Considering Panasonic BD50

[bknblk]

I've been reading alot about the Panasonic BD50 and it looks good to me since I have an older Yamaha receiver with 5.1.
I'm almost ready to pull the trigger as I have been able to find it for under $500. But should I wait for the new BD55 that is due out the end of Oct? I see where it is going for $399. Is this is an upgrade to the 50? If so, wondering why it would be less expensive.

Appreciate any advice/input

 

[j_garcia]

The BD50 should be an excellent player. It hasn't even been out that long for the BD55 to be an update to it, but that is possible. The only thing that would make me hold off is the forthcoming Oppo BD player, since there is no official word on pricing. With Sony's $100 price drop recently, I'd be surprised if the Oppo wasn't priced even more competetively, which is why I am waiting also

 

[speakerman39]

The BD50 should be an excellent player. It hasn't even been out that long for the BD55 to be an update to it, but that is possible. The only thing that would make me hold off is the forthcoming Oppo BD player, since there is no official word on pricing. With Sony's $100 price drop recently, I'd be surprised if the Oppo wasn't priced even more competetively, which is why I am waiting also

John, I sure hope you are right regarding the OPPO. Just wished they would hurry up and release it because I will be pulling the trigger here real soon. Kinda getting tired of waiting on the OPPO.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[j_garcia]

John, I sure hope you are right regarding the OPPO. Just wished they would hurry up and release it because I will be pulling the trigger here real soon. Kinda getting tired of waiting on the OPPO.

Cheers,

Phil

Me too, but I also want them to do it right rather than rush it. I don't want a bunch of firmware updates to fix issues like a number of other players. I can wait another month if this thing does everything I need it to.

 

[jostenmeat]

If so, wondering why it would be less expensive.

Appreciate any advice/input

Welcome to the world of AV. Things get cheaper and better at the same time. Just have to decide when to jump on the moving train I suppose.

When I bought my BD-30, it was better than the BD-10, and I believe it was cheaper as well. Get the 55. Should be an excellent player at an "understandable" price.

 

[allargon]

Welcome to the world of AV. Things get cheaper and better at the same time. Just have to decide when to jump on the moving train I suppose.

When I bought my BD-30, it was better than the BD-10, and I believe it was cheaper as well. Get the 55. Should be an excellent player at an "understandable" price.

You gave up a little to get the advantages of the BD30. The BD10AK internally decodes Dolby TrueHD and plays DVD-A's plus has 7.1 multichannel analog outs. The BD30 does profile 1.1, bitstreams lossless audio to a compatible receiver, but only has 5.1 multichannel analog outs.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I think that if you are planning to buy now, then the BD50 is the best stand alone player on the market. I recently installed one and really felt that it was far more usable than the Denon 3800 player that I installed, and was very comparible overall to the PS3 which I've been happy using myself since release day.

Yet, if the question is about the BD55, then I don't have a good answer. Panasonic promised the BD50 about May or June and it certainly didn't seem to hit the streets until well after that point. So, if we are lucky enough to see the BD55 earlier than Christmas I would be suprised.

The Oppo seems to be vaporware at this point with absolutely no street date that I've heard of or MSRP at all. I certainly wouldn't wait for that if I wanted to enjoy BD in the near future. Definitely not before this holiday season as my educated guess.

 

[bknblk]

Thanks everyone....I think at this point I am going to wait until the end of the month and see what shakes out with the 55.....if it really does hit the streets at the end of the month, I'll go with that, but if it is delayed, I'll get the 50....Can't really go wrong either way as I see it (except maybe spending an extra $100)

 

[jostenmeat]

You gave up a little to get the advantages of the BD30. The BD10AK internally decodes Dolby TrueHD and plays DVD-A's plus has 7.1 multichannel analog outs. The BD30 does profile 1.1, bitstreams lossless audio to a compatible receiver, but only has 5.1 multichannel analog outs.

Yes, its true. I also got DTS-MA. I was just patient enough to wait for this to be solved, and the BD30 was one of the very first. PS3 didn't have FW at the time.

Also, with m-ch analogs, I will only get 7.1 if the actual track is 7.1. Cannot matrix 5.1 tracks, yet another reason why I waited to get HDMI enabled DTS-MA.

Then there's that whole LFE and bass mgmt thing.

Then I read from one source I trust quite a bit that bitstreaming is desired to reduce jitter mgmt and digital clocking issues. I asked about that at AVS, and I was told that its not so much the bitstream, but HDCP/HDMI implementation in many receivers. They could do m-ch pcm perfectly fine in theory, but not always. And so I waited until the end of last year.

Otherwise I would have bought the BD10 already.

And besides, the 5 free promotional discs never hurt nobody.

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, no official date from Oppo, but rumor is next month. They don't tend to give out dates until they know for sure they will have the player ready to ship. I can wait a month to find out as I am doing fine with my PS3 for now I wouldn't call it vaporware though because it was confirmed to me in person when I was at their facility, just no street date and as a result of no street date unfortunately, that means it could be next month or next year.

 

[dobyblue]

Thanks everyone....I think at this point I am going to wait until the end of the month and see what shakes out with the 55.....

Good plan - the 55 is going to be worth the wait and you'll probably find it under $399 from quite a few dealers.

I would be very surprised if it's not on the market by Black Friday week-end.

The Uniphier chip/SoC is updated from the 30/50 model.

The 55 will also be a good unit for your multi-channel analog receiver.

http://panasonic.net/avc/blu-ray/dmp-bd35_55/features/authenticsound.html

 

[j_garcia]

Everyone wants to have their product out for Black Friday

 

[Emusica]

Accourding to Amazon, the Panasonic will be out Oct. 28th, they are doing pre-orders now.