Does the player need to have 5.1 channel specified? I ask because I have seen a samsung player that says DTS-HD, TrueHD with 2 channel output and the next model up says the same but 5.1 channel output.
Here they are:
http://www.samsung.com/us/video/blu-ray-dvd/BD-D5500/ZA-specs
http://www.samsung.com/us/video/blu-ray-dvd/BD-D5300/ZA-specs
Thanks a lot!
Ah, I see where you're getting confused. Those Samsungs have onboard decoding. This could get awfully complicated if you let it.
The short answer for you is all current stand-alone Blu-ray players read the HD audio information and pass it out via the HDMI. You don't have to worry about specifying a player that will do this. They all do it.
Onboard audio decoding like the Samsungs and other players have is a feature on top of what I just said above. It's for people who want to plug the red & white phono leads in to a basic stereo system, or need a player with a 5.1 analogue (phonos) connection to their surround amp because it hasn't got a HDMI input with HD Audio decoding. If your Dad is plugging the player in to the TV on a HDMI then those are features he doesn't need, and are a waste of money, and they don't make the player and better quality.
Hmm, so what would be his best bet? He said to me that he wants to get a bluray player now and add surround sound later in the year.
What speaker packages can you get for around £100? I guess they need some kind of built in amp? I doubt he would want to spend much more than that on speakers.
Is the best option getting a Samsung home cinema kit for around £200-250? Maybe tell him to buy it all in one package?
His best bet would be to do what I suggested before. Buy a simple Blu-ray player with a HDMI out and plug it in to the TV now. Then spend £300'ish on a proper (albeit entry-level) surround system later in the year. But that will cost more than he is considering spending.
£100 for some sort of powered speakers is not a smart move. It's a waste of time, effort and money. Don't do that. It's a bad decision.
I understand his reluctance to spend more than the figure he has in his mind. We all of us set a budget before we start looking in to stuff. It's only when we start to look around and realise what things cost for the features we want now and in the future. That's when we can start to make some good decisions.
It may well be that his needs are modest and one of those all-in-one kits is the right answer both now and in the future. But let me ask you, does your Dad have Sky/Virgin or BT for his TV? Is he also likely to want to connect up any other sources? e.g. a VHS machine, a DVD Recorder, a Freeview recorder, a camcorder, a console, a media streamer/player, a PC etc. Can he guarantee that he won't want to do this in the future?
The thing with the all-in-ones is that they're inexpensive and it looks like you get a lot for your money. Don't be fooled. Most of it is window dressing.
After the money is spent you realise that what you need is something with more inputs. You also find that you want something that decodes an external sources. That might not seem important right now, but if you're paying for Sky movies or he fancies a go at Netflixs or you get him a media player and download a tonne of movies or sports programs then you'd like to know that you can hear that is good surround quality, right? You don't want to find that you can't, or that you have to buy some extra bits, or that it involves scrabbling round the back of the TV for some sort of crappy mechanical switch or that the TV stand comes to resemble a jungle of cables. You just want to press a button and go! With an AV amp you can do that. The answer is a simple
Yes.
All those problems I mentioned before - the jungle of cables, buying extra bits etc etc - they're the problems that thousands of people face who went down the all-in-one road. They thought they were doing right at the time, but they were either sold the wrong thing or their needs changed. You and your Dad are at that crossroads right now where you can make a more informed choice.
There have been loads of people who bought a DVD all-in-one and when it came to add Blu-ray they came here for advice. Those who took our advice came back to tell us their surprise at how much better the sound was. Not just Blu-rays but DVDs and even TV; the stuff they were listening to before. A proper AV surround kit just makes a better noise.
