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Good Blue Ray player that plays CDs?

post #1 of 24
12/15/07 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
I'm putting together my home theater, and I'm either going to get a Blue Ray player and a good CD player or a Blue Ray that also plays CDs. I found a Samsung (I think the BP-1400?) that plays both. However, I've heard that the universal HD/BRP LG is somewhat of a compromise, so if I have to, I'd rather get a seperate CD player than a compromise.

Unfortunatley, my budget is only about $800 or so for both.

Any thoughts?
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post #2 of 24
12/15/07 at 8:12pm
PS3?

The PS3 plays SACDs as well
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post #3 of 24
12/15/07 at 9:40pm
The PS3 also goes out and gets artist/album/track info from the net when you pop in a CD.
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post #4 of 24
12/16/07 at 9:30am
Thread Starter 
I had a feeling someone was going to say that! I don't that'll meet the WAF since I just got an Xbox 360. Ugh. Do people really get a PS3 with little or no intention of playing PS3 games? I have nothing against the PS3, except now that I have the Xbox360, it seems unnecessary to get both.

Any other choices? Is there a universal player that also plays CDs that's decent?
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post #5 of 24
12/16/07 at 10:16am
Still, PS3.
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post #6 of 24
12/16/07 at 1:53pm
Ps3
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post #7 of 24
12/16/07 at 2:23pm
Haha, you truly see how PS3 made big fans out of ppl. I personally don't have PS3(it was just too expensive for a game console), but I understand what you want.
You want to have new HD format movie disc player that also plays your beloved CDs =)
I personally listen to music a lot more often than watching TV and I too am finishing up my second set up in my basement.

If you are kind of person who has separates to listen to your music and picky about the quality of sound you get from CD, you're prolly better off getting 2 different machines for CD and blu-ray. Well.. thats what "I" think at least. good luck.
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post #8 of 24
12/16/07 at 5:50pm
Thread Starter 
I can't believe I'm getting sucked into the PS3 vortex of doom!

Does a PS3 play BRDs as well as other $500 Blue Ray players and CDs as well as $200 CD players?? Does anyone know the specs on the PS3 for BRD and CDs?? What is the audio chipset? It does SACD, which of course is a Sony invention, but does it play DVD-A?? I have a couple of DVD-A and no SACDs.
Does it have a remote control that acts just like the remote in a DVD player?

Does it connect HDMI 1.3a/b? What are the f/p/s supported?

How are the load times for BRDs? My Toshiba HD-DVD player is painfully slow compared to non-HDDVD players.

Are there any issues, like there are with the Samsungs listed on these boards?

Does it have an issues with overheating? (like the Xbox360 I just bought!)?

Can it be laid on its side like a normal looking DVD player (on a rack)?

Does it have normal IR codes so I can program it into my universal remote?

Are the Sony BRD player(s) for $400-500 better at BRDs than the PS3?

Thanks!
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post #9 of 24
12/16/07 at 5:54pm
Thread Starter 
I just found the following specs, but would still REALLY like feedback on PS3 as 95% DVD player instead of a seperate $500 BRD player and why, other than "it plays PS3 games."

Here are the specs (is the HDMI 1.3? Does it do all of the interactive menus?):

CPU
Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU
RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)
Memory
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth
Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance
2 TFLOPS

Storage
Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O
USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller
Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)

AV Output
Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc Media
CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
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post #10 of 24
12/16/07 at 6:24pm
I think that the best way to say it, is to wipe out the idea of the cheap console made in plastic with substandard components. The PS3 is a piece of machinery that will hardly be remade in the future, because almost everything in it was over-engineered and at the top of the game.

Now, forget for one second that the PS3 is also a game console. Nearly every home theater mag has put the PS3 among the top rated BD player. It may not be hi-end, but it still offers the best value (or should I say premium value).

Compared to what other people wave written, the PS3 is by and large the faster HDM player in stores today.

From a female pont of view (my wife), the PS3 user interface is more intuitive than any CE player. Not as intuitive as a Mac, but it comes close.

