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All Purpose CD/DVD/Blu Ray Player

post #1 of 4
12/23/12 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm looking for a recommendation on a decent all purpose player for movies and music. I'd like to stay under $200. I primarily like to listen to music, although these days it seems like we are playing most things directly off the ipod or through iTunes (which will soon be hooked up to my AVR receiver via AirPlay). So the player will be used when we want to pop in a CD (happens less and less these days) or when we are watching a movie.

I guess the reason I posted here is that I want to get a player that will still be able to handle music fairly well.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and recommendations.
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post #2 of 4
12/23/12 at 8:32pm
What characteristics are you considering when you say "handle music fairly well"?
Speed of loading? Digital audio quality? Analog audio quality? CD text support? HDCD support? CD track browsing? Gracenote support? Support for non-redbook audio formats like DTS, DAD, DVD-A or SACD?

All BD players play CDs.

BD players tend to be slow loading CDs because it takes them a while to determine that it actually is a CD and not one of the other disc formats that they support.

If you use HDMI or S/PDIF (optical or coax) to connect a BD player to your sound system, they all provide identical digital audio quality.

The least expensive BD player with high-quality multi-channel analog outputs is the Panasonic DMP-BDT 500. It costs about $270, though.

My understanding is that Oppo players support CD text, HDCD, SACD & DVD-A, but their least expensive player is about $500. I don't know of any other BD players that support CD text or can decode HDCD. (If a digital connection is used, then the receiver or pre/pro would be the one needing to support HDCD.)

Panasonic and Sharp players provide a multi-track browsing interface without a network connection and support DAD, but they have other problems -- like recognizing only a limited number of computer audio formats, and no support for Gracenote.

Sony's current BD players support Gracenote, SACD and DTS, but not HDCD, DAD or DVD-A. Their BDP S590 costs only slightly over $100.
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post #3 of 4
12/24/12 at 4:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wrecks135 View Post

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm looking for a recommendation on a decent all purpose player for movies and music. I'd like to stay under $200. I primarily like to listen to music, although these days it seems like we are playing most things directly off the ipod or through iTunes (which will soon be hooked up to my AVR receiver via AirPlay). So the player will be used when we want to pop in a CD (happens less and less these days) or when we are watching a movie.

I guess the reason I posted here is that I want to get a player that will still be able to handle music fairly well.

You seem to think that this is a rare property.


It isn't. If you are listening through an AVR the most sound quality dependent parts of the audio chain are in the AVR, and all the player needs to do is be a transport.
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post #4 of 4
12/24/12 at 4:38pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the responses, which indicate my woefully inadequate knowledge (I had to look up a bunch of the acronyms as well as "gracenote")!! By "handle music fairly well" I meant the quality of the music playback. It sounds like this won't be so much the issue as the other features of the player. This at least is helpful and I'll use those other features and my budget to help select.

Also, I didn't realize that if I use a digital connection between the units that the AVR is really the one doing the decoding.

Thanks!
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