Blu Ray Players

[Toolfan66]

What Blu Ray Player would be a good upgrade from my Samsung BDP1500?
Price range $500 to $600. i have been looking at the Pioneer Elite BDP 05. a guy at Ultimate Electronics said it is the same as the Pioneer BDP 51FD w/o the Elite tag but cheaper,is this true?

[irishaz]

Check out AVS forum and look in the blu ray player threads. They outline the differences between the 05 and the 51. The biggest difference is the analog audio DAC if I remember correctly. I just picked up the 51 from Amazon for around $270 and I feel it performs very well, especially at that price. I gather it was a little buggy early on, but firmware updates have corrected most (if not all) of the problems. I personally feel it is an upgrade over my PS3, but that is pretty subjective. Load times are very slow, so if that is an issue for you, you might want to consider something else.

[raidersrule76]

I also have a 51 and agree that the load times are very slow, wish I would have known that before buying its almost annoying. But thats what you get for listening to the A$$ hole salesman at BB, guess I'll know better next time.

[leroyjr1]

Sony PS3

[Mike21]

If I could afford to upgrade my Samy 1500 I would get the Pany BD55K:

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...00000000005702

[danger boy]

If I could afford to upgrade my Samy 1500 I would get the Pany BD55K:

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...00000000005702

Ummm nice thought.. but the Panny BD55 is discontinued.. and they are going for around $600 + if you can even find one. Great player.. just like DVD-Audio it had a very short lifespan.

The new Pannys are expected out this year some time.. and should be just as good as the 55 from what I have been reading. :)

[adam2434]

Perhaps wait on the release of the new Oppo due out soon...

[Sherardp]

If you can wait it out until April you can pick up one of the new Pioneer players soon to be released. I think I'm going to jump on one myself and move my Panasonic BD30 to the bedroom.

[CaligulaPolk]

PS3 ALL THE WAY


not a ps3 fanboy but strongly recommend best blu-ray player out there in the market. CANT GO WRONG WITH PS3:p

[digitalvideo]

If you can wait it out until April you can pick up one of the new Pioneer players soon to be released. I think I'm going to jump on one myself and move my Panasonic BD30 to the bedroom.

Sherardp is 100% correct, the new Pioneer 2.0 profile blu ray players are coming out in April for around $299 - $599 and from seeing them at the 2009 CES show the audio and video quality is superior to the Sony, Samsung, Panasonic.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/07...lu-ray-player/

[Sherardp]

PS3 ALL THE WAY


not a ps3 fanboy but strongly recommend best blu-ray player out there in the market. CANT GO WRONG WITH PS3:p

Nothing wrong with PS3, however not all of us want a game console for BD playback. I am one of those people. Give me the Elite with the better DACS, superior upconversion, and more.

[Marty913]

Nothing wrong with PS3, however not all of us want a game console for BD playback. I am one of those people. Give me the Elite with the better DACS, superior upconversion, and more.

+1, on any given day I've got 3-4 computers torn apart around here. The last thing I need is another spinning hard drive just to watch a movie. I think they make perfect sense for a game player, maybe not so much for some of us that don't.

It sounds like the Pioneer and Oppo will be the predominant choices on the forum in the coming months. It's nice to have choices.

[Toolfan66]

Looks like i will wait till April.

[Montoya]

I have a Sony 550 I have no issues with. I will however transfer this player to the bedroom once the new pioneers come out. I opted not to get a pioneer the first round because of the sub par load times reported by others.

Looks like i will wait till April.

[danger boy]

I would think by now the PS3 is outdated if anything.. old DAC's, old technology... anything older than a year in electronics is considered outdated these days.. except maybe amps. ;)

PS3 released November 17, 2006 in North America.

[MikeC78]

I would think by now the PS3 is outdated if anything.. old DAC's, old technology... anything older than a year in electronics is considered outdated these days.. except maybe amps. ;)

PS3 released November 17, 2006 in North America.

Hell NO, the PS3 is the most up to date player on the market. Thanks to the constant firmware updates, it decodes all the new audio codecs and is also 2.0 compliant. More than you can say for than about any other stand alone player on the market, the PS3 still has the fastest load times of any BD player. There is a reason they used the Cell-processor to make it future proof.

