Blu-Ray - What do i need to know?

[porcupineprince]

Complete newcomer to Blu-Ray. Got about £100-£150 to spend on a player. What should i look out for?

Have got a 32" 720p/1080i 60Hz Panasonic Viera that's about 2 years old.

Any recommendations?

[Saintjsmythe]

Pana DB60, a la http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/836/...

[Silverbullet767]

Based on nothing but price, heres a sony one for £100

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/674340/sony-bdp-s36...

Also a panasonic for £100

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/680386/panasonic-bl...

ETA: That's the same as the one suggested above but £60 cheaper

Edited by Silverbullet767 on Thursday 20th May 12:51

[.Mark]

Little over budget, but I just got a Panasonic BD80 from Amazon for £159, great piece of kit and 7.1 out of you are so inclined.

[OldSkoolRS]

porcupineprince said:

Complete newcomer to Blu-Ray. Got about £100-£150 to spend on a player. What should i look out for?

Have got a 32" 720p/1080i 60Hz Panasonic Viera that's about 2 years old.

Any recommendations?

If you've got an external amp, but if it's an older model without the HD sound decoding, then look to get a player with 5 or 7.1 analogue outputs. If you just use it with the TV's speakers then pretty much any player will do on that score as you can route the sound through the HDMI, coax, optical or even stereo phonos on most players. Newer players are 'BD Live' compatable, but from what I've seen on over 150 (rented) BluRays I've not really found much worth bothering with myself (the player will need to be connected to a router either wired or in some cases wirelessly for this 'feature' to function. Also note (as it's been asked before) that you can play DVDs and CDs on a BluRay player, plus some models can play AVCHD formats if you're into using a camcorder.

There was a big thread on AVForums about picture quality for different players with BluRays and it seems that once calibrated, there was little discernable difference between models. This isn't so true of DVD upscaling as some are noticably better than others, but on a 32" screen you might struggle to detect the difference unless sat very close by.

FWIW I've been using a (now discontinued) fairly budget Sony BDP-S350 player and even though I use it through a projector onto a pretty big screen, it doesn't dissapoint, so I'd definately recommend the equivalent current version BDP-S370 (or are they at 380 now...who knows ). I'm sure this would be available cheaply from places like Richer Sounds.

[Hoover.]

If you get the old sony BDP550 you can easily link to internet for disc extras

[porcupineprince]

Ta for advice off you all.

Just purchased a Panasonic DMP-BD60 from Costco for £100 (inc VAT). Thought that was a pretty fantastic deal personally, considering it's £150 with Play.

Roll on HD movies.

[thatone1967]

I have (I think a Sony BDP360) picture quailty is ok, but the startup time is abominable... measured in minutes rather than seconds!