Help on buying Blue-ray disc player.

[jrayton]

Looking to buy a BD player in near future. Is it alright to buy a player that plays multiple formats such as dvd, cd, cd-r etc. Or is it better to buy separate components. Looking to spend between $200 to $600. Any advice is very much appreciated.

[N. Abstentia]

I don't think you will find any BluRay players that WON'T play DVD, CD, and CD-R so don't worry about that.

What features are you looking for in a player? Do you need multichannel analog audio outputs or can your receiver decode the Dolby and DTS HD sound?

[Woochifer]

At the upper end of your price range, you could look at the new models from Denon and Oppo Digital. Oppo is a well-regarded mail order company, and their upcoming BD-83 player is the only affordable BD player (under $1,000) that can play Blu-ray, DVD, CD, plus SACD and DVD-A. If you don't know what SACD and DVD-A are, then don't worry about it. Denon has the DBP-1610CI and the DBP-2010CI listing at $500 and $700.

At the lower end of your range, probably the best regarded Blu-ray players are the ones from Panasonic and Sony. The list price on the entry level models is around $300, but I've seen them go for under $250 (currently the Panasonic is on special for $230 at Costco). Many other options are available around the $200 price point. Samsung has had a spotty history with compatibility problems and frequent firmware updates on their BD players. Their newer models are supposedly a lot more solid, so you'll want to make sure that you're looking at a current model if you go with Samsung.

Stepping up to the $400 models probably won't get you much as far as video performance goes, because those higher priced models primarily add internal audio decoding for the high res audio formats. This is handy if you use an older A/V receiver that only supports compressed Dolby Digital and DTS.

[atomicAdam]

Here is a little write up of some of the better, cheaper players out there - http://reviews.audioreview.com/blog/editors-choice-best-blu-ray-players/

[EdwardGein]

This forum was pretty helpful to me when I was in your position a few months back. As my receiver didn't have an HDMI input I got a Blu-Ray player with analog outputs, Panasonic DMP-BD 55 which I love. Here's a list on my Blog I posted months ago on the Best Blu-Ray players under $300 which may be outdated since then:

Ten Best Blu-Ray Players Under $300 (http://www.giftsandfreeadvice.com/free_advice/ten-best-blu-ray-players-under-300-10-best-blu-ray-dvd-players/)

[N. Abstentia]

This forum was pretty helpful to me when I was in your position a few months back. As my receiver didn't have an HDMI input I got a Blu-Ray player with analog outputs, Panasonic DMP-BD 55 which I love. Here's a list on my Blog I posted months ago on the Best Blu-Ray players under $300 which may be outdated since then:

Ten Best Blu-Ray Players Under $300 (http://www.giftsandfreeadvice.com/free_advice/ten-best-blu-ray-players-under-300-10-best-blu-ray-dvd-players/)

Yes, every player on that list has been discontinued and replaced by a newer model :)

[EdwardGein]

Wow that was fast!

[jrayton]

I have the Marantz SR5003 av receiver, so it can decode dolby and dts hd. A friend of mine said to buy a BD player that can play DivX. Any advantages to having DivX ?
Thanks to all, for the info. It is very much appreciated.

[Woochifer]

I have the Marantz SR5003 av receiver, so it can decode dolby and dts hd. A friend of mine said to buy a BD player that can play DivX. Any advantages to having DivX ?
Thanks to all, for the info. It is very much appreciated.

If you don't download DivX files via BitTorrent, then you don't need the feature.

Since your receiver already has HDMI and high res audio decoding, then you don't need anything with internal audio decoding.

[N. Abstentia]

Sounds like you'll be fine with the Sony S360 or Panasonic BD60. Both are under $300.

Not sure about Divx though, any particular reason why you'd want that?

[Woochifer]

BTW, if you are considering the Samsung BD players, Amazon has a pretty good deal going right now.

For the $250 BD-1600 and the $350 BD-3600, they're offering $125 off if you buy 4 Blu-ray movies from Warner. A lot of the Warner titles now start at $13, so you're potentially looking at ~$175 for a BD player AND a small starter collection of BD movies. The offer expires tomorrow at 11:59pm PDT.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&ref_=amb_link_84400351_2&tag=bountii%3D20&docId=1000376801

[atomicAdam]

you can find these products on audioreview as well -

Samsung BD-1600 - http://www.audioreview.com/cat/home-video/dvd-players/samsung/samsung-bd-p1600-blu-ray-disc-player-bd-p1600/xaa/PRD_440702_1587crx.aspx

Samsung BD-3600 - http://www.audioreview.com/mfr/samsung/hd-dvd-blu-ray/samsung-bd-p3600---blu-ray-dvd-player---1gb-built-in-memory/PRD_442269_6445crx.aspx

Check out the Blu-ray section on AudioREVIEW - http://www.audioreview.com/cat/home-video/hd-dvd-blu-ray/PLS_6445crx.aspx

[winston]

jrayton" i am highly recommending two players' you cant go wrong with these puppies. the SONY BDP-S550 and the PANASONIC DMP-BD80. as you mention that your budget is around $600 these are two sweet units. i have booth of them, the Sony i have over one year now great unit....BUT the panny just over two weeks now' i have been trying out this BEAST since last Friday every which way looking for a winner of the two" as one of them has to go in the bedroom... and the winner stays in the HT well as of now the panny has the edge IMO.....

BTW the models one down of eight-er one should also be good choices however i like those two. i still a few audio setting to do on the panny 5 and 7.1 LPCM , 2 ch .
i will be back.

[N. Abstentia]

BTW the models one down of eight-er one should also be good choices however i like those two. i still a few audio setting to do on the panny 5 and 7.1 LPCM , 2 ch .
i will be back.

Keep in mind he said he'll be doing audio encoding via HDMI so he does not need to spend the extra money to get the analog audio outputs that he'll never use.

I'd take the $600 budget and buy a $300 player along with a bunch of movies and a new Harmony remote!

[jrayton]

A buddy of mine likes to watch movies on his computer. He uses DivX to download the movies.

[s dog]

I just got my panny 60 a few days ago and so far everything seems to be working A-OK, Cant wait for the day when i can add a hdmi receiver.