OFFICIAL "HELP ME CHOOSE A PLAYER" THREAD: Can't decide? Start HERE. - Page 447

The only problem with the "fat" PS3's are that they are loud and tend to run hot. My home theater was 10 degrees warmer than the rest of my house when I used one. The good thing about the PS3 is that it does a great job with NetFlix. Mine did a terrible job with Amazon videos, though.

I think it's a specific set of events that's causing the sync issue; i.e., playing a certain disc, followed by streaming from Netflix.

I'd think they could fix that with a firmware update, but who knows? I hope Panasonic knows about this and is working on it. Obviously, the more we know about this the better, what to do, what not to do, how to fix it, work around it. Is there anywhere it's documented in some form? If there's no dedicated thread, maybe there should be. Not by me, I don't even have my 220 yet, have never streamed!

What does 1080p upconversion and has good quality picture, good sound, and good streaming (netflix, etc)?

Sony and Panasonic are the best choices this year, IMO.

You'll have to qualify what you mean by good sound. If you have special requirements like analog outputs or coax versus toslink, you'll need a different player.

Thanks MDave.

No, all new HT equipment is being purchased. Just want PQ, sound, Wifi, Netflix or similar all to work well.

I see each unit has its own flaws so was just looking for the best one overall in the under 150 range.

Then you have to pick the flaws you're willing to accept. There is no clear winner. I accept Sony's slowness (a few seconds doesn't matter to me), but don't accept Panny's poor DLNA support. PQ, AQ, streaming and upconversion are about the same. A few are reporting audio sync issues with Netflix on Panny, but it's hard to tell how widespread and what the cause might be.

Thank you.

Based on quality/affordability which Sony would you recommend then? I dont care about loading slowness either...

All are about the same PQ and app wise. I don't need 3D, so I have the 390. The 590 adds 3D, and the 790 adds 4k. The 590 is the best value right now unless you find a deal on a 390 (keep an eye out for open box deals at J&R). Price club versions include an HDMI cable (BX39/59/79). Oh, and the 390 has no front panel display besides a power LED. Deal-breaker for some, but I could never read the front panel on any of my players anyway.

Some don't like sony's build quality in this year's models because they dropped the metal enclosure and now use plastic. Doesn't bother me since everything but my stereo is plastic now anyway. It's actually pretty ingenious the way they used curves for added strength. Plus it reduces the cost and weight and should theoretically improve the wifi. So I think it's a smart move all around.

I'm very pleased with mine and looking to pick up another one when a deal comes along. I'm especially happy with Netflix and DLNA. Like other US models from the past few years, although they don't officially support divx, they play them just fine if you simply rename them. I just add ".mkv" to the end of my avi's and they play fine from Serviio.

See the 390 at 129 inc tax and shipping....nothing lss than that.....though EE has it at like 126 and $50 SOny gift card for music/movies

Yeah, that's not a good price, aside from the gift card. You can get a 590 for that. For some reason most 390's are still going for full MSRP while the 590's have come down.

Who is EE?

EE=electronics expo

Dear all,

I was wondering if there is a LG or Samsung blu-ray player which has a full browser to visit flash-enabled websites.

The reason is I want to watch streaming videos from some non-English flash sites. Earlier, I really liked the Sony BDP-S790 but it does not support flash.

My sincere thanks for your clarification.

Hi, I've just bought a Samsung 3D-LED TV, and I want a player... I need 3D, DLNA, WiFi and PQ...
What about Samsung player? Any others suggestions?

Look at the Sony BDP-S590.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1.) PQ
2.) Streaming - Netflix, Hulu, Amazon
3.) Load time


Don't have a 3d TV, so I don't really care about that, but it's fine if it's there. I already have a SageTV extender which handles all my media center needs, so DLNA is not necessary unless I needed it as a backup for some reason. Wifi is nice, but even that isn't critical since I have wired gigabit running to it already.

Seems to be a lot of talk between the Sony 390/590 and the Pansonic BDT220. What would be the deciding factor for some of you given what I'm looking for?

Thread title pretty much says it all.

(I am holding off on a 3D player until I upgrade my projector to 3D, on the assumption that at that time 3D players will be a generation newer/better.)

Sony 390

Ok, I don't think I can take any more reading after going back 33 pages...

It seems the consensus is that the Sony 'x'90 and Panasonic 'x'20 provide essentially the same PQ for both Blu-Ray playback and DVD upconversion, and that these models are the best choices in the below-Oppo price range, generally speaking.

