Which Blue-ray player?

B

Billybob51106

Limp Gawd
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Mar 28, 2002
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Looks like it is time to upgrade the old DVD player, instead of just buying a cheapo Blue-ray player through bixbox mart, I want to do it smart.

I have a Samsung 40 inch 1080P, I will be connecting through HDMI. We will be using Netflix to stream wireless. I just want a good player that will not crap out right away, something that is descent, but what is a good one?

-Bill
 
Second the PS3 if you play games, and want to rip your blu-rays to a central source and then play them back on various streaming players through the house including the PS3
 
I use a Panasonic BD-60, got it because I have a Panasonic Plasma and had less failures than the Samsung that was in the same price range at the time, $120-140 in December of 2009.

Since you have a Samsung TV, I would look at the Samsung players first.
 
Third on the PS3. I've been looking at the Oppo BDP-93 but I really can't justify it when the PS3 does everything as it is.
 
If you are willing to pay for it, the PS3.

For playing Blu-rays via HDMI it can not be beat.

I actually own the Oppo BDP-93; it upscales DVDs better than the PS3 in my opinion (I have both), it plays SACDs (unlike the new model PS3s), and it can output up to 7.1 analog with more than decent SQ, but the PS3 is a far better bang-for-your buck product.

(I got the BDP-93 as I was very happy with my 83 and wanted to mess around with 3D; my receiver is HDMI 1.3a so the dual HDMI outputs on the BDP-93 really helped me out. So, in my case it was out with the 83 and in with the 93.)
 
Vengance_01 said:
Second the PS3 if you play games, and want to rip your blu-rays to a central source and then play them back on various streaming players through the house including the PS3
Click to expand...

Except the PS3 is infected with Cinavia, so you can't actually play back your rips (with Cinavia) on it... (yeah, I'm aware of the "workarounds")
 
Another vote for the PS3. I love mine, hardly play games on it. I mostly use for it's media abilities. :)
 
If you're a super picture quality nut, look at the oppo BD players. they're expensive but do everything. If you're not, just get a panasonic or the like. They're cheap and decent.

Tesla said:
If you are willing to pay for it, the PS3.

For playing Blu-rays via HDMI it can not be beat.
Click to expand...

Really? picture quality and ease of use are no better than a panny or LG model and it costs 3x as much.. If all you want is a blu-ray player, either get a cheap network connected model or a true high-end model. my parents LG BD570 will act as a media extender too, so no win for the PS3 there.
 
Vengance_01 said:
What do you mean?
Click to expand...

Cinavia is a watermark within the audio track of movies. The watermark is detected by Cinavia enabled players (such as the PS3), and will mute the audio or stop the playback when the watermark is detected and the playback medium is not "authorized" (your rips). There's a lot of discussions over in the forums at SlySoft and DVBFab.

You can read a brief article about it (not entirely accurate, but somewhat informative) at
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011/02/01/cinavia-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-care/

This will only affect you if you intend to use your PS3 as a media player. It will not affect it as a bluray player (originals). The selection of titles using Cinavia is not yet very large, but it is expected that more and more titles will contain it.
 
OP didn't say anything about using the player as a media player, though.


As far as picture quality goes, it doesn't really matter what player you get. For blu-ray you won't even notice a difference in picture quality between the high end Oppo BDP-93 and PS3. Where you will notice a difference is in DVD upscaling which may or may not be important to the OP.

IMO though where you WILL notice a difference between a $100 player and something like the PS3 is in load times. I have an old sony BDP and a PS3 and the BDP is slow as shit.
 
The OP's initial post lead me to believe that the PS3's price was not much of an issue.

Anyway, a few things that the PS3 has going for it:

HDMI is constantly evolving, and the PS3 is the only player that I know of which has been able to keep up thus far, because of its internal hardware.

The PS3 is also amongst the fastest "players" to load media, and, at least for me, slow players tend to really, really bug the heck out of me.

