What is the best Blu-ray player available now?

**Sonnie** · **01-09-08, 04:35 PM**

I know there are several that own the PS3 and believe it's the best BD player available right now, but in your opinion, experience and/or research, what would be the best standalone player right now?

**tonyvdb** · **01-09-08, 04:54 PM**

Reading all the reviews and now owning one. I read and can say that the Samsung BDP1400 is one of the best available for the money and that the upconversion is second to none. But I think that any player that has the HQV rayon processor is going to look good.
EDIT: the Samsung is Only Blu-ray Profile 1.0 compliant, so it will not play some bonus features on some new discs in 2008 but that may be upgradeable in a firmware update at some point.

**John Simpson** · **01-09-08, 04:58 PM**

Certainly from everything I've read, the PS3 is the best *functioning* Blu-Ray player available. Having a massively-powerful processor on board means that transitions, pauses, etc are all kept to a minimum... one hi-fi magazine said that the other stand-alone players were dinosaurs in comparison.

For quality, I'm not sure there's a huge difference between them, but I have heard the PS3 can have some issues with copy protected material and bitstreaming (I'm not sure what, so you might need to Google it). The PS3 is also region-locked for both Blu-Ray AND regular DVDs, and I haven't heard of an unlocking service as yet.

One thing that did annoy me: it won't play SACDs through optical-out, which may be related to the copy-protection thing. HDMI is okay though, I believe.

The PS3 looks pretty neat, but definitely doesn't fit in with my other hi-fi gear. And make sure you budget for the remote as well. I tried using the controller but finally relented last week and bought the remote -- so much easier.

**tonyvdb** · **01-09-08, 05:02 PM**

Quote:

John Simpson wrote:

I tried using the controller but finally relented last week and bought the remote -- so much easier.

I wonder if you can use the Harmony remotes with it? The PS3 certainly is a good option.

**John Simpson** · **01-09-08, 05:09 PM**

Quote:

tonyvdb wrote:

I wonder if you can use the Harmony remotes with it? The PS3 certainly is a good option.

Nah, the proprietary PS3 remote is a Bluetooth device (the Harmony is IR or RF, yeah?).

You can buy IR remotes on eBay (they have a USB key that plugs into the front of the PS3) and that might work... but I'm not sure of their quality.

**Sonnie** · **01-09-08, 05:10 PM**

In the midst of this... let me ask a few questions about the PS3...

Can it be place horizontally on a shelf instead of vertically?

Will it output 1080p/24?

Is it 1.3 HDMI compliant?

Does it upconvert SD-DVD and is it comparable to the standalone units upconversion?

EDIT: Also am I right that the 80GB unit has a wireless network card?

**John Simpson** · **01-09-08, 05:14 PM**

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

In the midst of this... let me ask a few questions about the PS3...
Can it be place horizontally on a shelf instead of vertically?
Will it output 1080p/24?
Is it 1.3 HDMI compliant?

Yes to all of the above.

We're now up to firmware update 2.1, and there's been a bunch of goodies from those (the wireless connection is flawless, very well implemented).

Knowing that Sony is discounting these units in order to gain market share and sell games, it's pretty much impossible to find a comparable player at the same price.

(And no, I don't work for Sony

. I actually hated the PS2 and tried desperately to like the XBox360, but really there's no comparison.)

**Sonnie** · **01-09-08, 05:22 PM**

Hmmm... although I don't really care about the games, this is looking better and better by the minute. I like the wireless connection and the fact they keep it upgraded.

I wonder though if it is as good upconverting SD as my XA2 is? The XA2 just does a marvelous job.

**John Simpson** · **01-09-08, 05:27 PM**

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

I wonder though if it is as good upconverting SD as my XA2 is? The XA2 just does a marvelous job.

Yeah, the upconverting of standad DVDs was added in update 1.4. Seems to do a terrific job, but I have no reference with other players (I kinda doubt it does it as well as a dedicated scaler).

Oh, one thing that is also pretty neat: as soon as you insert a disc, it switches itself on and goes into movie mode. No mucking around with PS3 menus etc... it's like Sony knew many buyers wouldn't even look twice at their games.

**Sonnie** · **01-09-08, 05:43 PM**

It looks like the remote may be bluetooth and not IR. Do they make an IR remote so that I can learn the commands into my Universal MX-810? Having to use a separate remote would end my consideration of it immediately.

Does it pass the audio via HDMI as well?

**John Simpson** · **01-09-08, 05:49 PM**

Re: the remote, see my second post above.

I'm pretty sure the HDMI 1.3a does everything -- but my plasma only has component, so I haven't tried it personally (I use component/optical out). Both the HDMI and component cables are sold separately.

**Sonnie** · **01-09-08, 05:54 PM**

Well poo-nanny on the remote. I think that wound it up for me. Why in the world if Sony thought of everything else to accommodate those who only wanted to use it for a Blu-ray player in their HT, why would they not realize we would need and IR receiver in the unit with a regular IR remote for our learning remotes?

EDIT: It also appears you cannot program macros to power on and off the unit. Another bummer.

Okay... back to real players that have all the necessary features I can live with. The PS3 is out!

Any others besides the BD-P1400?

**John Simpson** · **01-09-08, 05:59 PM**

Yeah, I dunno. Is Bluetooth better for going through walls or something?

