Best mass market BR DVD player

dephinistr8 wrote: »

Personal opinion: PS3
Fast Blu-Ray, HDMI 1.3, Blu-Ray 2.0 ready...
Although I haven't tried the others, this is the one I use and I really like it.

This is the only one currently available that can be updated to 2.0. Either get a PS3 or wait.

Neil, it really depends what you want to do with the lossless audio tracks. Do you now have, or do you plan to buy an HDMI equipped receiver? If so, does it (or will it) have decoding capabilities for TrueHD or DTSMA?

The BD30 is the only one out right now that is proflile 1.1 andwill send DTSMA and TrueHD (as well as other formats) in bitstream. This is the best way if you have one of the newest HDMI 1.3a receivers. I believe the Pioneer Elite can bitstream all the formats, but it is not Profile 1.1 (and its double the price).

If you have an older receiver that is HDMI equiped, but cannot decode TrueHD/DTSMA, BUT it can accept multichannel PCM, then the PS3 is probably the way to go. The PS3 decodes everything internally (except DTSMA) and sends out as multichannel PCM over the HDMI.

If you have a receiver that doesn't have HDMI and you don't plan to upgrade, then you might want to find one that has internal decoding of all the major formats and can send via analog output to your multichannel in. The Panasonic BD10a comes to mind, but they have been on clearance and may be very hard to find.

PS3 does all blue ray and more. The 20gb and 60gb units can run older games.

engtaz

If you have an older receiver that is HDMI equiped, but cannot decode TrueHD/DTSMA, BUT it can accept multichannel PCM, then the PS3 is probably the way to go. The PS3 decodes everything internally (except DTSMA) and sends out as multichannel PCM over the HDMI.

It can bitstream the older codecs (DD, DD+, DTS, etc). The PS3 just can't bitstream the new ones (TrueHD, DTS HD-MA).

My personal choice was also the PS3, which is why I bought one. Even if you're not into gaming, the PS3 is competitively priced and has many more features then standalone players eg: media center (movies, pictures, music), Internet browser, all on top of the gaming aspect. If you are really set on a standalone player, then I suggest waiting until some of the new models come out. Marantz just announced a player coming out before the end of their fiscal year (before March 2008). There are lots of new options.

The PS3 trumps everything in the Blu-Ray world. I like them so much, I have 2.

I believe the Ps3 is the best Blu Ray player on the market. If you never load a game into it, it's well worth it's asking price and actually more.

What most don't understand(myself included then) is the fact the Ps3 isn't a game system, it's a media unit. It's a internet browser and a music server. You can store your cd collection in it depending on which hard drive you choose. I chose the 80g as I wanted it to be a music server. I have alot of standard CD's that I wanted to store. I have a 300 disc Pioneer ELite Mega changer but it sits in a box in my basement. As good as it sounds and as nice as it is, I perfer a hard drive over it as it's much faster and easier to find my music. For cridical listening I still have my Pioneer Elite Dv47a SACD/DVD AUDIO player for that role. But for all other listnening, I now use the Ps3. Actually playing cd's it sound just about exaclty the same. I record in Atrak 352. I find it to recreate the cd exactly. No loss. AAC320 also sounds excellent. Most cd's are recorded poorly so trying to uphold a higher standard for that is nuts. For me anyway. I'm thinking of Ditching the Pioneer ELite and finding a Killer Sony Es SACD player for my SACD and highest audiophile quality cd collection. Not that the Pioneer does a bad job but I probably could squeek a few more details with a high end es player.

For Blu ray the only downfall is no 6 channel out. I don't find this to be any problem. If you really want to hear HD audio, then get a 1.3a HDMI preamp or receiver. 1.1 can get it done once the Ps3 has been upgraded to DTS MA. You can right now pass Dolby HD over 1.1 with the Ps3.

I don't have HDMI preamp or receiver yet. I use Optical out of the Ps3 and there has been times I had to laugh out loud on how effin good the damn thing sounds. You do get the plus side of the new audio formats over Optical if your preamp / receiver has the latest DNA converters before HD audio. I own the Rotel rsp1068 and it woks wonderful. I'm not in as a hurry as I was when I just owned HD DVD. I find my audio to be fantastic the way it is. I will upgrade once I find the right replacement.

I find no reason for anyone who wants Blu Ray to not own a Ps3. Even if you don't use the Internet Browser, even if you don't use it's front card loader for camera pic's , even if you don't take full advantage of it's audio media abilities, even if you never ever play a game in it , it's still the best and only upgradeable Blu Ray player there is. Not to mention it's the fastest loading one on the market by far.

PS3 rules.

Did I mention it's a steal at all asking prices??? I paid full retail for mine and I love spending every single penny. If it was more, I would have paid more. I believe this player is very under priced. I could see it costing 1200.00 or more for what it can do and how well. If it was however 1200.00 or more I would only expect IR control from the factory for better custom Install. Nothing wrong with using Blu Tooth or a Ir Adapter to get it to control but I believe this is the only thing they lack in. Custom control don't use Blue Tooth control to interface with it. Crestron might have something worked out but not everyone can even dream of owning Crestron.

I did however forget to mention that if you have a 1.3a HDMI preamp or receiver you can steam SACD over HDMI??? The ps3 does this allday. How effin cool is this thing???

Here are the specs released at CES 2008:

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=810

You just can't find a comparable player currently available today...

BD version 1.1* is NOT going to be a "must have" by any standards.

If you don't care about not having DTS-HD, then yes...the PS3 is probably your best bet.

Ps3 sounds great with DD and DTS track

but for true HD it's bad.

My vote goes for a real blu-ray player, with high quality sound. I have the PS3 and I think is not a quality cd player the quality of digital convertion is very bad and offer lot of jitter and dynamic compression.

For example, If I listen to a track of dave matthew Blu-ray in Dolby tru-HD, I must put the PS3 to PCM out in optical. I only get stereo sound that dont distort....not 5.1

If not, In bitstream I get dynamic distortion of the voice and guitar in the show even at low volume. So even in bitstream or PCM, the sound is bad or not 5.1.....only stereo.