OFFICIAL "HELP ME CHOOSE A PLAYER" THREAD: Can't decide? Start HERE. - Page 481

Thoughts...

Blu-ray and regular DVD player (also play great CDs would be a plus).

Equipment ordered and on its way:

Marantz 5007
B&W CM1
REL T5 sub
TV is a 1080 40" LCD Vizio which will be upgraded sometime in the near future to a 50-55" LED/LCD.

Gonna run it 2.1 for now, but will add center and rears in that order.

Center will most likely be a B&W CMC / CMC2 and run 3.1

Any thoughts on something good in the under $200-300 range or less?

What to look for, for a quality player that plays nice dvds? Some say upscalining 1080 but another has plays near hd. What to look for?

would like some help in choosing my blu-ray player.

My set-up is as follows:

65" Panasonic VT50 (already bought)
Pioneer VSX 60 (haven't ordered yet)
Definitive technology sound bar, subwoofer, and episode rear in-ceiling speakers.


Wanting to get a panasonic player, and curious if the 220 or 320 will get the job done, or if the I should just go with the 5xx. Is the dual HDMI the way to go since I'll be using a receiver?

If you don't care about streaming, panny 220 is fine.
No player upscales well IMO. There's only so much you can do with low def material. Anything you read on the box is just hype, so take it with a grain of salt. Trust reviews instead. Oppo and high end sony are better than most. Anything else is mediocre. Personally I don't think the minor gain in PQ is worth several hundred bucks. DVD's still look pretty good on most players.
I assume that Pio is new. Dual HDMI is only needed on old receivers that don't support 3D, so don't waste your money. 220 should be fine unless you stream your own files.

Hello , I'm looking to buy a new blue ray player. The choices are between opp 103 and pioneers 62. I don't know which one to get. I need sacd and DVDA. I know the oppo has more streaming apps. I use netflix from my xbox. Please direct me in the right direction. Will the oppo sound better? My reciever does all the upscaling of the video. So I don't need that feature on the oppo.

Looking for a recommendation for an affordable Blue Ray player that does 3d as well. Don’t need streaming I have the St50. Thank you

My situation is this:

I have a first-generation Roku player for streaming and a Samsung c6500 (bought in 2010) for playing BD/DVDs (I still have over 500 DVDs, most of which I probably won't replace any time soon).

The Samsung refuses to connect to the internet (wireless won't work, and the ethernet connection appears to have physically broken), and therefore it has not had a firmware update in almost a year. The Sammy still does fine with discs, though it's obviously a bit slow.

I love the Roku, despite the fact that it crashes more than I'd like, but I really need to take advantage of the CC offerings on Netflix, which my Roku doesn't support, and I would love access to Vudu and 1080p/5.1 Netflix, which my Roku also doesn't support.

I was initially thinking about upgrading to the Roku 2, but then realized that, without regular firmware updates, my Sammy may stop playing newer BDs, so I should probably buy an "all-in-one" player for streaming and discs and cover all my needs (budget is too limited to buy a dedicated player for each).

I purchased the Sony s590 and am underwhelmed. The DVD playback is a half-notch below my Sammy (IMO) - not bad, but certainly not worth an upgrade. Panning scenes in HD on Netflix reveals a lot of totally unacceptable judder, which can't be due to my connection speed, as I connect with ethernet and show speeds >15mbps on Amazon and Hulu Plus (Netflix doesn't show connection speed, but I am getting a High/HD signal). Weird PQ playback issues keep popping up with Hulu Plus (something that never happens on my Roku), and the onscreen displays for Amazon VOD and Hulu Plus are awful (limited browsing, hard-to-read titles, drab screens). The Roku is greater in almost every way as a streamer, except for the lack of support for what I need, and the Sammy seems to offer slightly better PQ on DVDs.

I am thinking of picking up a Panny 220 to see how it compares, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas? Budget is limited to about $100 right now, 24p is moot as my four-year-old Panny plasma doesn't accept the signal, 3D isn't important (though it usually doesn't cost much more), and I like to bitstream audio as my Denon 2809ci can decode most everything. That's about all I can think of for parameters, lol...

Thanks for the help!

Sony dav-dz175 speakers on a blu ray system?

Hi everyone. I am looking for some professional blu ray help. I currently have a sony dav-dz175 home theater system and i would like to upgrade to a blu ray player and keep the speakers (wired) if possible. How can I find out what BLU RAY players will be compatible with my speakers? Thanks in advance for your help!

when I did an internet search of the Panasonic 220 it shows that it does stream. Was just wondering what the above was referring to.

Thanks...

Limited file support for DLNA streaming.

S~

I asked this same question in the LG Blu Ray player thread, figured I'd see if anyone here has an opinion...

