Other threads were old with outdated info. I am looking for a high end blu-ray player. My budget is ~$1000 but I would be happy to go under budget. The setup is pretty simple, the video will output via HDMI-DVI, and the audio will be optical.

What is the criteria for a good Blu-ray player? loading speed? brand name?

any help is appreciated.

10/24/2009 8:37:22 PM

you're going to spend $1000 on a bluray player and use optical out? ba ha ha ha ha ha

10/24/2009 8:44:13 PM

$1000? is that a fucking typo?

these things cost $100 now.

10/24/2009 8:52:25 PM

What is the criteria for a good Blu-ray player? loading speed? brand name?

any help is appreciated.


[Edited on October 24, 2009 at 8:58 PM. Reason : obviously money is not really the issue. I do not expect to spend 1k]

10/24/2009 8:55:58 PM

I'd love a multi-disk Blu-ray player.

10/24/2009 10:04:38 PM

IT CAN BE YOURS

http://www.google.com/products?oe=utf-8&q=multi+disc+blu+ray+player&spell=1&oi=spell

10/24/2009 10:18:37 PM

relevant to my interests!

10/24/2009 10:27:59 PM

^^ None of those are multi-disk players. They're all multi-channel or multi-region or multi-format or multi-etc....

I know there are some hundred-something disk players, but I'd just like a 5 disk carousel. There aren't any that I'm aware of.

Instead, I'm thinking of one of the newer network-enabled models that will also stream Netflix (e.g Sony BDP-N460).

[Edited on October 24, 2009 at 10:38 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2009 10:37:58 PM

yea id say cl you old equipment and spend the $1000 on upgrading the receiver and tv to support hdmi

10/25/2009 2:24:19 AM

PS3 and save the $700 for other stuff. One downside of the PS3 is that streaming Netflix requires another PC to run PlayOn.

10/25/2009 10:09:56 AM

I'm leaning toward the PS3, it does what I need but I wouldn't mind faster load times if there is a better option.

10/25/2009 11:34:27 AM

Build a HTPC.

Blu-ray drive $67 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106326
Full Tower Case $89.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103026
Intel E3200 $53 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116265
4x WD 1.5TB HDD $440 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136351
Wireless Mouse/Keyboard $40 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109163
4 GB Ram $75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145195
Mobo with 6 SATA $70 MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135238
500W Modular PSU $35 MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016
ATI 4670 w/ HDMI and HDCP $60 MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125277

There you have it. A Blu-ray player with hdmi, hdcp, and 6TB of HDD space for media.

10/25/2009 7:14:36 PM

what's wrong with optical out? i thought that was pretty much the best.

10/25/2009 7:26:16 PM

like ten years ago. you need HDMI to carry the lossless audio (DTSMA, DDHD, raw PCM, etc) on bluray

10/25/2009 7:47:10 PM

can you really tell a difference or is this just another audiophile "i must have the best" type thing?

10/25/2009 8:06:12 PM

I disagree.... straight pcm is the best and optical hdmi and coaxial digital signals can all send the exact same formats of lossless audio as long as your equipment will allow you to.

My setup has my cable box as digital coax my blue-ray as optical, my xbox as optical and OMFG they all do PCM signals.

audiophiles will agree that your equipment matters 10000x more than your digital cables... now the analog ones running 300 watts out to your speakers.... go to monoprice and get you some biiiiig ones.

10/25/2009 9:14:28 PM

false. optical simply doesnt have the bandwidth required to transfer 24/96 lossless data. you can send DD or DTS as PCM.. but thats not 24/96 PCM.

if you're not using HDMI, you're not hearing "HD" audio. And with mid range equipment you can hear the difference. even my gf noticed back when i had a decent HT setup.

10/25/2009 9:57:06 PM

I think I'm missing something. What makes a blu-ray player better than another?