And if you plan to play a game every once in a while, Uncharted and Heavenly Sword are definitely worth checking out.
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post #11 of 24
12/16/07 at 6:27pm
Thread Starter 
What you say makes a lot of sense. Can you please point me to a review or two of the PS3 as a BRD player??

I know you sense this, but it "feels" odd to me to buy a game console, albeit, a high end one, to play BRDs, standard DVDs and CDs.
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post #12 of 24
12/16/07 at 8:38pm
Another great feature of the ps3 is its capability to upscale CDs from 44.1kHz to either 88.2kHz or even 176.4 kHz through HDMI if your receiver will accept it. I can clearly say that PS3 is one of the best CD/DVD player I have ever owned. The sound is just great. The PS3 is a demon when it comes to digital signal processing. With HDMI, the PS3 is playing to its strengths (digital) rather than any analog. So, if you are using HDMI, I will wholeheartedly recommend the PS3 for CD/SACD/DVD and BD playback.
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post #13 of 24
12/16/07 at 8:43pm
I felt exactly like you until I got the PS3 a few days ago. I went back and forth trying to convince myself why I shouldn't get a "game console" just for Blu-Ray.

All I can say is...all of my doubts were immediately gone within 10 minutes. Its an amazing device worth every penny.

DVD Upconversion is extremely well done, SACD sounds brilliant, and Blu-Ray playback is great, (and fast). Oh and it does play games too...
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post #14 of 24
12/16/07 at 9:11pm
I vote for the PS3 as well. Just remember that the 40gig version DOES NOT play SACDs.

Also, remember that a budget of $800 will get you one of the new dual format players. There is a lot of good stuff only available on HD-DVD.

Me personally, if I had an $800 budget I would put together an HTPC based on one of the those LG Super blue drives.
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post #15 of 24
12/17/07 at 2:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nahtanoj View Post

What you say makes a lot of sense. Can you please point me to a review or two of the PS3 as a BRD player??

The most recent mag that comes to my mind is UltimateAV, which has just named the PS3 the disc player of the year.

And you can find here their (long) review of the PS3. What makes this story interesting is that it was written in December 2006, and many of the cons they had pointed out have been solved by firmware updates since then (such as upscaling and 24p).

If you look in the archives of other home theater mags, you'll find plenty of other positive reviews of the PS3.

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I know you sense this, but it "feels" odd to me to buy a game console, albeit, a high end one, to play BRDs, standard DVDs and CDs.

It's the leap of faith -- like in Indiana Jones (or Assassin's Creed).
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post #16 of 24
12/17/07 at 6:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nahtanoj View Post

I'm putting together my home theater, and I'm either going to get a Blue Ray player and a good CD player or a Blue Ray that also plays CDs. I found a Samsung (I think the BP-1400?) that plays both. However, I've heard that the universal HD/BRP LG is somewhat of a compromise, so if I have to, I'd rather get a seperate CD player than a compromise.

Unfortunatley, my budget is only about $800 or so for both.

Any thoughts?

Do you have a Toshiba HD-DVD player?

I have a toshiba A2 and a PS3. When I first got my PS3 I thought it was awesome. It is a great machine for the price but I have several issues that makes me want to get rid of it. I sit fairly close to it (about 7') and I can hear the fan and I have a hard time ignoring it. I also have limited space in my entertainment center and you cannot stack it with anything. It really needs to breathe well to keep the fan noise down. Since I cannot stack it with other components it is limiting me from adding more gear.

My goal is to replace my PS3 with a standalone once someone makes the following: a bd player that decodes all new audio codecs internally and 2.0 BD profile. I also want it made by someone with a good reputation for making good dvd players.

On another note, if you are some what of an audiophile this might help. I've done some A/B comparisons of CD playback on my A2 and my PS3. I also blindly did them for a friend of mine and he came to the same conclusion. The A2 sounded more full and created a little better soundstage. The PS3 sounded good but caused a bit of ear fatigue in the highs at high volumes. Some on hear may disagree with this but this is what my ears hear.