The Sonys have better DLNA and support a larger number of file-types than the Pannys. The Pannys are quicker with loading discs and responding to the remote. Other than this, there is very little PQ or AQ difference between them. Vizio and Samsung are discouraged as unreliable (makes me worry about my new choice of a Samsung LCD), LG has little representation here, but a few people cast their vote for them, especially for steaming. (Apparently they also have reliability issues?)

I was about to go for a Panasonic, then I saw that mdavej and others who had been recommending the Pannys started shifting recs to the Sonys with the new models, mostly due to the more robust file-type support, if that was an important feature for a poster. So by then I was about settled on a Sony 590.

Then mdavej (IIRC) made the point that the Sonys don't playback FLAC, but the Pannys do.

So now I am in a bind, as I really like the video file support of the 590 over the 220, but I need to have FLAC playback, as all my music is in FLAC. But then again, I have a truck-load of various video file formats, .iso, .avi and .mkv containers and divx, xvid, h.264, mpeg-4, mpeg-2, VOB, VIDEO_TS folders, .wmv, .flv... .... ...

It really is all about choosing what you are willing to live without, since you're not going to get everything you want out of one player for a reasonable price. Perhaps a budget no-frills BD player along with a separate DLNA streamer that supports all my file-types would be the best compromise? I just don't want to give up PQ (esp. good DVD upscaling) by buying a lower-end model. Suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

~Anna~

Nice post, Anna. I'll be anticipating responses. My Panasonic 220 should arrive today. I have very little video/audio content to deal with as of now, but of course the relatively great file type support of the Sony's would be a plus. When I realized that the Sony's had far superior file support I began to wonder if I shouldn't return the Panny and order a Sony, however I read a lot of reviews and decided I'm probably OK with the Panny, at least for the time being.

I think this is the best solution in your case (panny plus a WD live or similar). I wish there was one player that had it all, but there isn't. Even though sony supports a lot of files over DLNA, it doesn't support some on your list, like iso and vob. Even avi (divix/xvid) requires renaming your files for them to work on sony. Sony does play FLV, which was a surprise considering it isn't documented anywhere. Panny only supports mpeg, wmv, mkv and possibly m2ts IIRC.

The main reason for the shift in many recommendations to sony this year is that sony finally caught up to panny with it's new Netflix interface and improved upconversion, which were panny's main advantages last year. Sony has always been the better DLNA streamer and had more streaming apps, and Panny has been the better disc player. Of course that's just the opinion of a few vocal regulars on this forum. CNET gives the nod to Panny.

Does the Panny support MP3 playback (e.g. via wifi off the network)?

Edit: Evidently the answer is yes. Support includes mp3, jpg, mkv, flac, wav, mpo, AVCHD, AVCHD 3D, mp4, mpeg2 according to http://www.blurayplayersreview.com/p...lu-ray-player/

Correct. I was only talking about video. I'm pretty sure AVCHD is only supported on disc, not DLNA or shares. Every BD player I've ever had plays AVCHD DVDs fine, as well as mp3 and jpg.

Panny handles the major stuff, but of you have a lot of different formats like the previous poster, it won't work. I don't do flac, iso or rip BD, so Sony handles everything I need. Panny won't do avi or flv, so that's a problem for me.

I have a Sony bdp 370 . Am I upgrading in any way if I get the bdp-s790?

Thanks for that info, I'll keep checking this thread for more (I've learned so much from this thread as well as the plasma and LCD sub-forums) and perhaps have something to contribute to others when I have some experience with all this.

TY!


~Anna~

Why would you consider such a huge leap if you don't even know what the 790 does? Do you have a $10,000 4k display that would require this $250 player? Why not the 390 or 590? What features are compelling you to upgrade?

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a good blu-ray player for my sister. She does not have cable and uses Netflix streaming as her primary content source so good netflix streaming is a MUST.

Other than that, her requirements are pretty basic. She'll be using HDMI to connect to her 32" 720p Panasonic LCD, she would like decent up-converting for her existing DVD collection, and she needs built in wifi.

She currently has a LG BD670 that she got on sale at Amazon, but it's Netflix player is plauged with problems so it's getting returned, it's won't play anything on Netflix most of the time, while it's other streaming apps work fine.

I'm currently looking at the Sony BDP-S390 which has pretty good reviews, but I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Sony 390 or 590, or Panny 220.

We have 2 generations old model 370 Sony. Both have worked perfectly for Netflix. They are both on Comcast internet service. I assume the newer models would woork as well. We got these because they were the last models (we were told) that would pass certain copyrighted material via HD over component. (We have a 50" Panny plasma that onlt has component.)