10/25/2009 9:57:26 PM

everything.... just like some dvds had DTS audio and others didn't

jeepin, hdmi is 24bit audio vs 16bit audio on s/pidf

i would really love to see digital pick it out though through a quality signal processor.
not to mention the bandwidth doesn't really come into play unless you are using all 7 channels or 10 in some cases...

anyway it is "better"

10/25/2009 10:38:59 PM

ok, but I still don't understand why there would be any premium for blu-ray players other than sound codecs. If you're going through SPIF, you're not going to get lossless 7.1 sound anyways.

10/26/2009 12:13:52 AM

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/10/netflix-coming-soon-to-playstation-3/

10/26/2009 3:28:03 AM

^Sweet! Preordered my free Netflix Disc.

10/26/2009 7:53:02 AM

Truth: Analog is best

10/26/2009 8:52:45 AM

I'd love to do an HTPC, but I don't have the money and my receiver is a little outdated. so since my receiver has composite, digitial, and optical audio inputs, which should I go with? I've got HDMI from my cable box to the TV then (for now) composite from the TV to the receiver

10/26/2009 9:10:27 AM

You could do HDMI -> TV and Optical -> Receiver from your HTPC. It just depends on your soundcard/mobo.

When I get a break tonight, I'll post the system I built. The only problem was that it had difficulty with 1080p video, so I had to get a videocard. Most people can get by with the onboard video for HTPCs, making it much cheaper.

10/26/2009 9:15:41 AM

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/

This is the default choice for people who are serious about audio and video quality. I wouldn't suggest anything else

Also note this plays SACD and DVD-A, and outputs 7.1 channel audio.

Edit: Here is a very thorough review from a well known place; http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/transports/high-definition-dvd-players-hd-dvd-blu-ray/oppo-bdp-83-universal-blu-ray

[Edited on October 26, 2009 at 9:24 AM. Reason : .]

10/26/2009 9:21:38 AM

Quote :

"what's wrong with optical out? i thought that was pretty much the best."

Never was. A player (either DVD or Blu Ray) with complete on-board decoding and discrete analog outputs was and still is the best way to go.

^ bam. or Denon.

[Edited on October 26, 2009 at 1:06 PM. Reason : ]

10/26/2009 1:05:20 PM

^ i've always heard that. but i don't understand how analog outputs produce better sound than digital outputs from a digital source.
it's like taking an mp3 and turning it into a wav file to get better sound

10/26/2009 3:03:35 PM

Because the signal you're sending to your speaker is analog

10/26/2009 3:08:19 PM

if the decoder and dac in you bluray player were better than the ones in your reciever i guess?

I would think it makes more sense to spend the $ on a good reciever and just do hdmi between it and your bluray player.

10/26/2009 3:24:07 PM

i disagree. your source is digital. whichever components has the best DACs is where the conversion should. Most receivers have better DACs than players. Plus there is a much shorter line level analog path inside the receiver than going from the player to the receiver externally, etc.

Digital bluray sent PCM or lossless (same in the end) to a quality DAC likely to be in a receiver would yield the best results.

10/26/2009 9:21:46 PM

^that sounds like engineering logic. The people claiming that your blu-ray should be pumping out an analog signal are probably trying to sell overpriced hardware.

just get a PS3 and buy a better receiver with your budget.

10/26/2009 11:22:20 PM

If you are recomending a ps3 as a blu-Ray player you don't belong in a high end component discussion. Nothing against you, but at this point you can't wrap your head around quality equipment.

10/27/2009 9:56:20 AM

does the Criterion Collection still use a ps3 as their blu-ray reference player?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10016208-1.html

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 10:11 AM. Reason : /]

10/27/2009 10:10:31 AM

^^ please list quality Blu-ray players that out-perform the PS3 and show how and why this is the case.

10/27/2009 10:27:17 AM

When comparing the Oppo and the PS3, it really depends on your needs.

The Oppo will play SACD and DVD-A, so if you watch concerts or want to get into higher quality audio sources, then a better mutli-format player is worth it over the PS3.

As far as blu-ray playback, the quality is pretty much the same, I believe the Oppo has a faster loading time, but that isn't a huge deal.

One thing to note though, is that the Oppo has a very high build quality, and thats what your paying for.

10/27/2009 11:53:53 AM

It's not that the ps3 isn't a perfectly acceptable player, it is and then some. But when you walk in the door with a $1k budget it just isn't what you're looking for.

