. This doesn`t affect BD regions though.

Got the S550 now. Pretty good machine and it apparently does on-board DTS-HD decoding out of the box, contrary to earlier reports. It can definitely be made multi-region via a remote hack (One for All style).

How much did it cost you, if you don`t mind me asking?