Blu-ray Players

[Sonnie]

Has anyone found a Blu-ray Player that they are happy with yet? I noticed they have come down in price, but I do remember they have had issues and the video quality has been less than expected.

I'm about to pick up the Toshiba XA2 and was thinking about going ahead and snagging a Blu-ray Player as well.

[AverageJoe]

Turncoat.

Actually, I understand the best Blu-ray performer is probably the Pioneer BDP-HD1, but it's also waaaay beyond my budget.

Until something drastic happens (with prices or the HD "war" ), I guess I'll have to stick with the HD-A1.

[Sonnie]

Yeah... I mean NO... I ain't gonna spend that much... nope! If they get one down in the $750 range that will play BR DVDs as good as the XA2 will play HD DVDs then I'll consider buying one. I guess that's what you mean buy drastic...

[Tommy]

I've owned one for about a half a year now, paid 1k for the Panasonic. Mainly for the promise of better audio tracks such as TrueHD and DTS-HD.

But what they implied and what they released were two different things. The version of support they winded up having for DTS-HD was a lower version then the Master Audio actually being recorded on titles such as Fox releases.

The cheapest is probably the PS3. However I just wouldnt recommend it to anyone until Blu-ray actually finalizes there own format specs. In Nov 07 profile 1.1 will come out but that profile still does not include network support which wont be mandatory till profile 2.0. I dont even know when 2.0 is due out.

[wbassett]

Sonnie wrote:

Has anyone found a Blu-ray Player that they are happy with yet? I noticed they have come down in price, but I do remember they have had issues and the video quality has been less than expected.

I'm about to pick up the Toshiba XA2 and was thinking about going ahead and snagging a Blu-ray Player as well.

I am very happy with the PS3, and it is fast too.

This weekend I will do the firmware update which enables SDVD upconversion as well as a slew of other updates. I went with the PS3 for a few reasons. One was cost and reviews. It is one of the least expensive BD players but also one of the fastest. (Not to mention when I was in the store buying my TV and checking out players, the Samsung player blew up on us and refused to read any discs) It has some negatives with audio, but it still sounds fantastic on my JVC receiver so that's all that counts. As far as video quality, it is superb. As we all know it also depends on the movie too and how well it was mastered... Casino Royal was stunning and blew my brother away. T2 was good but nothing spectacular, it did look fantastic, but so did the upconverted image on the A2 with just the standard def DVD. Kingdom of Heaven never looked so good, and MadMax The Road Warrior was a joy to watch.

The other reason is it is a pretty powerful system (the multiple cell processors have some HP that has yet to really be tapped) and I honestly feel it will be the most upgradeable via firmware. From what I see it has more raw horse power than any other player out there. Now the question is will it be utilized?

Lastly... if BD loses the format war (Like Sony is famous for doing), I still have not only an excellent player, but a media player and a game console.

I think Sony missed the boat though. They should have included the remote and a free HDMI cable, especially with the $600 unit. The remote is $25 and well worth it... HDMI cable I got from RiteAV for something like $5.99 or some insane price like that, and that was for a 15' cable, the 6' cable is only around $4 and the premium 6' cable is $15.. so Sony definitely wouldn't go bankrupt if they included a free cable. Actually none of the companies would.

I know others like a dedicated machine, but I am very happy with the PS3 as a Bluray player. I see it more as a Bluray player that can also play games more than a game console that plays Bluray discs.

Don't get me wrong, I love my A2 and plan on getting an XA2 down the road. The only thing I don't like right now is standing in Best Buy for 45 minutes unable to decide on which HD DVD or Bluray movie I want!

[Tommy]

I'd agree with wbassett as a stand-alone owner I would only recommend the PS3 if someone was to definetly be buying into BR at this time... It is the best value of all the players and has the best chance of being updatable to the new specs and features coming. Also Id say the remote is a must since a regular universal remote will not work with it

[Snatcher]

I have to echo the above responses. I've had an HD-A1 since august, and went for the PS3 on December. I must say that it is a great BR player. It did start with some issues though, but most of them are solved now.

Of course you'd need HDMI to get the best audio quality, no analogs like in the Toshiba player, but the speed is incredible. It is a very responsible player.

I was very concerned with its upscaling and deinterlacing back in December (I took several pics, you can view them at http://aurbina.vox.com even if the page is in Spanish the pics speaks for themselves.

I must say that it has been worked into an excellent DVD player. It still doesn't put the pillars on some 4:3 DVDs, but the scaling and deinterlacing went up almost to the point of matching my Oppo (tested with HQV and DVD Test Annex)

The problems I've found are with 720p though. I still doesn't downscale from 1080p to 720p nicely. I only use 1080i at home since that is my TV's native resolution, but my cousin does have a 720p TV and a PS3 as well, and we ended up using 1080i as output from the PS3, since it looked way better on his screen (the test patterns on blu ray discs helped with this).

I would also recommend getting the remote controller, it is way more confortable. This might also be an issue fro some people, since it is Bluetooth only (no univeral remote will work here).

[wbassett]

I just did the update to 1.81 and started a thread on that. This machine is a real 'machine'

This was the easiest firmware update I have ever done on anything... my own computer, servers at work... CISCO routers... this was a breeze.

Phillips has a player for $600 that has five free movies IN THE BOX, which is a very attractive deal, especially considering I still haven't gotten my five free movies from Toshiba yet... I personally feel that the format war is far from over though, but Toshiba really screwed the pooch on their five free deal.

Deep down I still like and prefer HD DVD even though I am format neutral. For me personally, more of the movies I like are on HD DVD, but I acknowledge that is existing movies... unless HD DVD keeps up with future releases that all can change. I am thoroughly impressed with the PS3 as a BD player, but my wife and I watch movies on our A2 literally every night and it looks and performs very well and at half the price of what I had to pay to become neutral. I still say a person has to look at the list of available movies on each format and compile their own list of what they like to watch before making a snap decision. Format neutral has its problems too... like standing in front of the Best Buy selections for both formats for an hour or more and not knowing what you want to buy or in what format!

I must say though, when one of the salesmen came up to me and saw I had Bluray discs and HD DVD discs in my hands and said 'Do you know those are two different formats and they won't play on the same player?' (Except for the LG, but he didn't say that)-- and I replied that I have both players, the look on his face kinda felt good in a non-biased way

Still I feel that this 'war' isn't over by any means. One camp has the movie studios, the other has the price and quality, albeit I may have just given a personal edge to the overall PS3 quality... whoever can get a player for $150 or under with sufficient titles as well as new releases will ultimately be the winner.

Black Friday will be a very important day for the High Definition War. (Anyone a Space Above and Beyond fan? This sounds a lot like the AI war )

Sonnie... I digressed I know. The PS3 doesn't have the audio options that some of the other players have and that is something to take into consideration, but it is a very respectable unit. I hear the Samsung BP1200 is good, but personally after seeing the previous unit go south when I was testing HD TVs and it refused to recognize any disc, that left me a little leery about Samsung. Phillips has instant gratification with five free movies, and my brother bought one and is sufficiently impressed, but I don't know enough about that player to make a statement one way or the other.

The PS3 does support HDMI 1.3, and I feel it is the most upgradeable. It will all depend on what receiver you have and what the future AV receivers can do with TRUEHD. Right now the PS3 is limited audio wise, but it may not be down the road. Don't over look it just because it's a 'game console'.