10/27/2009 12:15:35 PM

^^ MY ps3 plays SACD and I think DVD-A

10/27/2009 12:19:59 PM

^^Yea it is. The only arguments for wasting $1k on a blu ray player are retarded audiophile shit.

older versions of the ps3 play sacd, newer ones dont. All dvd players can play dvd audio in stereo, but not all can do multichannel.




[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 12:24 PM. Reason : a]

10/27/2009 12:23:47 PM

Quote :

"It's not that the ps3 isn't a perfectly acceptable player, it is and then some. But when you walk in the door with a $1k budget it just isn't what you're looking for."

i would think the remainder of 1k would be better spent on HDMI audio components, the ps3 makes for a very nice HDMI audio solution (you will not notice any compression effects on anything less than 5k speakers)

my ps3 also plays sacd and dvd-a

10/27/2009 12:41:01 PM

Quote :

"If you are recomending a ps3 as a blu-Ray player you don't belong in a high end component discussion. Nothing against you, but at this point you can't wrap your head around quality equipment. "

if you can't wrap your head around the fact that this guy is about to purchase a high-end blu-ray player and hook it to his old POS receiver that can't handle HDMI, you don't belong in a budgetary discussion. I told him where his money should be spent, not where he'll piss it away while he's really in need of something else. Everyone recommending he spend a shit-ton of money on a blu-ray player and nothing else must not have read bobster's comments in this thread.

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 12:51 PM. Reason : unless he has another thread on here with a $5,000 budget for home theater, then carry on.]

10/27/2009 12:51:04 PM

To be quite honest, if you are going to use optical sound, then just buy a new receiver too...

You can get the Oppo BD-83 and a nice Onkyo 607 for that 1k budget, and be set for a long time with your core hardware.

10/27/2009 12:52:33 PM

Keep in mind that if you go with a PS3 you won't be able to use a universal remote without an adapter.

(unless you have a BT universal remote, never seen one myself)

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Blu-Wave-Remote/dp/B000R5H7KE/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1256671749&sr=8-9

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Adapter-Playstation-3/dp/B00267S7XW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256671763&sr=8-1

10/27/2009 3:30:40 PM

I think I'm gonna do the PS3. It does what I need and I brought one in just to see how it looked and its pretty impressive. The HTPC would be a good idea if we were using this for storage but it will be purely Blu-Ray (maybe a little online media). The 1k was a theoretical budget anyway just to see the recommendations. Thanks for you help, I had no idea that optical was not the best connection. It doesn't seem that upgrading the receiver would be a smart move at this time, what we have now sounds just fine.

10/27/2009 3:43:31 PM

big list and variety of BT universal remotes

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&source=hp&q=bluetooth+universal+remote&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=qlDnSuv_OI__lAf3oJCPAQ&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQrQQwAA

10/27/2009 3:58:13 PM

I can't seem to find any shops that carry Oppo...can anyone find any licensed dealers?

10/27/2009 8:08:51 PM

Can you not order online?

You can buy directly from Oppo, and Amazon has them;

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/

http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-BDP-83-Blu-ray-Player-DVD-Audio/dp/B002EEP3MK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256691208&sr=8-1

10/27/2009 8:53:52 PM

Never ever ever buy hi-fi equipment online. Always from a shop.

Firstly, you can't haggle a price when buying online. Saves loads of money.

Also, I require a lifetime warranty for the component, or I will not buy it, period...buying online doesn't always have that option.

Lastly, when buying online...you can't audition it! I have no idea how this player performs until I audition it. Need a shop to do that.

A shame. I was considering pursuing that Oppo.

10/28/2009 7:49:33 AM

Are you local to Raleigh? Try Audio Advice on Glenwood, they specialize in high end home theatre components, and if they don't have one there, could probably order it to let you demo/see.

I don't think you will be able to haggle the Oppo much though, I have never seen it on sale or at a reduced price anywhere, $499.99 seems to be the price everywhere.

Don't give up though, its a great player.

10/28/2009 8:18:43 AM