What Blu-ray Player Should I Choose?

[FSUguy]

I'm trying to figure out what would be the best Blu-ray player to choose out of the following models ONLY, because I can get them for pretty cheap. I plan to use this mainly for Blu-ray and upconverting to my Toshiba 50" (720p, but accepts 1080i) rear projection LCD. The video and audio will be running though HDMI to my Yamaha rx-v1800. Thanks.....models are as follows:

1) Samsung BD-P1400/X
2) Sharp BD-HP20U
3) Samsung BD-P1200
4) Sony PS3
5) Sony BDP-S300

 

[mfabien]

1) Samsung BD-P1400/X This one I have and happy with it. LFE issue over multichannel analogs corrected with update 1.5
2) Sharp BD-HP20U ?
3) Samsung BD-P1200 Owners are complaining about lack of updates from Samsung
4) Sony PS3 Recommended by most users
5) Sony BDP-S300 Lossless codecs not decoded

 

[mouettus]

If you're like me and get pissed off at slow load times, then get the PS3. It`s almost as fast as my DVD player. Also, you get all the fun of having a gaming system, a "media server", wireless internet, update abilities (thinking about profile 2.0 here).

Don't you touch the Sony either. It does not decode the hi-def audio formats. I hope firmware will fix this someday but at the same price or higher than the other ones, it's a sinking ship.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've got the ps3 and with the exception of not (yet?) having DTS HD MA decoding I'm very happy with it (the Pans labrynth 7.1 dts ma track only plays in 5.1 @ 1.5mps). AFAIK all my friends have the ps3 for hi-def and everyone has been happy too.

Jack

 

[mouettus]

I've got the ps3 and with the exception of not (yet?) having DTS HD MA decoding I'm very happy with it (the Pans labrynth 7.1 dts ma track only plays in 5.1 @ 1.5mps). AFAIK all my friends have the ps3 for hi-def and everyone has been happy too.

Jack

I've heard things about hardware inabilities to play DTS HD MA for PS3. That's why a firmware would be useless. What fraction of the movies has DTS HD MA tracks anyways? I've only seen TrueHD and Uncompressed PCM so far.

 

[mudrummer99]

I like the sony, plus BB employees get the largest discount on it.

Mike

 

[mouettus]

I like the sony, plus BB employees get the largest discount on it.

Mike

Do you like BOSE? lol

 

[mudrummer99]

God no, in all my time at BB, I have NEVER sold a Bose system

Mike

 

[jostenmeat]

I've heard things about hardware inabilities to play DTS HD MA for PS3. That's why a firmware would be useless. What fraction of the movies has DTS HD MA tracks anyways? I've only seen TrueHD and Uncompressed PCM so far.

That's what I've read too. That it uses the most basic Silicon Vastline HDMI 1.3 chip of the three available. If it had support for MA, I would've owned a BD player for a year instead of just a couple months now. Otherwise, its pretty impossible to argue with the value of a PS3. Best machine for 99% folks out there.

FSUguy, another to put on the list is the Pana BD-50 to come out soon. Just make sure there is no -5db cut in lfe as with BD-30 (though rumors are that the next FW 1.5 is to correct it). But, as with "future decoding possibilities", its always more reassuring to have it "out-of-the-box" just to be sure, whether BM or anything else.

 

[mouettus]

That's what I've read too. That it uses the most basic Silicon Vastline HDMI 1.3 chip of the three available. If it had support for MA, I would've owned a BD player for a year instead of just a couple months now. Otherwise, its pretty impossible to argue with the value of a PS3. Best machine for 99% folks out there.

FSUguy, another to put on the list is the Pana BD-50 to come out soon. Just make sure there is no -5db cut in lfe as with BD-30 (though rumors are that the next FW 1.5 is to correct it). But, as with "future decoding possibilities", its always more reassuring to have it "out-of-the-box" just to be sure, whether BM or anything else.

To me, the simple fact that it's as fast as a dvd player was enough to make me use it as a blu-ray player only. but then i got hooked on nhl08!

Yes the chip is the cheapest... but it's a gaming rig. not made to be the best-of-all-media-centers. I really can live without HD-MA. It's not like we're missing all the hi-def audio formats, as with the S300 from Sony (what a shame). Even a stand-alone as fast as the ps3, at the same price, i wouldn't even think about it. 400$ is the cheapest you can have and ps3 is the best all-around solution out there right now.

- "Hansel (PS3); he's so hot right now!" Zoolander

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've heard things about hardware inabilities to play DTS HD MA for PS3. That's why a firmware would be useless. What fraction of the movies has DTS HD MA tracks anyways? I've only seen TrueHD and Uncompressed PCM so far.

I've heard both it does and it doesn't have the ability to play dts hd ma tracks. None of the info I've seen or heard is from a rock solid source, just a lot of rumors both way.

To the best of my knowlege, so far only a handful of movies have a dts hd ma track. Regardless, at the moment, with dts hd ma, I only get 5.1 channels from a 7.1 track. I'm losing 2 channels of sound. As some one with a 7.2 setup, that is a concern.

Jack

 

[jostenmeat]

I've heard both it does and it doesn't have the ability to play dts hd ma tracks. None of the info I've seen or heard is from a rock solid source, just a lot of rumors both way.

