Righto, with Easter on the horizon this means that amongst all the chocolate and other exciting things, there's likely to be the odd sale, in which I'm hoping to finally join the world of blu-ray player owners.
The setup I've currently got is a bit non-standard, in that I have a 32" Sony Full-HD LCD TV (KDL-32W5500) as our main general-watching display, but also a Panasonic HD projector (PT-AX200E), which is used primarily for movies. Our current source for movies is a Sony DVD player (DVP-NS305), which is currently connected via S-Video (+left/right audio) to the TV, and component (+coaxial digital audio) to a Denon receiver, which in turn feeds component to the projector. Only one display is ever used at a time - each switched on/off accordingly via a Logitech Harmony remote.
I'm aiming to replace the Sony DVD with a blu-ray player, but also want to get the best picture I can to both displays. As far as I understand it I need to use HDMI to get 1080p/24, so that will be fed via the receiver to the projector (which will then downscale it to it's 1280x720 resolution). I'll need to use HDMI to the receiver for audio anyway, as the player will need to do the decoding of the HD audio channels, and output via LPCM.
For ease I'm thinking of getting a 4x2 HDMI matrix switch so that I can HDMI to the TV also - since all HDMI sockets there are free, and the TV component inputs will all still be in use (so I can't do 1080i via component to the TV).
So finally, (after all that background!) to my questions:
1) I've narrowed the blu-ray player down to the following options - any thoughts/comments etc on any of them? Any others to consider?:
a) Sony BDP-S360
b) Sony BDP-S560
c) Panasonic DMP-BD60
d) Panasonic DMP-BD80 (although I don't really need the 7.1 analogue out, so overkill?)
e) Oppo BDP-80
2) My current DVD player is region-free, something which at the time I bought it I was advised all players in NZ are modified to be, and as I understand things is still the case, yes? Are all of the above blu-ray players therefore region free too on both blu-ray and DVD discs, or only on DVDs? (The Oppo is the only one that makes specific reference to being completely region free on the RapalloAV website).
3) If the players are not region-free, do I really need to be concerned about it? Has anyone used any region A or C blu-rays on any of the above players other than the Oppo?
4) The Oppo is significantly more expensive than the others (especially compared to the Panasonic DMP-BD60, which JB Hi-Fi currently have for only $299!) - is it really that much better? They state on their website also, that the BDP-80 is not recommended for home theatres with large screens - something which I find rather surprising, and suggests it's not suitable for the projector. If the picture quality is that much better than the others, surely this implies that none of the others are suitable for projector use either (seems odd to me, as the projector does a great job of scaling the current DVD feed, in my opinion).
I think that's about it (for now). The aim is obviously get as good a picture as I can to both displays, but I don't want to break the bank either, so I'm looking for the best bang-for-the-buck really.
Thoughts / comments welcome please, and sorry for the long post!!
Cheers,
Simon.
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