Thinking about Bluray!

Deleted User 234324

Deleted User 234324

Deleted User 234324

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Been considering going for a bluray player, had considered the PS3 route but as i have a 360 already and one really play much in the way of console games, i'd figure saving 100-150 and just getting a stand alone player would suffice.

Any recommendations for a BD player, would like divx/xvid support if possible and the more freebie films included the better really.
 
I was in exactly the same position as you a week ago. I was thinking of selling my 360 for a ps3 or getting a stand alone player.

I went for the Panasonic BD35 and very pleased I did. If I got a ps3 I would have had to start all over again with my game collection and my 360 is fine as a media player.

The playback on the player is very very good, the picture is amazing and I only have a 720p LCD tv. The standalone players are now getting ahead of the ps3 in terms of picture quality etc.

I would say keep your 360 and games. Get a stand alone blueray for £130-180 and it will save you a lot of money.
 
martinturner said:
I was in the same position too; although after lots of investigation I went for the Sony Blu Ray player (the one that won the What HiFi award). Absolute love it! :)
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that would have been the 350 sony but the panny bd35 got better reviews when it came out,had both and the sony is great if you want a quick boot up time as it boots in 8 seconds but i like the panny but picture wise there is no difference
 
I picked up the Samsung BD-P1600 this weekend for a bit of a trial.

All good so far and is Netflix, Pandora, wireless compatible out of the box.

Only things I dislike so far are the cheap looking remote and the fan is slightly loud.

I might change it for the Panny 35 or a pioneer that will be out in the next few months.
 
Also thinking about Blueray as ive seen the Sony player mentioned above for under £120.

I don't have a HDMI connection on my tv though. What would the picture quality be like putting it through component and moving the Xbox to VGA ?

What are the rental companies like for Blu-Ray titles these days ?
 
I've had the BD35 for about a month now. Brilliant bit of kit, and it's a shame Panny keep replacing their models every 2 seconds. The BD60 is more or less the same with a few additions that bump the price up.

It is the second slimmist player around two, aside from that superb looking wall mounted Sammy bugger. Weight wise it is stupidly light.
 
Treated myself to a Samsung BD-P1500 last night as my ye olde worlde dvd player was starting to skip on playback.

I'm amazed at how much sharper and more detail you can see on high def movies compared to normal def. I watched Sunshine last night as my first bluraymovie, and I think I'll watch House of Flying Daggers in glorius bluray, which should be a lot nicer to watch than the version I have recorded from freeview with a bad signal!

The Sammy BD-P1500 is a bit loud at start up, however once the movie starts the player seems to quieten down a little.
 
I bought the Sony just before Christmas. Got a great deal with 5 blu-rays (3 just released) and 3 old DVD's for £149. Would recommend it though I don't think the deals are quite as good at the mo.

It gets awards for being one of the fastest blu-ray players out there apparently. All I can say is that the competition must be painfully slow as it's not that quick!

Not sure why lack of Divx is a problem - doesn't the 360 support Divx?
 
greengiant said:
Treated myself to a Samsung BD-P1500 last night as my ye olde worlde dvd player was starting to skip on playback.

I'm amazed at how much sharper and more detail you can see on high def movies compared to normal def. I watched Sunshine last night as my first bluraymovie, and I think I'll watch House of Flying Daggers in glorius bluray, which should be a lot nicer to watch than the version I have recorded from freeview with a bad signal!

The Sammy BD-P1500 is a bit loud at start up, however once the movie starts the player seems to quieten down a little.
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You might want to give HOFD a miss if it's anything like this review of the US copy.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/16/houseofflyingdaggers.html

Not all HD media is a great step up from SD. It all depends on the source and the time/effort the studio have put into the encode. :(
 
Founder_film said:
The standalone players are now getting ahead of the ps3 in terms of picture quality etc.
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sry but that is an opinion, and I for one do not agree. I was acually considering buying a stand alone player to bit stream HD audio to amp. Compared with Pana BD35, 55, Sony 350 and 550, Pio LX51 and LX71. And could not see any difference in PQ in HD. In the end I didn't buy any since none was better than PS3 - they were the same.

The difference in BD players is not HD but other cappabilities. Audio playback (SACD... * the early 60gb ps3 model has that but I have the 40gb which doesnt), setting adjustments, bitstream HD audio, profile etc...

The Sony remains the most future proof (many firmware updates etc...), streaming/media player, internet, games, decodes all HD audio formats, HDD and fastest loading. Others (not talking about entry lvl BD players) have the edge in terms of audio (jitters, SACD, setting adjust). As for entry lvl BD players the adv is obviously price, quietness of operations, and DVD multiregion; however not all decode HD DTS MA audio. But as far HD sound and PQ for blu rays they all are the same. Perceived differences in HD are placebo imo.

I personally am keeping my PS3 for now and will wait for the upcoming Oppo Blu Ray player for it's superior DVD upscaling, SACD and multiregion DVD -> but that is rumoured to gonna cost about £500 to £600.
 
I'm getting a samsung BDP1500 hopefully dropped off to me this afternoon, Only downside with it is theres a prob with reproducing 5.1 sound apparently, you need an AV amp. Its gonna be used with a 2.1 pc speaker setup for the time being anyways. If it arrives when expected I'll post back with some personal opinions if anyones interested.
 
lunarwolf said:
sry but that is an opinion, and I for one do not agree. I was acually considering buying a stand alone player to bit stream HD audio to amp. Compared with Pana BD35, 55, Sony 350 and 550, Pio LX51 and LX71. And could not see any difference in PQ in HD. In the end I didn't buy any since none was better than PS3 - they were the same.
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I agree here, there's not a lot you can do to the picture when all you want is unchanged 1080p passing over HDMI. It's then down to your display. If you want a player that post-processes the image before sending over the HDMI then that'd be down to personal preference but you can't say one is better than the other.....unless you're a videophile and want to justify spending huge sums of money ;)
 
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Well I got the sammy BDP1500 this afternoon but I've only tried it on a 23" samsung screen, (native res 1366 x 768 I think it is). Just plugged into the screen with an hdmi cable, selected hdmi input and away I went, no hassle, no bother. Extremely impressed with picture quality even on such a lowly specced tv, sound quailty was acceptable too considering samsung tv are not reknowned for good audio quality. Very crisp, sharp picture with great looking colours which even impressed the management (wife). Load times were shorter than expected as I'd heard these could be rather long in duration. Player also very quiet, didn't notice it running at all and the remote, which I had read somewhere, was supposed to be rather badly laid out and of poor quality, was easier to use than me old cambridge jobbie, appeared to be laid out better, and quality was ok to me at least.
Wrt sound, I can't comment 'cos i'm not gonna be using it with a 5.1 surround system (maybe later on if funds permit), but when I get the player hooked up to me 32" 1080p capable LZD80 screen, I'll try it with a creative itrigue 2.1 speaker setup as I have these lying around doing nowt atm. :)

Edit: WooHoo, just noticed I've now hit the 5000 posts mark. :)
 
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