I'm sure on a mediocre system you won't hear a difference but if you have pretty good stuff you might.

I'm not trying to deter you from buying a PS3. Just giving you my experience and thought process. If space was no concern and fan noise was non-existent I'd probably keep it. However, I'm trying to make room for an amplifier and I'm out of room unless I can stack something on my shelf with my A2. A standalone BD player will do this for me. However, not gonna waste my money until a fully featured 2.0 player is out.

Good luck!

Oh btw, you asked if the PS3 will play DVD-A. It won't play the DVD-A portion of the disc but will still play the DVD-Video portion that is on all DVD-A discs. So you still get a surround mix, just not hi resolution. Hope this helps.
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post #17 of 24
12/17/07 at 7:06am
PS3 is the only player that has real CD upsampling and several bitmapping filters + HDMI 1.3. Unless you are annoyed by its fan noise there's no reason to get another CD player over PS3.
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post #18 of 24
12/17/07 at 7:09am
I have 2 PS3's, used only for watching movies and playing SACDs. Its the only way to go. The price/performance/upgradability is unparalleled.
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post #19 of 24
12/17/07 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
I have to thank everyone. I didn't think I'd get such excellent feedback, and I'm grateful. I do have a Toshiba HD-DVD players. It's one of the eariler ones. I have to check, but for some reason, I think it may only output 1080i. I was an early adopter. But I really wanted BR also. I think there are some exclusive titles on both. My other stuff is/will be fairly high end, but I am about to run out of money (probably not unusual around here!). I'm selling my Stewart Firehawk (92") for a 9-10' wide 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. I'd think Xbox and PS3 will look unreal on that sized screen. I'm also selling my Sharp XV-z9000 and getting either a Sony VW60 SXRD projector or the Marantz 15s1. If I get the Sony, I'll have about $2k in which case I may also get a new receiver with HDMI. My current receiver WAS high end. It's a B&K 507, and B&K advertizes their stuff as hardware upgradeable and "buy it once" but they're not upgrading to HDMI (which they could do - at least for a fee). The receiver cost me about $2700. The only receivers I owned before those were mid-range Yamahas. Although the B&K is great, my philosophy changed quite a bit. A 60lb behemoth without HDMI will do that to you. I now don't think it's worth getting such a high end piece as things change too quckly and if your me, you'll want to upgrade again in 5 years or less (if I can afford to w/o getting divorced!).

Anyway, I'm buying an AVRAK - I had one in my old basement. It's a rack that slides in and out of a space and rotates so you can access your stuff. It's great when you can't get behind the rack. I'll get the 6' version this time, so I won't run out of room. For now, I'll have my receiver, HDDVD player, Dish box, Xbox, old fashioned turn-table to be purchased, surge device, HDMI switch (unless I sell the B&K and get a new recever) and whatever BR player I get. The touble is I really want to be able to play DVD-A. I have great DVD-As of the Eagles and Yes. I do have an OLD Yamaha DVD player that playes DVDs and CDs. The transport on it is a pain since it's a 5 carosel but it takes several tries to figure out how to get the right disc out.

If I get the PS3, won't I still be missing the latest sound formats, or are those years away from having any movies?? I know that unless I buy a new receiver it won't matter since my receiver has no HDMI inputs so I'd have to go through a switch (video) and optical out into the receiver. I don't think the new uncompressed formats go over Toslink Optical do they??

I'm a little worried about fan noise, since I'll have one or two cooling fans for the receiver already, and the projector fan overhead. That'll be a lot of fans.

Ugh. I can't make decisions. AVS needs a special feature in which you put up a certain amount of money, tell people what you want to do, and a special board of diverse expert consumers decide for you.
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post #20 of 24
12/18/07 at 3:21am
Just my 2 cents, if you have a Tweeter (or Sound Advice) around you, I just got the panny 10k for a "fraction--no price talk" of the original list. I has the very rare (and discontinued) 7.1 analog outs as well as DVD-A support. I have not tried a cd, but DVD-A as well as BR TrueHD (finally got to experience it as this is hooked up to my Yammy 659 via the multi analog in- my main system not only does not have HDMI, there is no analog multi inputs either-TAE9000ES) sound very powerful and spacious. The panny has 24/192 D/A converters and many here in this community regard it as the BEST for audio (and I have to agree- I , for the record, tried the Sammy 1200-POS, Sony S1-very good and trouble free, and the Tosh A20-GREAT DVD upconverting and overall faster response than the Sony).

