Ok I have set up the BD-30 last night but only had enough time to test a few discs on a few
scenes. My setup is the BD-30 connected to my Panasonic AX-100 720p projector using HDMI. Audio
is connected to my old Sony receiver (can't remember the model number) using the coaxial digital
port.
When the guy gave me the box in the shop I thought he had given me an empty box, it was that
light. The machine itself did seem seem a bit flimsy but since you mostly just set it up and
forget it it shouldn't be a problem.
In the manual it states it only plays region 4 and region free DVD's. Therefore I assume it was
made region locked. To my eye the DVD upconversion was no better or worse than my sony
upconverting DVD player. Granted I don't have an oppo or anything but I don't think the BD-30 is
completely crap for DVD's, just average. In saying that most people already have an upconverting
multizone DVD player, so you should stick with that for DVD's and use the BD-30 for Blu-Ray only
if you can.
I connected everything up and the set up the audio options so that the receiver will pick up the DD or
DTS tracks from the Blu-Ray disc and set the video to 24fps. I chucked in a movie and I was very
impressed with the speed of loading the menus etc. I haven't used any other BD player before but
it was not much slower than my current DVD player so I think loading times are not a problem on
this player.
Ok well my expectations were that I would notice a difference between upconverted DVD and Blu-Ray
but since my projector is only 720p I probably shouldn't expect too much. After putting
in The Fifth Element Remastered, these were the 3 words I uttered: OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The picture quality just blew me away. High def was a revelation to my eyes. It was as if the fog
inside my eyes had cleared and I could see everything in perfection. It was that good. I'm sure
that if I had seen an HD-DVD movie I would have been similarly blown away, I am lauding High Def
not just Blu-Ray. I watched a few scenes in utter amazement and then put in Pirates 2 and was again
just blown away by the detail and clarity and just noticed so much more detail than on DVD, like the
sweat on the faces of the archaeologists at the beginning of The Fifth Element.
The sounds was also very impressive even though I was not getting the lossless tracks. It was awesome.
I had to turn down the volume from what I normally have it set at for my DVD player. I can only imagine
what the lossless tracks sound like. I am happy to wait until the receivers which can decode the
lossless tracks come down in price.
My original plan was to just buy movies I liked which were blockbuster action movies or sci fi movies
or movies with heavy special effects. Well after watching some trailers like the one for Invincible
a grid iron movie, again I was blown away with the crispness of the picture without any special effects.
Basically I will buy any movie I like on Blu-Ray no matter what type of movie it is and then rent others
I don't want to own and only rent SD-DVD if the Blu-Ray is not available. I will not be buying any more
SD-DVD except for seinfeld which I really want but is not on Blu-Ray. As the cliche goes, once you
experience high def you can never go back.
All in all I am extremely impressed with this player for Blu-Ray playback. It fits my needs perfectly
and the price was great. Connected to a projector at 24fps it is just beautiful. You will need to
decide if it meets your needs and are happy with some of it's small flaws. I am glad I spent $50 extra
than what I originally wanted to spend to get into Blu-Ray now. All I can say is that it was worth every cent I paid for it and having seen the quality now I would have happily bought it at full price.
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