[cheddar]

I would think by now the PS3 is outdated if anything.. old DAC's, old technology... anything older than a year in electronics is considered outdated these days.. except maybe amps. ;)

PS3 released November 17, 2006 in North America.

While my next blu-ray player may be a higher end dedicated one as players are being promised in the next year that FINALLY may compete with the ps3 feature set, you have to remember how players are made before you just assume the ps3 is outdated. A lot is said about the ps3 being a game machine as if somehow that should make it less capable somehow.

But the opposite is true. Blu-ray playback is a lot easier in many aspects than rendering a modern interactive HD console game and playing that game via multiplayer online. So blu-ray dedicated players come to the market with the bare minimum of processing power, memory, internet capability etc. to get the job done and turn a profit.

By contrast, the ps3 is basically a specialized PC that is optimized for video and audio playback. You can even run the computer OS Linux on it. So it has way more processing, memory, and internet capability than dedicated blu-ray players will EVER have simply because even the Profile 2.0 spec is far too inadequate to meet the demanding requirements of console gaming. In addition, dedicated blu-ray players have to be sold at a profit whereas the ps3 has been sold since 2006 at a loss.

So you can do things on the ps3 like a robust BD-Java implementation (when you see those busy loading graphics, it's the Java that's taking so long or at worst causing errors in playback) that was not possible with dedicated players until now. And even now, the ps3 is likely to have more headroom in its hardware than new players coming out for better firmware implementations of processor or memory hungry applications. A primary example being the ability of the ps3 to get dvd upconversion via a firmware update (something pretty much impossible with dedicated players lacking an upconversion chip in the first place).

That said, I think that people can oversell the ps3 as the best player for everyone, especially those without HDMI. It's weaknesses were there from the beginning with no multichannel analog outs (making the quality of internal DACS, old or not, irrelevant). And the ps3 uses bluetooth by default, not IR for its remote.

But in the digital domain, with blu-ray audio and video via hdmi, new players are coming out that only match or slightly exceed the ps3's quality and feature set. So depending on specific needs, the ps3's higher quality general computing chips may still offer more bang for the buck than updated specialized chips (but limited in upgradability) coming out in new players.

[Sami]

I would think by now the PS3 is outdated if anything.. old DAC's

There are no analog surround outputs, it's either HDMI or toslink.

[Rike255]

If you're looking to improve load times, the PS3 beats all (I think) standalone players on the market by a large margin. Even if you're not into gaming, the PS3 is a fantastic media center as well. Regular firmware updates also helps keep it up-to-date.

No analog outputs though unfortunately. It also can be a little noisy (compared to other players). You can also find standalones for cheaper (although your price range is higher than the PS3 anyways).

[mantis]

While my next blu-ray player may be a higher end dedicated one as players are being promised in the next year that FINALLY may compete with the ps3 feature set, you have to remember how players are made before you just assume the ps3 is outdated. A lot is said about the ps3 being a game machine as if somehow that should make it less capable somehow.

But the opposite is true. Blu-ray playback is a lot easier in many aspects than rendering a modern interactive HD console game and playing that game via multiplayer online. So blu-ray dedicated players come to the market with the bare minimum of processing power, memory, internet capability etc. to get the job done and turn a profit.

By contrast, the ps3 is basically a specialized PC that is optimized for video and audio playback. You can even run the computer OS Linux on it. So it has way more processing, memory, and internet capability than dedicated blu-ray players will EVER have simply because even the Profile 2.0 spec is far too inadequate to meet the demanding requirements of console gaming. In addition, dedicated blu-ray players have to be sold at a profit whereas the ps3 has been sold since 2006 at a loss.

So you can do things on the ps3 like a robust BD-Java implementation (when you see those busy loading graphics, it's the Java that's taking so long or at worst causing errors in playback) that was not possible with dedicated players until now. And even now, the ps3 is likely to have more headroom in its hardware than new players coming out for better firmware implementations of processor or memory hungry applications. A primary example being the ability of the ps3 to get dvd upconversion via a firmware update (something pretty much impossible with dedicated players lacking an upconversion chip in the first place).

