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Covenant
24-10-2011, 07:25
My Samsung DVD player is fine but I was considering upgrading to Blue Ray.
Are the current crop of cheaper Blu-ray players ok or should I spend out on a good one?
Any makes better than others? :)

Dingdong
24-10-2011, 07:58
What screen have you got?

Edit: Ignore that. Just seen you have a 43" plasma.

colinB
24-10-2011, 08:15
How about that new Cambridge audio that plays every format ever made including Blu-ray. £400.

worthingpagan
24-10-2011, 08:28
How about that new Cambridge audio that plays every format ever made including Blu-ray. £400.

I've seen a Philips Blu-ray Player on ebay for less than £50 (might be re-cond), would that be a good first start?

colinB
24-10-2011, 08:58
Even with my ps3, possibly the first Blu-ray player, you can see the difference so i think anything you get would be good at Blu-ray. Some of the cheaper ones dont do dvd so well ive heard.

Stratmangler
24-10-2011, 09:36
I bought an ex display one of these http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/lg/bd550/lg-bd550 and it's an excellent machine.

You've never seen your screen at its best if you haven't played a Blu-ray on it.

Dingdong
24-10-2011, 09:41
I got a Sony BD-370. It looks great on my 40" Sony lcd, and can use the same remote. I'm sure there's better, but not sure if I'd notice much on my screen at a 2.5m viewing distance.

Reid Malenfant
24-10-2011, 17:52
Panasonic DMP-BD80 :) It's a year or so old now so i can't comment on the latest crop of things, however it has some of the best upscaling circuitry for doing the business with DVDs you'll ever see. Made my Sony BDP-S550 look a bit shabby with blu rays & ate it for breakfast with DVDs :eyebrows:

Probably quite cheap now to secondhand ;)

I have no plans to change either of them (i own two) for anything newer until there is some new format - I'm not interested in 3D :spew:

Covenant
24-10-2011, 17:55
Got to agree with you about 3D Mark, I would not swap my Pioneer plasma for a 3D one.
Thanks for the suggestions chaps, Richer Sounds looks good as the Supercover is only a tenner.

Covenant
30-10-2011, 18:57
Just won this on Fleabay:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11003.m43.l1123/7?euid=4ff2bc84cc5b4273bf70e552e0b81647&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.co.uk%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.d ll%3FViewItem%26item%3D330630523901%26ssPageName%3 DADME%3AB%3AEOIBSA%3AGB%3A1123
Its all your fault Mark!

Puffin
30-10-2011, 19:04
I only paid £49 new for mine:lol:

Covenant
30-10-2011, 19:19
Rats, I never get a bargain.

jon1
30-10-2011, 19:32
Rats, I never get a bargain.






Cracking player all the same;)



jon

Covenant
02-11-2011, 22:19
Got it today. Only had one Blu-ray to try- Casino Royal. Colours are vivid and detail very good. Takes a while to load up though.

WAD62
03-11-2011, 10:32
It's the same for all BD players mate, just so much more data to read...:)

I've had a Toshiba & a Panasonic, and both were equally slow to boot to the menu, but the Panasonic is a much better player

chris@panteg
15-01-2012, 11:25
A few months ago i bought the Sony 380S , I'm surprised how good it is for a budget player and i love all the extra features like Iplayer and demand 5 , oh and just recently my wife has sort of stumbled upon how good it is :) trouble is i can't get her off it now :doh:

Loading times are pretty quick too .

allsorts
20-01-2012, 05:04
Had a Sony 380 for about 3 months now. Amazed at quality and much faster to load than I anticipated. Great at upscaling dvds to 1080p as well. Some of the BBC docos are amazing in Blu-ray. Extra benefit is that UK and DownUnder share same Code for Blu-ray. UK prices even with postage are much cheaper on Amazon UK and eBay than local prices and broader choice. Usually takes around 10 days to deliver. Quicker than some local deliveries!

pwood
20-01-2012, 13:18
Most big brand units will be great with blueray. I would ensure that you have a nearby ethernet connection or buy one which can access the internet wirelessly as blueray players require regular firmware/software updates in order to play newer discs reliably and quickly.

