Any reccomendations for buying a blu-ray player?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Any reccomendations for buying a blu-ray player?

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3868 posts

Uber Geek

#460978 20-Apr-2011 15:56

At the other end of the spectrum I just picked up a Samsung C5500. I see Bond & Bond have them for $150 at the moment!

Couldn't be happier for the money, and fitted in with my old (non-HDMI) amp a treat.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

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RunningMan

8850 posts

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#460980 20-Apr-2011 15:59

ilovemusic:
The latest Smiths City flyer has the 3D BDT100 for $300, if you are wanting to get into 3D.

Didn't really have 3D on the "must have" list.

I take it that for 3D, both the BD player and TV have to be 3D capable?

I've only got a basic understanding of how 3D works - correct me if I'm wrong please!

A 3D TV basically has the ability to sync with 3D glasses, and that's what you pay the extra for. What extra does the BD player have to do for 3D? Is it just a higher data rate for the increased number of frames, or is there more to it?

Jaxson

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#460983 20-Apr-2011 16:06

RunningMan: I take it that for 3D, both the BD player and TV have to be 3D capable?

Yes, all components along the chain have to be 3D capable, so it means new Bluray Player, 3D capable receiver and 3D capable TV.

Exceptions are you could feed the 3D signal direct to the 3D TV and use optical/digital coax out for sound to the receiver, but those audio methods do not offer HD audio, even if the receiver can handle hd audio.

The PS3 can't do 3D video and HD audio at the same time so it's all a compromise if you don't have true 3D components throughout the distribution chain.

Jaxson

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#460985 20-Apr-2011 16:08

ilovemusic:
The latest Smiths City flyer has the 3D BDT100 for $300, if you are wanting to get into 3D.

No multichannel analogue out on that one, IF that's important to anyone.

Dunnersfella

4081 posts

Uber Geek

#461083 20-Apr-2011 21:15

Multi-channel audio is non-existent on all the new Panasonic BluRay players right?

clevedon

1059 posts

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#461166 21-Apr-2011 07:50

ilovemusic: I would not get into BD without high definition sound.

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#461193 21-Apr-2011 08:47

If I was buying a BluRay player today I'd go for the Oppo BDP-93. A bit outside the price range, but my experience with the earlier model has been brilliant, and it comes region free DVD & BluRay as standard.

http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/product/2274/Oppo-Blu-ray-Players/

I also use my earlier model BDP-83 to play music, photos and video from a NAS box on our home network, which it does very well.

Oppo players do an extremely good job of up-scaling DVD content - apparently the new model is even better than the earlier model, which at the time I bought it (~ 12 months ago) it was deemed to be as good as it gets.

With AV equipment there are two philosophies when buying:

1. Buy cheap and buy often, as you'll never be happy with what you've got

2. Invest in very good equipment and get many years of top quality service from it

The current rate of change is such that #1 applies to TVs, but 3D capability aside, #2 applies to pretty much everything else if you shop wisely.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#461243 21-Apr-2011 10:36

LookingUp: If I was buying a BluRay player today I'd go for the Oppo BDP-93. A bit outside the price range, but my experience with the earlier model has been brilliant, and it comes region free DVD & BluRay as standard.

http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/product/2274/Oppo-Blu-ray-Players/

I found that to be a dead link - try this one instead:
http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/product/2266/Oppo-Blu-ray-Players/

old3eyes

9110 posts

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#461296 21-Apr-2011 13:25

I would hardly say that the Oppos would fit into the OPs budget. Considering the way the NZ /US $ rate is at present i would have expected them to be way cheaper.. $1145 for a region free DVD player and a locked BD player is not good value for money..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Jaxson

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#461305 21-Apr-2011 13:49

old3eyes: $1145 for a region free DVD player and a locked BD player is not good value for money..

I'd have to agree when JB Hifi are doing the panasonic bluray/freeview twin tuner unit for $795 or something. link but it's not 3D capable though I guess Anyway, over a grand is a lot for a player given there's a $150 at the top of page 2 here.

RunningMan

8850 posts

Uber Geek

#461345 21-Apr-2011 15:13

old3eyes: I would hardly say that the Oppos would fit into the OPs budget. Considering the way the NZ /US $ rate is at present i would have expected them to be way cheaper.. $1145 for a region free DVD player and a locked BD player is not good value for money..

Yep, a little bit out of my budget ;-)

It looks like there will be the usual Easter sales on this weekend, so will see what comes up!

old3eyes

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#461375 21-Apr-2011 16:27

RunningMan:
old3eyes: I would hardly say that the Oppos would fit into the OPs budget. Considering the way the NZ /US $ rate is at present i would have expected them to be way cheaper.. $1145 for a region free DVD player and a locked BD player is not good value for money..

Yep, a little bit out of my budget ;-)

It looks like there will be the usual Easter sales on this weekend, so will see what comes up!

Your rite about that. There could be some good bargains. I'm in the market for a BD player as well under $300. Will be looking around..

Regards,

Old3eyes

ilovemusic

1428 posts

Uber Geek

#461381 21-Apr-2011 16:39

JB have the Panny BD45 for $149 this weekend.

Norman Ross have dropped the price on the Panny BD85 to $362.

Excellent value unlike those OPPOs.

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#461392 21-Apr-2011 16:53

xarqi:
LookingUp: If I was buying a BluRay player today I'd go for the Oppo BDP-93. A bit outside the price range, but my experience with the earlier model has been brilliant, and it comes region free DVD & BluRay as standard.

http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/product/2274/Oppo-Blu-ray-Players/

I found that to be a dead link - try this one instead:
http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/product/2266/Oppo-Blu-ray-Players/

How bizarre - the link you've found is for their non-region free BluRay version, but navigating through their site you can get to the fully region free version at the URL listed. The URL doesn't work if you just try to go to it though.

Anyway, on the Oppo front, don't judge the value until you've seen one. An analogy would be that pretty much all cars have four wheels and a motor and will get you from A to B, but the driving experience certainly differs between manufacturers and models.

My experience with "consumer name brand" stuff is that it's generally pretty limited feature wise, and not built to last. A recent experience with a top of the line Panasonic TV that claims "record to Harddrive" as a feature is that it does this, but in a way that's not transportable, programmable, and generally next to useless. Does it do what it claimed? - yes - but not in a manner that's actually useful. (yes I did read the manaul first, and it was a useless on this particular feature as the feature itself!)

Recent frustrations trying to set up a Samsung/Denon/Sony home theatre system for a rellie only served to deepen my cynicism of these consumer oriented products, which look nice on the brochure, but struggle to deliver the features they boast.

On the other hand, Oppo actually have a user group and take (and action) feature requests from their customers. Where these are firmware upgrades they're freely available from the US website.

Anyway, sorry if this has turned into a rant, but my ealier advice stands - buy as good as you can not as cheap as you can, and you'll be much happier with the result.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

ilovemusic

1428 posts

Uber Geek

#461401 21-Apr-2011 17:30

OPPOs are great value in the US.

In overseas markets like NZ their performance as video players can be easily matched by the top Sonys, Panasonics etc.

Mainstream companies whose proprietary video processing can match the boutique names.

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