Standalone Blu-ray players

[martintyler]

How many people have non PS3 Blu-ray players?



How do they stack up? The limited reading on it seemed to show the early ones were pretty ropy and everyone liked the PS3 - was that just from people that like games and wanted a PS3 anyway? do newer players perform better?

[Lorddalron]

I went for the PS3 mainly for the BluRay player with the added bonus of a games console.

The one thing that caught my attention was the early arival of HDMI 1.3v into a machine.

Fair enough the PQ and Audio quality might not top that of a standalone, but the recent firmware update allows the machine to run at 1080p/24fps aswell as upscalling SD DVD's. And all for less than £400.



With the likes of Denon's profile Bluray players imminent, is the benefit of PIP audio commentary really a big thing. What else do "Profile" players offer???

[Jonas]

I had a play with the stand alone Pioneer as a way of replacing my PS3 as a Blu-Ray player. No contest really, it was 3 times the price, slow, non-upgradable and had no PQ performance advantage. I am sure this will change as time moves on but with the unstable nature of the Blu-Ray spec my number one criteria is a player than can be fully upgraded. Only the PS3 fits this at the moment.

[iaria]

I am tempting to go Blu-Ray but not too sure at the moment, I wouldn't be able to play my old multiregions dvds, but if you have a look at this http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/blu_ray/panasonics-dmp+bd30-is-th (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/blu_ray/panasonics-dmp+bd30-is-the-500-next+gen-blu+ray-player-to-beat-316903.php) e-500-next+gen-blu+ray-player-to-beat-316903.php



it looks very tempting :nod: :nod:

Gerry

[myrman]

I sold my 60gb PS3 and bought 2 x Sony BDP-S300 players and 6 free discs. Not being a gamer a good deal from my standpoint but if you like you gaming then the PS3 still the only sensible option plus the S300 has had a bit of a price rise recently.



Can barely tell the difference in PQ between the PS3 and the BDP-S300 by the way.

[SimonO]

I am tempting to go Blu-Ray but not too sure at the moment, I wouldn't be able to play my old multiregions dvds, but if you have a look at this http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/blu_ray/panasonics-dmp+bd30-is-th (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/blu_ray/panasonics-dmp+bd30-is-the-500-next+gen-blu+ray-player-to-beat-316903.php) e-500-next+gen-blu+ray-player-to-beat-316903.php



it looks very tempting :nod: :nod:

Gerry


Those new Panasonics look interesting, it's big brother the BD50 has on-board TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoding, analogue outputs and is DB Live compatible.



The region coding still REALLY puts me off though.

[iaria]

Well I did succumb to Blu-ray, my lovely wife bought me a late Christmas present a PS3 so far so good I am lovin it :thumbup: :nod:

Gerry

[mrbendyhead]

My dear wife also bought me a PS3 and it's brilliant, I have no doubts that sometime down the line the big boys will bring out a standalone player, but until they do the PS3 reigns supreme. I love it!!!

[iaria]

My dear wife also bought me a PS3 and it's brilliant, I have no doubts that sometime down the line the big boys will bring out a standalone player, but until they do the PS3 reigns supreme. I love it!!!




Copycat :nod: :lol: :lol: :thumbup:

Gerry

[kwisatz haderach]

I am waiting for a blu-ray recorder with an on line update facility , with built in freeview that can play dvd's ok until then i'll wait.

[Uncle Eric]

I've had a play with 2 stand-alone players so far, all several times the cost of the PS3. The Panasonic and Sony I tried before it don't even come close to the PS3 in terms of speed/loading/playing/operating (PS3 is ultra fast) and certainly features (card slots etc?).



Then again as Carl put it to me the other day, the PS3 is an absolute animal when it comes to processing power. It simply uses brute force and not even the odd bit of java upsets it. It just guzzles up whatever you throw in front of it.



When someone makes a standalone player like this I might be interested. I could care less about 1.3a and HD sound formats if it takes eternity to load a disk.