Im using a PS3 as it works well, upscales SD DVDs better than a lot of cheap players and has a load of other functions ie BBC i player, Netflix, Lovefilm and even plays games and has wifi built in. They can be had pretty cheap these days. If you have some spare extra dosh then the OPPO players are the current top dog in the real world price arena. Mark Grant (http://markgrantcables.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=64_65) might be able to give more comment on them as he sells them. The only thing that grates with the PS3 is its fan noise in use compared with a standalone blueray player.

Dominic Harper
20-01-2012, 15:01
I can second the PS3 route if new to Blu-ray. Picture quality is superior to to DVD, but its with audio that Blu-ray really scores highly if fed into an AV setup!

pwood
24-01-2012, 01:37
Yeah have to agree DTS MA is reason enough to go blueray although you need an amp that can process it or a player with 6 channel output which are rare now and more money.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Gazjam
08-05-2012, 18:45
Alternatively...
Get a video/audio server PC
rip your Blu-rays to 1080p MKV (or ISO) and play 'em through XBMC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohjkj6zOucs

sorry, wrong meeting.... :)

Covenant
17-05-2012, 06:46
We have a media server, sort of now. It's a PS3 sitting next to the plasma. My son downloaded some software that allows him to wirelessly send hidef movies to the PS3 from his computer upstairs in his room. It works well, we watched Cowboys and Aliens at the weekend. Ok, not the most inspired choice of film but watchable.
I don't ask where he gets the movies from.

bilbobaggins1958
11-10-2012, 10:34
I've just bought a second hand Denon dvd2500 blu ray player to replace a Samsung BD-C5900 - set it up and bugger me, it seemed like my display and AV setup had just taken steroids - stunning difference! (LG 50 inch plasma 1080p/24fps and Pioneer VSX-LX50 driving Tannoy surrounds). It only has a single HDMI output though (no coaxial, optical, anything) so you'll need a decent AV amp.

webby
18-11-2012, 13:25
I'm also thinking of entering the Blu-ray market. Where does the bd80 sit in relation to the bd75? I want something that's not too slow to load and has good pq for the price.

P.s I have a 42" panny plasma

jon1
18-11-2012, 21:42
I'm also thinking of entering the blu ray market. Where does the bd80 sit in relation to the bd75? I want something that's not too slow to load and has good pq for the price.

P.s I have a 42" panny plasma


The 80 has the 7.1 analogues out and a bit more up market the 75 is a budget bd player..


jon

webby
19-11-2012, 14:07
The 80 has the 7.1 analogues out and a bit more up market the 75 is a budget bd player..


jon
When you say budget, do you mean naff?

jon1
21-11-2012, 20:04
When you say budget, do you mean naff?


Not naff lee just a lot cheaper..no analogues stuff like that..no frills bog basic :D



jon

Mothman
22-11-2012, 08:09
Used our £50 Richer Sounds Toshiba BD player for the first time last weekend despite buying it 10 months ago. Have to say that even for a cheap player the picture quality was noticably better than the Sony DVD it replaced, not a night and day difference but definitely an improvement.

Bluedroog
22-11-2012, 13:50
‘Blu-ray’ Reminds me of a joke from Peter Kay about a bloke he used to buy exotic videos from, he heard Blue Ray was big in Asian, ‘Christ he’s done well for him self!’

Reid Malenfant
29-11-2012, 20:11
I'm also thinking of entering the Blu-ray market. Where does the bd80 sit in relation to the bd75? I want something that's not too slow to load and has good pq for the price.

P.s I have a 42" panny plasma
I can recommend the DMP-BD80, I have a couple of them here ;)

As John says, they have the full complement of analogue outputs, very handy if you don't want to have to purchase an AV amp to decode audio from the HDMI output.

Picture quality is very good indeed for the money, or it was when I bought mine :eyebrows: That was a few years back now. Better picture than the Sony BDP550 I was using prior to them, which I have just sold.

Still going to use them, but the main system now has an Oppo 95.

Gazjam
16-01-2014, 18:34
It's the same for all BD players mate, just so much more data to read...:)

I've had a Toshiba & a Panasonic, and both were equally slow to boot to the menu, but the Panasonic is a much better player

Not my Oppo... :)