Would you buy the sub $200 Vizio Blu-ray?

[Poultrygeist]

It is supposed to hit the stores in August and has 7.1 analog outs for connection to non-HDMI receivers. Nothing else in it's price range seems to have such features.

[BadAssJazz]

I understand that Panasonic and either Samsung or Sony is offering non-HDMI connections with Master and TrueHD processing capabilities on similarly priced BD's down the road. If nothing else, it will slow down the recent wave of Pre/Pro/AVR upgrades. That's both a good and a bad thing. I've seen so many unloading their separate pre-pros for cheap on Audiogon and eBay. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a steeply discounted Arcam, anticipating that the newer BD's will make HDMI an option, not a requirement.

[pixelthis]

I understand that Panasonic and either Samsung or Sony is offering non-HDMI connections with Master and TrueHD processing capabilities on similarly priced BD's down the road. If nothing else, it will slow down the recent wave of Pre/Pro/AVR upgrades. That's both a good and a bad thing. I've seen so many unloading their separate pre-pros for cheap on Audiogon and eBay. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a steeply discounted Arcam, anticipating that the newer BD's will make HDMI an option, not a requirement.

I am not going to get rid of my four year old receiver just to get the latest codecs,
its got a wideband D/A converter, phono stage, etc.
Although I was considering it.
Going to buy a new toy instead.

[Mr Peabody]

If I was going to buy a sub $200.00 player it would be the Oppo before let's say Samsung, or especially the other options I've seen below $200.00. My daughter has the Samsung 1500 which I borrowed for a few days and it doesn't provide as good a picture as my 1200 did and that is from Blu-ray discs I'm not even going to mention regular DVD. This showed me that there is a difference in Blu-ray picture quality. My current Marantz 7003 is better than either of the Samsung but original retail was more too.

With that being said my eye isn't good enough to notice jaggies and such, I just noticed things like sharper images and clearer color. Maybe some of these things come down to preference. The point I found interesting after reading others reviews and such, that I did see a difference.

[BadAssJazz]

With that being said my eye isn't good enough to notice jaggies and such, I just noticed things like sharper images and clearer color. Maybe some of these things come down to preference. The point I found interesting after reading others reviews and such, that I did see a difference.

I think inevitably the discussion always comes back to picture quality and price point. My brother bought a more expensive Denon Blu ray player, bragged about it for weeks on end, until I let him borrow my Panasonic. For the ducats that he shelled out on the Denon 2500, he felt like he wasn't getting a commensurately better viewing experience. Sure, build construction, etc., were better on the Denon, but if you're going to spend $500 or more on a blu ray player, it has to do more than Volz the bar. He eventually returned the Denon and is planning to pick up the Oppo.

[pixelthis]

I think inevitably the discussion always comes back to picture quality and price point. My brother bought a more expensive Denon Blu ray player, bragged about it for weeks on end, until I let him borrow my Panasonic. For the ducats that he shelled out on the Denon 2500, he felt like he wasn't getting a commensurately better viewing experience. Sure, build construction, etc., were better on the Denon, but if you're going to spend $500 or more on a blu ray player, it has to do more than Volz the bar. He eventually returned the Denon and is planning to pick up the Oppo.

It all depends on the OEM(original equipment manufacturer)
On the DENON , wouldnt surprize me if it was an oppo.
The VIZIO is probably a Funai or something like that.
With "badge" engineering look at the source.

[Woochifer]

This is basically a rebadged Funai player with some customized outputs and internal audio decoding. When this model was announced at CES, it raised a lot of eyebrows because of the sub-$200 list price. But, with the street date getting pushed back, it remains to be seen how much of a bargain it remains by that time.

By August, Profile 2.0 models from Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic will probably already go below that $200 price point. Plus, analysts are already projecting that off-brand BD players (most of which are also made by Funai) will hit the $100 price point by the holidays.

If Vizio is still at the $200 price point in August, that will be a rough spot for them, since I suspect that most consumers won't care much that $200 undercuts others models that include multichannel analog audio outputs. Most consumers will just look at a $200 Sony vs a $200 Vizio, and choose the Sony even without the internal audio decoding.

If Vizio comes out with a $150 model that excludes the audio decoding, and can credibly spec the video quality so that it matches the Sony and Panasonic models, then it might have a decent chance.

I understand that Panasonic and either Samsung or Sony is offering non-HDMI connections with Master and TrueHD processing capabilities on similarly priced BD's down the road. If nothing else, it will slow down the recent wave of Pre/Pro/AVR upgrades. That's both a good and a bad thing. I've seen so many unloading their separate pre-pros for cheap on Audiogon and eBay. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a steeply discounted Arcam, anticipating that the newer BD's will make HDMI an option, not a requirement.

I think all of them already have multichannel analog outputs on their higher line models, all of which currently list for around $350, with street prices around $300. The Vizio does undercut them, but the biggest demand has been with the entry level players that can already be found for around $200.

HDMI (or some other form of copy protected digital output) is a required Blu-ray spec. Much like what happened with DVD players, these BD players with the multichannel analog audio outputs are nothing more than a transition phase, until HDMI-enabled receivers/processors gain additional market share. Recall that most early DVD players included internal 5.1 Dolby Digital decoders and multichannel analog outputs, until a lot more 5.1 DD receivers were sold, at which point the multichannel analog outputs got phased out on most DVD players (aside from the universal players that also played SACD and/or DVD-A).