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Advice on buying a blu-ray player

post #1 of 10
3/16/10 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
 I am looking for a blu ray player. I am looking for something that will also play CDs and Movies. I have no Idea how much I would need to spend. I have seen them priced for about $150 and up. I do not want to spend too much on it because all I am going to do is  pop in a disc and either listen or watch and listen. But is there a reason why I would want to buy something for 2 or 3 hundred dollars. 

I am slowly trying to build a home theater/stereo system. 

Thank You

steve
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post #2 of 10
3/16/10 at 12:38pm
All Blu-Ray players will play CDs and DVDs.

Differentiating features on most Blu-Ray players right now is built-in wifi and the ability to stream movies from online services such as NetFlix, Blockbuster, Pandora, Hulu, etc.

Some players are more expensive because they include analog multi-channel audio outputs which are necessary if you want to hook up the player to a receiver that does not natively support the HD audio codecs found on Blu-Ray, or is not considered HDMI 1.3 "Repeater".

To me, the most important feature to look for in a player is to make sure it is profile 2.0, not 1.1 or 1.0.  Profile 2.0 players support all of the BD-Live features that some movies utilize.  I'm pretty certain that all of the latest models available are profile 2.0.
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post #3 of 10
3/16/10 at 4:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Charlton View Post

All Blu-Ray players will play CDs and DVDs.

Differentiating features on most Blu-Ray players right now is built-in wifi and the ability to stream movies from online services such as NetFlix, Blockbuster, Pandora, Hulu, etc.

Some players are more expensive because they include analog multi-channel audio outputs which are necessary if you want to hook up the player to a receiver that does not natively support the HD audio codecs found on Blu-Ray, or is not considered HDMI 1.3 "Repeater".

To me, the most important feature to look for in a player is to make sure it is profile 2.0, not 1.1 or 1.0.  Profile 2.0 players support all of the BD-Live features that some movies utilize.  I'm pretty certain that all of the latest models available are profile 2.0.
 Does having a Sony STR-DE197 make any difference?
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post #4 of 10
3/16/10 at 5:07pm
More expensive BluRay players will also do a better job of up-converting regular dvd's to near 1080P HD as well to varying degree's of success. But if just watching movies and listenning to music is the most you will do with it then the Panasonic 60, Samsung 1600, Sont 350 or LG 370 should be more than adequate and can often be found on-sale for as little as $129. House brands like Insignia can also perform very well according to those that own them and you can get an extended warranty fairly cheaply.

Quote:
Does having a Sony STR-DE197 make any difference?
 

Since the 197 is a stereo receiver you won't be able to take advantage of all a BluRay has to offer. I'm pretty sure BluRay disc's have a stereo option in the setup menu but I've never really looked before.
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post #5 of 10
3/16/10 at 5:28pm
Quote:
 
...can often be found on-sale for as little as $129. House brands like Insignia can also perform very well according to those that own them and you can get an extended warranty fairly cheaply.

The Insignia (Best Buy/Future Shop house brand) BRDVD3 has been on sale for as low as $99.99 and supports Netflix streaming and firmware updates over the internet via an Ethernet cable.  I have the wireless version, because my home theater installation is too far from my router.  I picked it up on sale for $129.99 last year, but haven't seen it quite that cheap since.  And I do love it. 

Regards,

Joe
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post #6 of 10
3/26/10 at 3:59am
I would be interested watching movies and listening music with blu ray player. Can any one explain about the features of the blu ray player. and how much spend i will get it?
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post #7 of 10
3/26/10 at 4:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgehenry View Post

I would be interested watching movies and listening music with blu ray player. Can any one explain about the features of the blu ray player. and how much spend i will get it?
Explaining the features is a very open ended request.  You need to determine what you want out of your player before choosing one.  In my case, I wanted one that would decode the new HD sound formats and have analog audio outputs.  I ended up with a Samsung that also streams Blockbuster, NetFlix, Pandor and YouTube.
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post #8 of 10
3/26/10 at 6:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgehenry View Post

I would be interested watching movies and listening music with blu ray player. Can any one explain about the features of the blu ray player. and how much spend i will get it?
 

George - what kind of display do you currently have?  Is it HD?  How large is the screen?

What about surround sound - do you currently have a 5.1 or greater speaker setup?

Depending on your setup, you may not realize many of the benefits Blu-Ray has over DVD, in which case, Blu-Ray may not be worth the investment for you.
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post #9 of 10
3/26/10 at 12:01pm
Panasonic's BD players do an EXCELLENT job of upconverting SD DVDs to damn near HD quality. Amazon has them for around $120.
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post #10 of 10
3/26/10 at 3:58pm
Here's a link to wikipedia that has so much technical information about BluRay it will probably put your head in a tail-spin. Come back with some more specific questions and we'll be glad to answe them. Nobody has enough time to cover it all in one reply .

For me, up-scaling SD content and DVD-A/SACD playback were the most important things. I'm not into that BD Live stuff or streaming from Netflix yet but Pandora would have been nice. Customer service and build quality were also very important to me since I plan on having this thing for quite a while so waiting for the OPPO 83 was the right move for me.

I also bought a Pioneer BD-51FD to go with my Elite things. I just couldn't justify spending another $300 for the Elite BD-05 when the regular old Pioneer model did everything I needed it to do as well as the Elite model did them. The 05 would have looked better in my rack, though.

Bought a Panasonic BDP-60 for my brother for X-Mas. It's a very solid BluRay player.
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