You can get cheap network connected players, but, while good, I do not see them as being as robust as the PS3 is in that area. You simply have more options with the PS3, especially if you are willing to tinker with installing software on it.

Picture quality for Blu-ray is the same across all (reputable) players, but the PS3 does have better DVD upscaling than most players. (Again, it is not quite at the Oppo's level, but it is pretty good.)

Sound from the PS3 used to be better too for those with HDMI receivers to do the processing, but, unfortunately, I believe that the new model PS3s no longer support bitstreaming, or so I have heard - I hope this is not the case.

Honestly though, we are in an age where digital content delivery and specifications are evolving rapidly; thus, the PS3's biggest strength is its ability to evolve and take on new content and capabilities. Sony will be with the PS3 for at least the next two or three years; whereas with most Blu-ray players, if something changes they are unlikely to update their current line via software and will simply release new models, forcing you to upgrade if you want what changed.

Activate: AMD said:
If you're a super picture quality nut, look at the oppo BD players. they're expensive but do everything. If you're not, just get a panasonic or the like. They're cheap and decent.



Really? picture quality and ease of use are no better than a panny or LG model and it costs 3x as much.. If all you want is a blu-ray player, either get a cheap network connected model or a true high-end model. my parents LG BD570 will act as a media extender too, so no win for the PS3 there.
Click to expand...
 
I agree with all of your other points..

TESLA said:
Sound from the PS3 used to be better too for those with HDMI receivers to do the processing, but, unfortunately, I believe that the new model PS3s no longer support bitstreaming, or so I have heard - I hope this is not the case.
Click to expand...


The new slim PS3 supports HDMI bitstreaming of DD and DTS. I believe the original fat PS3 is the one that didn't support bitstreaming and had to downmix to PCM before sending to whatever your HDMI receiver was.
 
I could have, quite possibly, gotten it backwards...

Looks like I did, my bad - in a good way!

I guess you can add that to the "benefits over inexpensive players" column as well then.

jdk said:
***snip***

The new slim PS3 supports HDMI bitstreaming of DD and DTS. I believe the original fat PS3 is the one that didn't support bitstreaming and had to downmix to PCM before sending to whatever your HDMI receiver was.
Click to expand...
 
TESLA said:
I could have, quite possibly, gotten it backwards...

Looks like I did, my bad - in a good way!

I guess you can add that to the "benefits over inexpensive players" column as well then.
Click to expand...
I've never seen a recent dedicated BD player that didn't support bitstreaming, so again, no advantage to the PS3. I'm not saying that its not a good BD player, but if you want a BD player, we've said that theres no measurable PQ difference between a $100 panasonic and a $300 PS3. In that case, why not just get the panasonic and then when something down the line comes out that has features you don't have, just get another one.. even at another $100 you're saving money. Its nice to say that the PS3 has updates and whatnot, but eventually the hardware will limit you again and you're going to have to buy something new. If games aren't an issue, why not just get somethign that does what you need for 1/3 the price? I don't think OP was saying that he had an unlimited or large budget.. he just wants to do it "smart" by not buying some POS sylvania that dies in 6 months. the "smart" answer is buy a name brand BD player in the $100-120 range.. the PS3 is overkill on several levels
 
jdk said:
OP didn't say anything about using the player as a media player, though.
Click to expand...

No, but the media capabilities was mentioned by others, so I felt it was relevant information. It would certainly affect my decision.
 
Billybob51106 said:
Looks like it is time to upgrade the old DVD player, instead of just buying a cheapo Blue-ray player through bixbox mart, I want to do it smart.

I have a Samsung 40 inch 1080P, I will be connecting through HDMI. We will be using Netflix to stream wireless. I just want a good player that will not crap out right away, something that is descent, but what is a good one?

-Bill
Click to expand...

Oppo. I've owned two Oppo units and have never been happier. Bulletproof, sick fast, and plays everything. Pricey. I am using a BDP-83 currently.
 
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