Help for a friend?

[captiankirk28]

My friend asked me what blu-ray player he should get?

Wel i asked him first what AVR he had, he has a Harman Kardon avr347 and he said that it decodes true hd and such but i did a little reserch and found out that it does'nt, so i was wondering what would be his best bet, he said that his budget is $400 to $500.

Thanks

 

[jostenmeat]

Assuming the HK handles m-ch PCM, you could get a Pana BD-35 for $231, and have it internally decode the bitstreams. Of course, with that nice of a budget, you can get a PS3 as well instead. If not a gamer, the BD-35 offers better BD playback and offers easier switching of audio outputs (read: don't have to go into menu).

I don't see it up now, but just earlier today, and for a while, there's been a $100 rebate sale with 4 warner titles in combo. Basically, that comes out to around $200-210 with 4 titles and player...

The Pana is the best BD player for the money, however, it cannot output DVD at 480i if you wanted to use outboard VP for that. Its also not quite as sexy cosmetically.

Otherwise, I really don't understand why people choose anything else, really. I mean with anything close to that price point. Players like Samsung offer good DVD playback, but that would simply be not worth it for all of the other failings, including poorer BD playback and FW support, historically.

 

[mike c]

OT: is the only difference between the BD35 and BD55 the analog outs?

 

[allargon]

OT: is the only difference between the BD35 and BD55 the analog outs?

The BD55 also plays DivX files.

I have a HK-AVR 247 which is the same as the 347 with less power and no secondary remote for zone 2. It accepts 7.1 multichannel PCM *AFTER* a firmware update.

The Samsung players don't internally decode DTS-HD MA.

His best bet would be a Panny DMP-BD35, 50, 55, a PS3 or the pricey Denon and Pioneer players. (I didn't mention the Sony 550, as I wasn't sure if the DTS-HD MA update was out yet.)