OFFICIAL "HELP ME CHOOSE A PLAYER" THREAD: Can't decide? Start HERE. - Page 464

I'm looking for a good blu ray player that can play any DVD and Blu ray A, B, & C and DVD all regions.

I have many Blu ray disc from Europe that I would like to watch and I have many American Blu rays that I would like to watch when I'm in Europe

Any suggestions?

The cheaper the better

Thanks

I'm looking for a down and dirty, no frills Blu Ray. Quality and Performance is what interests me without breaking the bank with a bunch of unneeded features. Any ideas?

Thanks

I am taking delivery of an 80" Sharp 3D display this coming Friday. Will either of these 3d players be adaquate or should I be looking at something else. I'm refering to the 220 and 590. I know the benefits and downfalls of each. I have a 65" sharp non 3d now and my LG BR has been fine. I'm interested mostly in streaming and this panel is going to show the short comings of alot of material. I just signed up for Amazom Prime but my current LG does not support it. Any thoughts? Thanks

I have the 80" sharp, and I alternate between the 320 and 790 pretty regularly. Both work great. As long as you know the up and down sode of each, you're good to go.

S~

If you're spending that much money on the TV, you probably should consider a Sony BDP-S790. It has more video upscaling options that can be used when watching DVDs. Quite a few people seem to prefer Sony's streaming options to Panasonic's.

Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to decide if going with the 790 over the 590 will be of benefit to me. It is essentially $109.00 more and may be worth it. Amazon just sent me an email to get a $25 gift card if I purchase the Panny 220. I purchase quite a bit from there and this would be an incentive to go with the Panny. Choices, Choices.

IMO, the main reason to go with the 790 over the 590 (or the 220/320) is for multichannel analog audio. Otherwise, save your money (BluRay discs will look identical).

Panny's DVD upconvert looks fantastic. Their file support is very limited. I can't get anything to play aside from mp4.

Is the PS3 still a good option for bluray? I'll play games as well, but picture quality is what I am concerned with.

For BluRay PQ, players are pretty much the same. For upscaled DVD, the PS3 is a little dated (there are better players for upscaling).

PS3 vs Blu-Ray Player

I have been using my son's PS3 as a blu-ray/DVD player. I have a Samsung SmartTV that it is connected to it. My son is going to be moving out soon so I'm looking at having to buy a blu-ray player or buy another PS3. I don't play video games.

I like the PS3 because it is a "smart" machine that has a wireless connection to access Netflix. The SmartTV has also a wireless connection but it is much slower. The PS3 also has great picture quality playing back blue-ray or a standard DVD.

What I don't like about the PS3 is the numerous settings that can be set for audio and video outputs. I guess this is plus if I knew I was doing and what all the settings mean but I don't. I fiddle with them trial and error until I get things to work reasonably well.

The PS3 supported my Sony wireless headphones until I got the flat screen Samsung TV. As soon as the HDMI cable was plugged in my optical connection wouldn't work for my headphone base station (or I couldn't figure out how to tweak it so that it would work).

To top it all off I have an old Pioneer receiver that only allows me to "PASS THRU" my HDMI signal to the TV and I'm using the speakers on the TV (hey it works). I'm thinking about upgrading the receiver to a ONKYO TX-NR414 5.1-Channel 3-D Ready Network A/V Receiver.

With all of the above said, is there a blu-ray player that would be compatible with the Samsung SmartTV and ONKYO receiver? Would the player support my Sony wireless headphones as well as play through the speakers from the reciever? It would be nice if the receiver/player would have a decent wireless connection to stream Netflix (or similar) movies. Or am I looking at buying another PS3 and forget about the headphones?

Thanks.

No reason to get a PS3. Just about any player will do everything you listed. The Panasonic 220 would probably be best in your case since you need optical and don't mention DLNA. If you could use digital coax, I'd recommend the sony 590 instead since it has a slightly better netflix interface almost exactly like the one on your PS3 and the same menu system which you're accustomed to.

EDIT: Correction. The 590 has optical and coax as Selden says below. The 390 has no optical, only coax.
Edited by mdavej - 9/6/12 at 9:03am

I hate Sony's menu system But that's my preference.

S~

FWIW, the S590 has both optical and coax digital audio outputs. As with all other Blu-ray players, you'll get the best results using HDMI, so upgrading your receiver does seem reasonable. FWIW, some people complain that Onkyo AVRs tend to run hot, although the current generation supposedly runs cooler, and that Onkyo seems to have had a high defect rate in recent years.

Thank you--Selden, Teach, MDaveJ-- I'm going to check out the Sony blu-ray. Sounds like the ticket. Pardon my ignorance-- what is DLNA? I went to the DLNA website and looks like a standard interface between various devices. To play and display pictures and movies off a smartphone? Right now, I'm hoping to get all my stuff just to work that's hooked to the TV.

As far as receivers go, I'm also thinking about the YAMAHA RX-V373BL 5.1-Channel AV Receiver. Heat would be an issue since my unit would be in a semi-enclosed space. I know allo receivers I have owned to date run a little warm. Plus I also read that if I have RCA hook-ups, that they won't be converted thru the HDMI cable. Does that sound right? I have a cable box that hooks up like a VCR which I now have hooked directly to the TV. It works okay but the picture quality is variable.

Thoughts?

Thanks again on the Blu-Ray info.

