New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available... (1 Viewer)

[Romier S]

Well this should resolve some issues those on the fence for a "fully featured" stand alone..

Specs from Panasonic's new DMP-BD50 - Engadget

No word on pricing but I would imagine it will come in anywhere between $399-$499 price point and it looks like *THE* player to get when its released.

 

[Scott Calvert]

No analog outs is a huge dealbreaker for me, and I assume many others.

 

[Edwin-S]

Man. So far, I don't like the styling on any of these players. For some reason, the all come across looking cheap. The specs look pretty good. However, lack of analog outs would be a big weakness. What is with all these manufacturers? Is "analog" suddenly a dirty word or something. For the time being my audio chain is going to have to remain analog. Come on, put out some BD players that would allow me to gain access to the lossless tracks.

 

[Norman Matthews]

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I think its a riot when Panasonic lists deep color as being a feature of HDMI on their player. Too bad deep color isn't a feature of HDTV.

Doug

 

[Romier S]

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Guys:

relevent to anyone reading this thread. Panasonic just announced at CES their BD50 player which will:

* be fully 2.0 profile (BD Live) enabled
* Full 1.1 profile (PIP)
* interal decoding of both DTS-HD MA and TrueHD
* 7.1 analog output for those without HDMI for lossless sound (!!!)
* bitstreaming of advanced audio over HDMI 1.3 for external decoding.

wow. This is indeed "the player" to beat right now. Does everything it should. The problem: rumored price around $699. Of course, that's "retail" and it's just a rumor... I'd expect that to end up selling closer to $500-550 on line. But still, a steep price for a full-spec BD player.

In any case, THERE IS an alternative to the PS3 for anyone wanting a fully-featured BD player.

 

[Wayne_j]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll probably go with the Panny because of the following:
1. I'm not a gamer.
2. 5.1 analog outs as I don't have any digital inputs left on my receiver.
3. Best Buy currently has a 5 free Blu-Ray discs instantly on the Panny and other standalones but not on the PS3 that should easily cover the $100 price difference between the players.

 

[Romier S]

Might want to look up a few posts David.

Looking at the spec list again I completely hadn't noticed the full audio decoding capabilities and 7.1 input connections. I would then have to imagine the price of the Panny is going to be in the $700-800 range and will end up being thier "high end" BD solution. If it hits at less than that (say $599) well that will be just gravy. Either way, that's a BEAST of a player and I'll likely look into adding it into my collection.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

That BD50 player sounds like the right one for me. If I go Blu, I'm not going to buy a game box.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Oops... just realized there was already a post. Thanks!


The panny as 7.1 analog outs... so you can get lossless audio over analog if you don't have HDMI.

 

[Carlo_M]

From blu-ray.com
Great news for PS3 owners!

Of course, if the Sapphire 3 & 4 decode the HD sound codecs internally and are priced under $500 (fat chance with Sony, I know) I'll buy a standalone player because it will be cheaper than buying a new mid-fi receiver and I can still use my NAD T763 as my AVR.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Oh yeah I think its funny that they advertise Deep Color for any product that does output in the HD format. I mean Deep Color is cool, but it won't help you as long as you are using an HDTV and any format that works with HDTV. Blu-ray, or HD DVD for that matter will never utilize Deep Color.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

I had hoped to find a good combo player so that I could eliminate one of the devices on my rack, but I guess something along the lines of the Panasonic will have to do. Again assuming the Panasonic can piller box 4x3 SD DVDs. I want to switch to my blu-ray player being my primary player and put as little ware and tare on my HD DVD player as possible.

Doug

 

[matthewRaz]

so what all does the 40 gb drop? i've seen the bc w/ps2 mentioned and i believe sacd support is gone - anything else?

i borrowed a friend's for a while - very nice machine!

 

[Shane Martin]

Backwards compatibilty with PS3 and some usb ports as well as the card reader.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

If you need pillar box via component output (ie. no DVI/HDMI on your HDTV), the PS3 won't do that either as far as I can tell -- someone please correct me, if I'm wrong on that.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Aye. The PS3/40GB only has 2 USB ports, which *might* bother a few folks who want to tie up one port for an IR adapter and leaving just the other free. Personally, I don't really see myself needing more than that -- and I'll probably go w/ an IR adapter too. Some folks might want to use a port w/ an external HDD. And you do need USB for recharging the game controller(s) from time to time, if you play games, though you can always recharge via some other methods, eg. your computer's USB, dedicated USB-based rechargers.

_Man_

 

[matthewRaz]

aha. thanks - i thought there was something else - still sounds like the machine for me. i assume you meant back/comp w/ps like i said in my question post though.

so the whole list is
- compatibility with ps2 and ps games
- sacd playback
- memory card slots
- 2 instead of 4 usb slots
- 40GB hard drive (instead of 80GB)

 

[Anthony GT]

I'd like to know if this is true as well. Seems too easy to just swap out drives.