That said, I think that people can oversell the ps3 as the best player for everyone, especially those without HDMI. It's weaknesses were there from the beginning with no multichannel analog outs (making the quality of internal DACS, old or not, irrelevant). And the ps3 uses bluetooth by default, not IR for its remote.

But in the digital domain, with blu-ray audio and video via hdmi, new players are coming out that only match or slightly exceed the ps3's quality and feature set. So depending on specific needs, the ps3's higher quality general computing chips may still offer more bang for the buck than updated specialized chips (but limited in upgradability) coming out in new players.

Very well said.
The only player right now that i feel I would buy for myself is the Pioneer Elite BDP09fd but it costs 2200 which I find alittle high. It does not support SACD which is a downer but I don't think it's a deal breaker. According to everything I have read about it and learned from Pioneer , it's the very best sounding player and video quality on the market. It has the very best 6 channel out performance out of all Blu ray players made. The DAC configuration is Impressive as well as the built quality.

I would already own the BDP05fd if it has Ethernet connection. Why it doesn't is a shame. It's a fantastic CD / DVD / and Bluray monster. I love everything about this player except load times and no Ethernet. You have to download the firmware updates and burn them on a disc , then rip it to it's memory. Sucks ass.

I don't like any other stand alone yet to replace my PS3. It was a home run then and still has not been beat all around. Sure the Pioneer looks better in the video side, but thats not enough to live with it the way it is.

Shame,

Dan

[digitalvideo]

Hell NO, the PS3 is the most up to date player on the market. Thanks to the constant firmware updates, it decodes all the new audio codecs and is also 2.0 compliant. More than you can say for than about any other stand alone player on the market, the PS3 still has the fastest load times of any BD player. There is a reason they used the Cell-processor to make it future proof.

The PS3 is a great player for video games and an all around performer, but the latest blu-ray players coming out have some advantages especially when a Pioneer Kuro is hooked up to a Pioneer reciever and Pioneer BD player, they have special features that can only be accessed when connected together.
You can also get firmware updates on many stand-alone BD players like the new Pioneers coming up that have USB ethernet ports on the back to download any new updates online. I think they're all coming out with USB ethernet ports to download updates. I just need to learn how to download the updates, not sure how to yet.

[cheddar]

The PS3 is a great player for video games and an all around performer, but the latest blu-ray players coming out have some advantages especially when a Pioneer Kuro is hooked up to a Pioneer reciever and Pioneer BD player, they have special features that can only be accessed when connected together.
You can also get firmware updates on many stand-alone BD players like the new Pioneers coming up that have USB ethernet ports on the back to download any new updates online. I think they're all coming out with USB ethernet ports to download updates. I just need to learn how to download the updates, not sure how to yet.

The ps3 has been a proven value for several years now. The new pioneers may well be good players like you said. However, the 'special' features you like to talk about every time someone asks for blu-ray advice may be of questionable value especially since Kuro TVs will be discontinued and the benefits have yet to be proven as more than marketing speak. Not saying they won't eventually prove to have value. But I think that the benefits of the pioneers as the solution to every blu-ray choice thread can be oversold just like the ps3 isn't the perfect solution for every user. They certainly can't replace the ps3 as a media center in my rig. And any marginal improvements in picture and audio quality would seem to come at a big price for the higher end units.

[danger boy]

The PS3 is a great player for video games and an all around performer, but the latest blu-ray players coming out have some advantages especially when a Pioneer Kuro is hooked up to a Pioneer reciever and Pioneer BD player, they have special features that can only be accessed when connected together.
You can also get firmware updates on many stand-alone BD players like the new Pioneers coming up that have USB ethernet ports on the back to download any new updates online. I think they're all coming out with USB ethernet ports to download updates. I just need to learn how to download the updates, not sure how to yet.

