Bought a new Bluray player

[Smokey]

My DVD player started acting up on me, so hunt for new DVD player begun since 75% of my collection is till DVDs.

The first DVD player I tried was Samsung DVD-C500 upconvert DVD player for $40.

The upconverted DVD picture quality was OK , but also I could see a lot of noise and grain in the picture. And the worst part about this DVD player is how noisy it is.

This particular Samsung DVD player been on the market for over three years amd there are tons of reviews on how noisy this thing is. But apparently it has fallen on Samsung deaf ears or they don’t care as noise issue is still a big problem for this DVD player.

So back to store it went.

Next on the chopping block was Sony DVPSR510H up convert DVD player for $45. This DVD is much better than Samsung in terms of picture quality as ther are les noise in upconverted picture. And the best part, no noise.

Like Samsung, this DVD player has been on market for over three years, but it has much better reviews. So plan was to keep it.

But while I was at Walmart store, I saw that they have Sony Bluray BDP-S3500 on sale for $50 (Reg. $119.99). This is 2015 model, so its technology is three years ahead of the other two player.

So bought Sony Bluray player also to try it out.

And I am glad I did. Compare with Sony DVD player, this Bluray player have much cleaner unconverted DVD movies. One problem with unconverted picture is that player have to fill in extra resolution. So noise and grains can be a problem.

But this Bluray player does an admirable job of up converting as noise is almost no existence. And very balance colors with deep blacks. Not to mention very accurate flesh tones which goes a long way to make DVDs very film like.

And it flags video vs. films material correctly. The films and materials shot on films are outputted as 1080P/24 hz, and video and TV shows are outputted as 1080/60 hz.

So took the Sony DVD player back and kept the Sony Bluray player.

My DVDs have never looked better

[Mr Peabody]

Good for you, I bet it does look good with your HDTV. Some of the Sony units have Wyfi for updates and streaming, maybe that can be your next step I'm usually not a big Sony fan but I've been impressed at the level of performance you can get for a budget price. Of course, they usually perform well, it's the reliability I had an issue with, but my Sony BDP has been working great for a few years now.

I doubt Samsung really cares about a DVD that sells for only $40.00. I wonder if they are even produced any more.

[Jack in Wilmington]

If you look at Consumer Reports ratings, they don't even rate DVD players anymore. Out of the top 11 Blu-ray players, six are Samsung units. Like Mr P, I'm not the Sony fan boy I used to be. Not that Sony was bad, but I did find better elsewhere.

[Smokey]

I doubt Samsung really cares about a DVD that sells for only $40.00. I wonder if they are even produced any more.

That particular Sasmsung player is still in production. Mine was manufactured just two months ago.

The only positive thing I could say about Samsung DVD player is that it have front display which is almost non existence on today’s DVD and Bluray player.

But whining noise it makes while playing discs was just unbearable.

[Smokey]

If you look at Consumer Reports ratings, they don't even rate DVD players anymore. Out of the top 11 Blu-ray players, six are Samsung units.

Couple of web sites that does Bluray player testing, gave Sony and Panasonic bluray player top marks for picture quality. Samsung was not included in that honor list:

Blu-ray players | Reviews and products | What Hi-Fi?

BTW Jack, if you have it handy, could you list the bluray players ConsumerReports tested and rating they got.

Thanks

[Jack in Wilmington]

Couple of web sites that does Bluray player testing, gave Sony and Panasonic bluray player top marks for picture quality. Samsung was not included in that honor list:

Blu-ray players | Reviews and products | What Hi-Fi?

BTW Jack, if you have it handy, could you list the bluray players ConsumerReports tested and rating they got.

Thanks

Sure, here they are. Make, Model and Rating.

1. Samsung BD-H5900 80
2. Samsung BD-H6500 79
3. Samsung BD-HM59C 79
4. OPPO BDP-103 79
5. LG BP540 76
6. LG BPM54 76
7. Panasonic DMP-BDT360 76
8. Samsung BD-F5700 75
9. Panasonic DMP-BDT330 75
10. Samsung BD-HM57C 74
11. Samsung BD-H5100 73


There are more on the next page, if you're looking for a particular one.

[Smokey]

Thanks jack for that list. I am surprise Sony did not make the list. I am guessing other factors such as reliability, speed and ease of use does also weight in ConsumerReports ratings.

I don't think CR tested out Bluray upscaling capability in their evaluation. Oppo or Panasonic probably would have gotten better rating in their Bluray player recommendation.

[Mr Peabody]

CR might be good for appliances, maybe, but I quit reading for electronics when they came out that all CD players sound the same.

[Jack in Wilmington]

CR might be good for appliances, maybe, but I quit reading for electronics when they came out that all CD players sound the same.

Who knows, maybe with the ones they test, they do sound the same. You won't see them testing any Esoteric or Mark Levinson models. I use their publications as just one tool in the research process. I would never use their speaker recommendations or most other electronics, this we agree on.