I will follow up in this thread later today after I try a CD on it (6:20 am currently and everyone is just getting up
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post #21 of 24
12/18/07 at 3:38am
I have an old trusty 60GB PS3.

I have found that the PS3 fan noise is greatly dependent on surrounding tempature in the room.

In the summer, if the room tempature goes above 75 degrees, the PS3 fan kicks on and it's pretty noticable. From 70-75 degrees, I can hear the PS3 fan if I concentrate, but It's still quiter than the fan in my reprojection tv. I'm usually not spending a great deal of time watching movies in the summer anyway. I'm usually outside enjoying the weather. I turn on the the air when company is over so the PS3 behaves itself.

In the Winter, I keep my temp around 66 degrees. The PS3 fan is DEAD quiet at this temp. I can't hear it at all. This is good because in the winter, I'm locked inside almost the whole season. The Home Theater gets alot of use during this time.

For what it's worth, I've been into Home Theater since 1990 and of all the equipment I have ever owned, the PS3 has been far and away my favorite. It's rock solid reliable. It's well made. It's fast. It does everything. And with updates, it seems to get better with age. How many products do you own that improve themselves AFTER you buy them?
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post #22 of 24
12/18/07 at 4:12am
Will the PS3 output multichannel SACD via analog outputs? I have only Toslink/Coax or 5.1 channel analog in's available on my Kenwood Soverign 5090 receiver and would like to know how the PS3 deals with Multichannel SACD's? Also, how does it output the various advanced codec's on Blu-ray discs? Is there any sort of internal transcoding to dts like Toshiba's A2 does?
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post #23 of 24
12/18/07 at 4:22am
Also the Playstation 3 has a calvacade of amazing games that come out next year. Don't doubt.
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post #24 of 24
12/18/07 at 5:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nahtanoj View Post

If I get the PS3, won't I still be missing the latest sound formats, or are those years away from having any movies?? I know that unless I buy a new receiver it won't matter since my receiver has no HDMI inputs so I'd have to go through a switch (video) and optical out into the receiver. I don't think the new uncompressed formats go over Toslink Optical do they??

I think it's mostly a matter of politics. Technically speaking, the PS3 has so much processing power that it could handle any advanced sound format. But politically, Sony has to take into account the needs and the business of the Blu-ray CE manufacturers. If the PS3 could do everything -- including coffee -- who'd want to buy a standalone player?

I suppose that the PS3 will eventually handle some advanced sound formats, but I don't know when. If you think about it, the PS3 originally didn't have a forced 24P mode -- it was added along the road.

Quote:


I'm a little worried about fan noise, since I'll have one or two cooling fans for the receiver already, and the projector fan overhead. That'll be a lot of fans.

It depends on your expectations. The PS3 is probably one of the quieter consoles in the market today. But it won't be as quiet as a hi-end player.

Also note that Blu-ray playback (unlike games) doesn't require a lot of processing power. So as long as your PS3 is well ventilated, chances are that you'll only hear the noise of your projector.

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Ugh. I can't make decisions. AVS needs a special feature in which you put up a certain amount of money, tell people what you want to do, and a special board of diverse expert consumers decide for you.

I'd be tempted to reply that you guys are spoiled! You can always return the gear that doesn't suit you for a small fee, while here in Europe, all sales are usually final. You don't know how lucky you are.

If I were you, I'd buy a PS3 and keep the receipt and the box. If in a few days you aren't satisfied, return it to the store and say that your wife won't stand yet another console (or an excuse like that), and you'll pick a standalone player instead.
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