Might be worth trying one of those Chinese-made IR remotes though... otherwise my IR-relay system in the new house is messed up!

**Sonnie** · **01-09-08, 06:16 PM**

Bluetooth would be nice if they made a Bluetooth/IR combo learning remote, but they don't. You could get the USB IR receiver, but you will still have to either use the Bluetooth remote to power on and off the system or do it manually, which would defeat the entire purpose of me getting the MX-810. I was ready for the PS3 for a few minutes there, but Sony developers blew it!

**Sonnie** · **01-10-08, 01:09 AM**

I haven't really given the Panasonic DMP-BD30K much thought, but it looks like it might be more promising than the Samsung.

**bobgpsr** · **01-10-08, 08:36 AM**

Get the new Pany BD50 when it comes out next quarter. More audio codecs and BD Live (profile 2.0) capability.

**MrPorterhouse** · **01-10-08, 08:52 AM**

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

I haven't really given the Panasonic DMP-BD30K much thought, but it looks like it might be more promising than the Samsung.

A couple of comments.

Regarding the PS3, there are some remote solutions just hitting the market now that allow for full function control with a universal IR remote, like Harmony remotes, etc...
http://www.schmartz.com/product.sc;j...=1&productId=4
This still requires you to use a PSP to enable the Power ON code, but you only need the PSP 1 time, so if you know someone with a PSP, you can just borrow theirs. This will enable every feature and function.

There is the ever-popular Nyco IR solution that does everything except Power ON/Off. Its cheap and effective. Very Well received.
http://www.nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=113

Then, Upconverting standard DVD's. The PS3 is good. Its not as good as the Toshiba XA2, which is top-notch, but the PS3 will perform as well as your other good upconverters out there.

Now, as to which Blu-ray player is the "Best" option. I'd have to say at this point, I'd still go PS3. In the standalone region, that Panasonic BD30 is very good and probably the best option in standalones. The newer version, BD50, looks to be outstanding, but won't be availible until Q2 2008 and will cost around $599. I'd say, currently, the BD30 is a very good choice. Its a bitstream player for high rez audio, meaning that you'll need a receiver that can decode the Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio. The PS3 and the BD50 will internally decode the audio and pass as PCM.

**Sonnie** · **01-10-08, 01:27 PM**

I really want the Samsung 5000, since it will probably be the best of the upconverting, but posts like the following are discouraging. He really could not have said it better... from AVS:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjgasp

I've owned the BDUP-5000 for several weeks now. I dearly wanted this player to do all that I thought it would be capable of doing. I've spent way too much time on the forums reading others thoughts, speculation, etc. The strongest impression I take away from all of this is the question - when did we as consumers start to settle for inferior products that plain and simple don't WORK? I'm amazed at the apologists on the forum (many of whom I suspect are employed in some facet of the electronics industry.) They fall into several categories:

1) Those that entreat us to trust that Samsung will do the right thing and fix all of this unit's shortcomings;

2) Those who point out the things that it does well despite its flaws, and;

3) Those who say that it's new technology and of course its going to have its glitches.

As I said before, I had high hopes that this would be the panacea for all of my dual format, HMDI, advanced audio codec woes. Alas, I mourn you, dear BDUP-5000, for you are the unrequited love of my audio/video yearnings.

**Sonnie** · **01-10-08, 01:33 PM**

Quote:

MrPorterhouse wrote:

A couple of comments.

Regarding the PS3, there are some remote solutions just hitting the market now that allow for full function control with a universal IR remote, like Harmony remotes, etc...
http://www.schmartz.com/product.sc;j...=1&productId=4
This still requires you to use a PSP to enable the Power ON code, but you only need the PSP 1 time, so if you know someone with a PSP, you can just borrow theirs. This will enable every feature and function.

Then, Upconverting standard DVD's. The PS3 is good. Its not as good as the Toshiba XA2, which is top-notch, but the PS3 will perform as well as your other good upconverters out there.

Now, as to which Blu-ray player is the "Best" option. I'd have to say at this point, I'd still go PS3. In the standalone region, that Panasonic BD30 is very good and probably the best option in standalones. The newer version, BD50, looks to be outstanding, but won't be availible until Q2 2008 and will cost around $599. I'd say, currently, the BD30 is a very good choice. Its a bitstream player for high rez audio, meaning that you'll need a receiver that can decode the Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio. The PS3 and the BD50 will internally decode the audio and pass as PCM.

Hmmm... you may have my attention again on the PS3. I have actually read that it does pretty well on upconverting... comments that regular SD looked almost as good as BD, which is what I'm used to with the XA2. Although it makes sense the XA2 would top the PS3 by at least some margin due to the different chips.

My biggest beef was the remote control and powering on and off. We just purchased a PSP for our daughter at x-mas... I'll have to look into this option.

**avaserfi** · **01-10-08, 01:37 PM**

I am kind of confused here Sonnie - you are looking for the best high def player but are getting caught up in upscaling

. While upscaling has some importance I would focus more on the HD capabilities of the player. BTW if you are really interested in the PS3 despite the remote remember it is a powerhouse and Sony has said they plan on increasing the upscaling capabilities of the unit further. Also, I think Toshiba was showing off the upscaling power of the Cell at CES and from all the reports I read it did an absolutely amazing job.

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