downloading updates is easy.... as long as you're BD player is hooked up to the internet. I have mine wireless.. and you just go in the menu and select update.. and it downloads in and installs it in about 20 minutes. I just updated my Panny from 1.6 to 1.7 firmware. didn't notice much difference, but I did notice the drawer opens and closes a smidge faster now. ;)

I just think that current model stand alone BD players meet or exceed a PS3 except for load time.. which in the long run, who cares if my BD player takes 30 seconds longer than a PS3 to load.. I have 30 seconds I can squeeze into my day somewhere. :p

[MikeC78]

The PS3 is a great player for video games and an all around performer, but the latest blu-ray players coming out have some advantages especially when a Pioneer Kuro is hooked up to a Pioneer reciever and Pioneer BD player, they have special features that can only be accessed when connected together.
You can also get firmware updates on many stand-alone BD players like the new Pioneers coming up that have USB ethernet ports on the back to download any new updates online. I think they're all coming out with USB ethernet ports to download updates. I just need to learn how to download the updates, not sure how to yet.

Yes, but what exactly are the advantages? What's so special about these features? It's mostly a marketing scheme for Pioneer, nothing more.

If you get your Pioneer display ISF calibrated the Kuro link offers nothing, because it will be by-passed.

[MKZ]

downloading updates is easy.... as long as you're BD player is hooked up to the internet. I have mine wireless.. and you just go in the menu and select update.. and it downloads in and installs it in about 20 minutes. I just updated my Panny from 1.6 to 1.7 firmware. didn't notice much difference, but I did notice the drawer opens and closes a smidge faster now. ;)

I just think that current model stand alone BD players meet or exceed a PS3 except for load time.. which in the long run, who cares if my BD player takes 30 seconds longer than a PS3 to load.. I have 30 seconds I can squeeze into my day somewhere. :p

How do you connect wireless? Do I need wireless bridge? Thanks.

[CaligulaPolk]

How do you connect wireless? Do I need wireless bridge? Thanks.

you need wireless router, dont need bridge if you have wifi built in ur computer/ or electronics, wireless router will connect your wifi on computer or electronics.

[MKZ]

I have a wireless router. Does BD-55 has wifi built-in?

[Danny Tse]

Perhaps wait on the release of the new Oppo due out soon...

Oppo BDP-83 owner's manual....

http://www.oppodigital.com/Download/...ish_Manual.pdf

[digitalvideo]

I have a PS3 and it's a good machine, but at the 2009 CES show the new Pioneers, Sony, Oppo stand alone BD players are superior now in terms of audio/video quality for DVD/Blu Ray, CD music especially when hooked up to a reciever. You'll ask for specifics, I went by my eyes and ears on all the display booths from Pioneer, Sony, Oppo, Panasonic and all the new 2009 stand alone players are amazingly cheap for everything you get, they are selling from $299-599.

There are advantages to hooking up a new Pioneer BD, Pioneer Reciever, Pioneer Kuro -=
HDMI Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS) Jitterless Transmission ››(LPCM Multi/2-ch): By HDMI connection with a compatible Pioneer A/V receiver, for the first time in the world, A/V sources such as Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, as well as CD music are precisely reproduced with minimum jitter.

KURO LINK: By connecting the BDP-23FD to a Pioneer KURO flat panel TV or monitor and a compatible Pioneer A/V receiver, KURO LINK lets you operate the entire system’s basic functions such as power on/off and playback through KURO’s remote control. The new KURO LINK Video Adjustment System automatically switches to optimal video settings adjusted by unique parameters developed by Pioneer KURO and Blu-ray Disc player engineers.
Exclusive Jitter Reduction Circuit››: Utilizing a Pioneer developed IC, this circuit digitally reshapes the waveform of the audio clock to greatly reduce jitter for all content.

[digitalvideo]

If the PS3 was so great then Sony wouldn't have pushed it to the back of the room at the 2009 CES show so they could wheel out their Sony BDP-S5000ES to compete against the Pioneer BDP-09FD which both blew the PS3 out of the water in all aspects of performance. Both the Sony BDP-S5000ES and Pioneer BDP-09FD are the two best blu ray players you can get on the market, you just got to pay an arm and leg for them though.