You use DLNA to watch videos/music/pictures on your TV which are stored on your computer. Sony excels at it, Panny does not. It's probably already built in to your smart TV. Not sure what DLNA options there are for phones. There are probably quite a few. I guess Airplay is a bit like DLNA but not the same thing. But I'm old, so I don't see the point of watching a movie on a 3" screen when you could watch it on your 60" screen.

For your current system, I'd skip RCA and run HDMI from the player to the TV, then optical from the TV to the stereo. You can simultaneously run RCA to your wireless headphone base and you should get sound on all outputs. If you're lucky, your TV may even bitstream DD/DTS 5.1 from it's HDMI inputs thru optical to your stereo. Mine does, and many other recent TV's do as well. My stereo is a lot older than yours and still works beautifully with the optical out from my TV for all sources. Worst case, you can run optical from the player to your stereo and bitstream surround while still getting audio over HDMI and RCA. Not a problem.

Personally, DLNA saves me a couple of bucks a month off my cable bill since I can watch my recordings from my PC without using a cable box. I can also watch any shows that I download and access all my music and photo libraries. It's pretty handy. You can do exactly the same thing today with your son's PS3 and PS3 Media Server running on your PC. I guess if you never used it, you won't miss it if you go with a Panny.

Like teachsac, I'm not a big fan of the sony menu system, but at least it's fast and will be familiar to you.

Good luck

Hi. I'm looking for which BluRay from integra, pioneer elite and Panasonic fully support Netflix hd 5.1 and DNA etc and wifi? I'm returning my oppo 93 tomorrow since it doesn't support hd Netflix.

The next Oppo (103) due out in October will have HD Netflix support, it appears. Maybe you want to wait a few weeks if you liked everything else about the 93.

Panasonics support Netflix, but their DLNA file support is limited. The Sonys support 5.1 with NF and Amazon and have better file support for streaming. Although Oppo will handle more. So you could wait for the 103.

S~

Blu-ray player that's region free and does Netflix streaming

Can anyone recommend such a player? Budget is up to $350 or so. As for connectivity and quality: just needs to connect to the TV via HDMI or component. There is no receiver/external speakers involved.

Thanks!

Insignia: $40 on ebay.

Seriously? A region free, netflix streaming blu-ray player is $40?

Seriously. LINK

I've bought and sold many of these over the years and they work fine. They even have exactly the same disc drive as Oppo as well as component outputs. It's kind of an anomaly because it's a store brand that uses the same components as name brands and has a big hole open for region-free hacking.

Thanks for the info. When you say "region free hacking" does that mean you have to mod the player? This is for my parents...

Hi,

My PS3 is about to die so i'm looking for a new Blu-ray player. I've done some research on the forum and looking at what is available in the stores near where i live there was 2 models that i though could be a good choice. Panasonic BDT220 and Sony BDP-s590.

My TV is a panasonic TCP42S2 and what i'm looking for is a player that can do a good job for upscalling DVD (at least as good as a PS3) since i still hold around 2500 DVD. I saw many good review on that point for the BDP-S790 but since that model is not available right now in Canada (but i could buy it online) i was wondering if the upscaling on the S790 is better that the S590 or even the BDT220 ?

EDIT: Forgot to mention that 3D is not really something l'm looking for and i won't use this player for streaming or for Online content.

Thanks,
Edited by Sianspheric - 9/9/12 at 4:49pm

You will do fine with either. I've always found the PS3 to be fair at DVD scaling. I own te Sony 790 and Panasonic 320, and I personally prefer the Panasonic although the 790 is quite good.

S~

Thanks, I'll go with the panasonic then since my TV is also a panasonic. I should be able to enable the verra link then.

Any BD player from Panasonic, Sony and Pioneer Elite upscales better than the PS3. Just get the BDT220. It's upscaling is better than Sony S590.

Looking for a player for my gym set up (older TV) with:

1. Component outputs (1080i output)
2. Built-in Wifi
3. Netflix and/or Amazon Prime streaming (ideally both)
4. Not too expensive. Refurb is fine.
5. As reliable as possible

It will replace a Panny BD-60, which is starting to groan, and I'd like to get something that streams also.

I believe that in 2011 or 2012 the powers that be mandated the end of component outputs, so I am guessing may need to hunt around.

I saw there is an Insignia NS-BRDVD refurb on best buy's site for $70, but I am a little brand leary and I am not sure if it does amazon prime streaming. I don't care about region free, 3D or 5.1 audio on Netflix.

EDIT - Looks like in 2011 component got dumbed down to 480p, 2012 removed(?). On the Sony's the S570 looks like the last model. Need to figure out the last panny, last LG, etc.

Either that or see if I can get my HDMI port in the tube TV to work (it got nudged inside, so I can't hold a connection anymore).
Edited by dc_pilgrim - 9/10/12 at 9:56am

Not really. Just press a couple of buttons to change regions. Very easy. You could even put it in a macro on their remote if you want. You will have to load the right firmware first. But that's easy too. Otherwise, you're looking at a substantially more expensive player.
Insignia doesn't do Amazon. And $70 is about double the going price anyway.

You'll need a 2010 model to get full res on component. The Sony 570 is a good option, but I can't remember if it had Amazon or not. The 2010 panny you want is the BD85. The amazon app on that was ok, but I never could get it to stream full HD.
Edited by mdavej - 9/10/12 at 11:04am