Best budget Blu player with internal Audio decode?

[superchad]

Hey all,
As my system is just fine I dont want to have to invest in HDMI upgrade as it gets really expensive at the seperate Processor level. In learning about the new formats which I happily held off on till one was killed off I understand if the Blu player has internal advanced audio decode capabilities I can hook up Multi-Channel RCA and get the advanced audio I would like to incorporate along with gain in video.
Being on fixed income I am in a price sensitive position so I want to know best budget options with this decode feature.................thanks as always.

[mechman]

Hey Chad!

I moved this down to the Blu-Ray forum as I believe it fits there better!

mech

[superchad]

Anybody? I was posting it in General because I figured it may have better traffic.....any help would be fantastic...thanks!

[hddummy]

There are currently no players on the market that will internally decode ALL of the latest codecs. You will have to wait for the sony BDP-S550 for 7.1 in all the codecs. If you are willing to use 5.1 the Panasonic DMP-BD50 will also be coming soon. I imagine both will price in at around $500. If you are willing to forgo DTS MA and use only 5.1, the Samsung BD-P1400 is your best bet and can be found for $400 or less. Personally, I would wait a while longer to upgrade.

[superchad]

Thanks for the reply, yup I am going to wait....I have been burned by early adoption before and my room size and preference demands 7.1................thanks again!

[hddummy]

No problem. Check out this website for a good summary of each player's functionality.

http://www.idoblu.co.uk/page2%20Blu-ray%20Players.html

Keep in mind that there are very few movies that are actually mixed with a 7.1 soundtrack. If you are using your 7.1 direct analog inputs on your AVR, you will likely not be able to mix audio to your rear speakers with PLIIx or similar. If you want 7.1 on these movies, you will probably have to connect an SPDIF optical cable as well and use the downmixed 5.1 (DD or DTS) signal from the player to your AVR. Maybe even more importantly, many AVRs don't apply any bass management or signal processing to the discrete analog inputs.

Here is a list of blu-ray movies and their soundtrack info. I'm not sure if this 100% accurate, but it's something to go by.

http://mysite.verizon.net/ruvic/bluray-audio.htm

[htaddikt]

That's a good link. Keep in mind it's from the UK and there may be finite differences in some features, etc.
I pointed out to the author that the LG duo players are shown with 5.1 and 7.1 analog audio outputs.
But if you go to the LG website, specs and manuals confirm (as well owners on various forums) that this is not the case.
Strangely, he sent me a very small photo of an LG player (back only) that looked like it had analog audio outputs. But the connectors were all to one side, on the LG in question they are close to center. Very strange. I suggested it was either a different model or non-US version...

Appreciate the link to the BD disks. There is generally confusion about what tracks are present and which ones can be detected, decoded, or re-encoded for DTS bitstream. Not all are handled the same way by all players.

[superchad]

Thanks again, I know there is as of yet no true 7.1 but seeing as I run 7.1 speaker configuration and have no intention of upgrading my Processor for just HDMI (as I run video direct via HDMI to Projector) any time soon I feel buying a 7.1 is best bet to help avoid the early adoption blues. From Sony PS3 with no DTS support to other units that wont decode "this" or dont do "that" I want to try to avoid these mistakes and future regret. In the time between a new Processor with HDMI I want the most ideal unit to run 7.1 RCA, ofcourse I can run Digital Tos or Coax aswell if needed. Cheers

[Blaser]

hddummy wrote:

There are currently no players on the market that will internally decode ALL of the latest codecs. You will have to wait for the sony BDP-S550 for 7.1 in all the codecs. If you are willing to use 5.1 the Panasonic DMP-BD50 will also be coming soon. I imagine both will price in at around $500. If you are willing to forgo DTS MA and use only 5.1, the Samsung BD-P1400 is your best bet and can be found for $400 or less. Personally, I would wait a while longer to upgrade.

I agree with you. The BDP-S550 is IMO the best player for those who need complete internal decoding.

[Blaser]

Ummm Internal audio decode... But what about bass management??

[Blaser]

BD player owners,

Does your players who internally decode audio codecs provide bass management?