Thinking about Blu-ray

[dholmes]

Im thinking about getting into Blu-ray, how many brands are there out there? thanks

[Monster Jam]

Sony and Samsung for sure. LG perhaps?

Cheesy will be on this thread shortly with a full run-down of Blu-Ray products and their merit as the technology of choice. LOL

[dholmes]

Thanks

[Sherardp]

Sony, LG, Samsung, Pioneer, Panasonic, and the Sony PS3 being the cheapest to enter the format. I have had nothing but a positive experience with it myself. I have a Sony Standalone player, updated firmware and it has been superb. If you are ready to get into it I would say go for it and dont look back.

[dane_peterson]

If you're trying to cut costs, the 20GB PS3 will be cheapest by several hundred dollars (if you're buying new). Sony will be releasing a $599 BluRay player in a few months, which will make it the most affordable standalone BDP on the market.
LG has a BD/HD-DVD combo player that retails for $1199. If having both formats interests you, that may be another route to take.

[MikeC78]

BTW,

If you go to www.sonystyle.com and open up a Sony CC, you get $100 off your purchase. You could pick up the 20g PS3 for $400.

Mike

[dane_peterson]

Nice find, Mike! I might have to do that...

[MikeC78]

I just recently did it with the 60g model, last I checked they were out of the 20g. They might have more in stock at the moment?

Mike

[Huck344]

LG has a BD/HD-DVD combo player that retails for $1199. If having both formats interests you, that may be another route to take.

The LG has gotten some pretty bad reviews. No HDi support, no 5.1 sound through HDMI cable, no HDMI 1.3. For $1200, you would think all those would be included. I think LG rushed to get this on the market. It would be great to have a device that completely supported both formats.

[MikeC78]

^ I agree, not to good of a buy right there.

BTW, You also get free shipping from SonyStyle if you purchase by the 1st.

You can also have both formats for about $800! www.ValueElectronics.com has the Toshiba HD-XA1 Player on sale for $399 and that includes shipping. Grab the 20G PS3 off of SonyStyle with a new Sony CC purchase and get that for $400 with free shipping. There you go, format free for about $800!:)

Found the Sammy stand alone player for a good price, http://www.secondact.biz/product/BDP1000RB

Now you can have two stand alone players for $850!

Mike

[Huck344]

This may be a dumb question, but why are blu-ray players so much more expensive than HD?

[dane_peterson]

They're not. Some of the earlier HD-DVD players didn't support 1080p, and their price reflects that. Feature to feature, they are priced about the same.

I hadn't read reviews on any of the units, so thanks for the heads-up on the LG.

[MikeC78]

This may be a dumb question, but why are blu-ray players so much more expensive than HD?

It's called subsidizing, Toshiba did this quit heavily with the 1st gen of players.

Thank goodness for the format war! Competition is grand!:)

[cheddar]

Yep, what's nice is that with anything from Toshiba or Sony you have a good chance of actually getting the hardware at a point where it's being sold at a loss for either company. For instance, the first ps3s were probably giving you $200 of hardware for free to take it off their hands.

Competition is indeed grand...;)

[Ron-P]

The only bad thing about the PS3, no analog outs so you cannot take advantage of the uncompressed PCM tracks. I landed the Sammy BD-P1000 for $569 (total) and it's been a fantastic machine so far.

[cheddar]

+1 on what RonP said. The other thing is that you're limited to Sony's bluetooth remote. So if you like having everything in an IR universal remote you're stuck adding an extra one. Bluetooth does work from the next room though...

In any case, if you wait until summer, like someone said above, you might be able to get a cheaper player (around the price of the sammy) even more capable than Sony's current top of the line. I guess you can decide for yourself whether the extra features (possible hdmi 1.3) are worth the wait:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9691343-1.html

[MikeC78]

The only bad thing about the PS3, no analog outs so you cannot take advantage of the uncompressed PCM tracks. I landed the Sammy BD-P1000 for $569 (total) and it's been a fantastic machine so far.

Why not? Use HDMI to a capable receiver.

[cheddar]

Yep hdmi 1.1 and above should be able to pass the signal from the ps3. But not everyone has one of these. And if you're thinking of upgrading, you might want to wait until the hdmi 1.3 capable receivers come out later this year. Denon has some coming out and some of them even do true HD and DTS-MA decoding.

[Sami]

They're not. Some of the earlier HD-DVD players didn't support 1080p, and their price reflects that. Feature to feature, they are priced about the same.

No 1080p support, doesn't matter, PQ will still be the same so that's not a reason.

[dholmes]

But there is still no pre-pros out there that decodes the new hdmi 1.1-1.3 correct?? thanks

[Ron-P]

No pre-pros yet but Outlaw is working on one, not sure when it will street though.

It will be quite a long time before I upgrade to any type of HDMI so I need players with analog outs.

[cheddar]

Well, here is denon's monster compatible with hdmi 1.3. It should be out later this year as well. But don't expect it to be cheap...

http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CESpr...nSeparates.php

...but boy is it loaded with video processing capabilities. :D

[MikeC78]

No pre-pros yet but Outlaw is working on one, not sure when it will street though.

It will be quite a long time before I upgrade to any type of HDMI so I need players with analog outs.

These new HDMI Pre-pros comming out are going to be interesting...

Might just give the Anthem D2 a run for it's money!??!

Mike

[PoLk FaN]

I love my PS3, you get a great game system and BR!!