To the best of my knowlege, so far only a handful of movies have a dts hd ma track. Regardless, at the moment, with dts hd ma, I only get 5.1 channels from a 7.1 track. I'm losing 2 channels of sound. As some one with a 7.2 setup, that is a concern.

Jack

I am not sure what you've been hearing exactly, but you do get lossy "core" stream from MA. Just not the "extension". You do not even need hdmi to get access to the core (though perhaps at a higher bitrate). Optical should give you double the max bitrate of legacy DTS. Perhaps this is the source of your confusion.

Paidgeek is THE Sony rep at AVS forums. So far he has never alluded to any solution for fully lossless extension-stream MA support. I believe the onus is on Sony to definitively say it can, and until then...

But then again, the PS3 continues to surprise.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I am not sure what you've been hearing exactly, but you do get lossy "core" stream from MA. Just not the "extension". You do not even need hdmi to get access to the core (though perhaps at a higher bitrate). Optical should give you double the max bitrate of legacy DTS. Perhaps this is the source of your confusion.

Paidgeek is THE Sony rep at AVS forums. So far he has never alluded to any solution for fully lossless extension-stream MA support. I believe the onus is on Sony to definitively say it can, and until then...

But then again, the PS3 continues to surprise.

I'm happy with the sound dts hd gives me, though it's not MA, it still sounds great. BTW, I'm using an hdmi cable which is capable of a 7.1 signal.
The 2 channel loss i'm refering to is that currently the PS3 will only ouput dts hd in 5.1, not 7.1.

"The system does not support output from DTS-HD 7.1 Ch.
DTS-HD 7.1 Ch. audio is output from 5.1 or a lower channel."​

That was copied from the PS3 user guide, under audio output settings. (also page 9 of the quick reference guide included with the player)

Jack

 

[Audioholics]

I find it hard to recommend a Blu-ray player until they get Profile 2.0 released across the board and prices drop. The PS3 is the sole exception (since it's got the AV power to be updatable via firmware) but that's a bit klugey for an interface if you're not into gaming...

Considering the audio and video output is digital via HDMI, I'm having a very hard time differentiating between $1200 players and $400 players (for Blu-ray use). We're looking at running through some batteries pretty soon.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I find it hard to recommend a Blu-ray player until they get Profile 2.0 released across the board and prices drop. The PS3 is the sole exception (since it's got the AV power to be updatable via firmware) but that's a bit klugey for an interface if you're not into gaming...

Good point. My PS2 finally died out completely. So wanting both a new game system and a BD player was my driving force in getting the ps3.

Considering the audio and video output is digital via HDMI, I'm having a very hard time differentiating between $1200 players and $400 players (for Blu-ray use). We're looking at running through some batteries pretty soon.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to those.

Jack

 

[mouettus]

but that's a bit klugey for an interface if you're not into gaming...

I don't know if I am understanding it correctly but how blonde do you have to be not to be able to start a ps3 and go to the video icon and choose your movie? heck, it even starts automatically upon disc insertion.

 

[FSUguy]

I find it hard to recommend a Blu-ray player until they get Profile 2.0 released across the board and prices drop. The PS3 is the sole exception (since it's got the AV power to be updatable via firmware) but that's a bit klugey for an interface if you're not into gaming...

Considering the audio and video output is digital via HDMI, I'm having a very hard time differentiating between $1200 players and $400 players (for Blu-ray use). We're looking at running through some batteries pretty soon.

So am I understanding that the PS3 can't send 7.1 audio over HDMI until there is a firmware update?

 

[gus6464]

The raw cpu power of the PS3 has shown though that it doesn't need fancy chips for you go get great performance out of it. I've seen the upconverting quality of the Reon chip on the XA2 and the PS3 is just as good without using any special chips, just raw power. Remember when it first came out and upconversion quality was horrible and one firmware update turned it into one of the best around. The DTS-HD/MA spec states that all that is required is HDMI 1.1 to support the format. I can easily see the cpu on the PS3 decode this on it's own.

 

[mouettus]

The raw cpu power of the PS3 has shown though that it doesn't need fancy chips for you go get great performance out of it. I've seen the upconverting quality of the Reon chip on the XA2 and the PS3 is just as good without using any special chips, just raw power. Remember when it first came out and upconversion quality was horrible and one firmware update turned it into one of the best around. The DTS-HD/MA spec states that all that is required is HDMI 1.1 to support the format. I can easily see the cpu on the PS3 decode this on it's own.

Agree. I neven thought I'd see the difference between upconverting gear but the PS3 really got me surprised. I've had poor 4:3 480p content (comedy stand-up) stretched to 16:9 and upconverted to 1080p and I really saw the difference. I guess my toshiba up-converting dvd player really is crap then. At least it came with a decent 6ft HDMI cable.

Cant wait to see if they will be able to decode DTS HD-MA or even bitstream the signals.

 

[satish536]

It would be good to know finally whether the PS3 has the ability to do DTS-MA or NOT?.

In another thread some owners said it would be able to decode DTS-MA(after firmware upgrade) and pass it via hdmi in LPCM multichannel. That wouldnt be too bad to live with since we do get the other gaming/hd/wlan advantages its not too much of a compromise that it cant pass bitstream.

Even if there are either ways of passing DTS-MA "work/would work" through the PS3 then it pretty much as good as any other BD player since itll have atleast the basics all right(audio/video formats).