I should be trying a new Marantz unit soon which will retail at around the £1k ish mark.

[Jonas]

Going to have a look at the Panasonic BD30 at the end of the moth.



http://www.panasonic.co.uk/bd%20players/dmp-bd10/index.htm



I want a region B player to sit along side my Region A PS3, but quite keen to try standalone.

[Jase]

Got my eye on the new Denon's now that HD DVD has snuffed it. Interestingly, the Denon transport (in addition to passing the Bitstream signal) can also internally transcode to PCM and pass that via HDMI to older HDMI 1.1 spec Amps/Receivers. :thumbup:



Of course, if you want the analog outputs you'll need to go for their player.

[Jonas]

Any indications what the Denon are going to be priced at? I had seen £1300+ which for a Profile 1.1 player is a bit steep. Happy to look at making a major investment once the 2.0 players start shipping.

[Jase]

Prices I've seen are about 999 quid for the Transport and 1300/1400 for the Player.

[Jonas]

Will be interesting to see how these perform, still not sure I'll splash that sort of money on the current generation of players. Think I'll stick with a mid range unit / PS3 for now.

[SimonO]

Will be interesting to see how these perform, still not sure I'll splash that sort of money on the current generation of players. Think I'll stick with a mid range unit / PS3 for now.


The new Panasonics will be 2.0 :thumbup:.

[SimonO]

...I could care less about 1.3a and HD sound formats if it takes eternity to load a disk.


That amazes me, the lossless soundtack is far more important to me than how long a disc takes to load - everyone's different I guess.

[Uncle Eric]

<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText">Uncle Eric wrote on Tue, 19 February 2008 22:51</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
...I could care less about 1.3a and HD sound formats if it takes eternity to load a disk.


That amazes me, the lossless soundtack is far more important to me than how long a disc takes to load - everyone's different I guess.






If you can hear the difference yes. My point is, most of us won't be able to hear a discernible amount of quality difference via the average system.

[Jonas]

For me loading times are to much of an issue, never had a problem with HD-DVD which could take up to 1.5m to get going, the PS3 is amazingly fast so no complaint there. But I have seen stand alone players take as much as 4m to load the disk, that's pushing it to the frustrating level.

\

[Matt Horne]

you might as well buy a media player, anyhddvd and then just rip the disks on the pc and play/store the raw m2ts files... instant start no waiting etc etc :)~:-)~:smile:

[SimonO]

you might as well buy a media player, anyhddvd and then just rip the disks on the pc and play/store the raw m2ts files... instant start no waiting etc etc :)~:-)~:smile:


I think that's what I will do. Can anyone recommend a cheap(ish) internal IDE Blu-ray drive?

[MattZani]

As Eric has said the PS3 is just using its raw power to get things done, and not breaking a sweat whilst doing it, and i have a feeling that Games Consoles will be the way forward, as theyre quiet when playing Disc's, Powerful enough to cope with anything needed, and because theyre intended to be playing games which take alot more power, they'll be quiet and cool too. And of course theyre suppose to be easy to use, and are updatable, so meaning it may never be outdone in its price range.



Im very happy with my PS3, had it since launch, and its my main choice for games, and a DVD Player.

[Chris morse]

I do like the ceramic white version!



http://www.avtalk.co.uk/forum/index.php?t=getfile&amp;id=8563



Though from Hong Kong I'm not sure what it means for the region?

[MattZani]

That means it will play US Blu-Rays and UK DVD's.



Im liking it in white too, i'll be ordering me one soon, already got a white Dualshock 3, and white just looks so sexy, also im having a dust problem on my Black PS3.

[Uncle Eric]

That means it will play US Blu-Rays and UK DVD's.






Hey Matt, I'm pretty sure HK DVD's are R3

[MattZani]

yeah, but most imported are Japanese, so R1 - Japan &amp; USA / R2 - Europe &amp; Aus &amp; NZ / R3 Rest of Asia