I picked up a new LG Plasma (non-3d) and I was wondering if anyone thought it would make sense for me to get a new Blu Ray player to go along with it. I'm looking at the LG BP220 I have a Roku that handles all my "smart" needs but I'm mildly interested in DNLA. I'd be upgrading from a 2010 Insignia Blu Ray player. It does do film mode (24p) but I'm wondering if mating this TV with a current generation player would yield better results.

Thanks...

Just read all about DLNA... So if most of my streaming can be done with either my marantz receiver or with apple tv, then the Panasonic 220 should be right up my alley then correct?

Which one.

Both right about the same price at Costco right now.

Panasonic DMP-BDT220CP
Sony BPD-BX59

I have no experience with the 2012 LG players, but I have owned models from previous years (BD670 and BD570) and based on that experience I would not recommend LG Blu-ray players, especially for DLNA.

Pros about LG players:
- Wide variety of files are supported
- US players can play PAL discs as well as NTSC (though region restrictions still apply)
- SMB/CIFS network playback is supported in addition to DLNA

Cons
- Horrible quality control for software updates. They've had lots of major bugs in their updates.
- Some models have seemed to have hardware quality control issues as well (many reports of failed drive mechanisms for the BD670 which I owned)
- DLNA implementation is buggy (constant reports of "Network errors" under conditions where other devices work just fine).
- US models do not have a competitive warranty (only 90 days labor coverage)
- Output settings do not have native resolution offerings (you must use the built in upscaling on the player unless you want to manually change the output resolution of the player every time you play content that is less than 1080p).

Overall, IMHO they're just not reliable players. I replaced both my LGs with Sony BDP-S590 players and have been much happier, especially on the DLNA side. Sony does not support as many file types, but with a computer hosted DLNA server, that's not much of an issue because DLNA servers like Serviio can transcode/remux on the fly.

Panny has an edge in load times, DVD PQ and build quality, but Sony has far more streaming apps, basic web browser, far better DLNA and a better Netflix app as well as pretty good HDMI CEC. But since you don't care about sony's extras, then the panny will do fine. You'll need to change some settings as soon as you get the panny because out of the box the DVD PQ is horrible. See the panny thread for details on turning off super resolution.

I don't know the costco prices, but right now at amazon the sony is only $90 and the panny is $100, no tax, free shipping.

I'm looking for bluray player that will meet following requirements:

musts:
- play 1080p mkv (avc/h.264 with ac3 or dts)
- play avi (xvid/divx with mp3 or ac3)
- able to play files from usb connected hdd AND windows shared folder over wifi (not DLNA, just regular share)

good to have:
- display subtitles embedded in mkv files or separate text files
- able to play PAL DVDs and be region free or unlockable
- able to play and switch audio tracks in multi-audio mkvs

That's all. 3d, netflix and any "smart" features not required. It's gonna be connected to Panasonic 50" ST50 and LG NB3520A sound bar so audio quality is not really important. Thanks for any suggestions.

Are there any BD players that have an incremental zoom feature that is similar to the "fine grained" zoom feature in MPC-HC? (I want the type of zoom that simply "magnify's" the image, but not distorting the h/v ratio. That is, I want to increase the vertical height of the "movie area" of a 2.35 movie, while cropping both ends of the image a bit. This would be just for 2.35:1 2d BD movies and, possibly, 2.35:1 SD movies.)

I notice in the BDP-93 manual the folllowing about what happens when you press its zoom button repeatedly:
1:1 (No zooming) -- Stretch/Compress -- Full Screen -- Under Scan -- 1.2 -- 1.3 -- 1.5 -- 2.0 -- ½ -- Back to 1:1 again

There are drawings in the manual that illustrate the effect of Stretch/Compress and Full Screen, but, as far as I can tell, there is neither a drawing nor description of the effect of the Under Scan, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.0 or 1/2 zoom options. Would an owner be kind enough to explain to me how those affect the image? (I already understand that many are against doing this.)

Thanks.

Stretch is for projectors with anamorphic lenses, people who have Constant Image Height setups.

All the others maintain the x:y aspect ratio; ie, no stretching or other distortion.

UnderScan and 1/2 are "zoom out": they create a black margin on all sides.

Full Screen is enough zoom to eliminate black bars on scope aspect ratio (2.35) or 1.33 titles -- obviously the image is cropped in one dimension or another. It is also just right for old 4:3 letterboxed DVDs, scaling them to full width without cropping.

1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.0 are increasing amounts of linear zoom with cropping.

-Bill

Hi Guys,

In the market for new blu-ray player for the master bedroom. Budget is $300 and would need to be 3D capable and hopefully have 7.1 analog inputs, and also would be nice if it were SACD capable. Will be used for streaming also, Netflix, etc. so I need wifi. Thank you for your suggestions. Happy Holidays to the AVSForum.com family of which I am proud to be a member.

If you need analog outs, then the Panasonic 500 and Oppo 103 would be the best choices. Downside of the 500 is it does not support SACD. Oppo supports about everything except the kitchen sink, but it is more than 300. You will get your money's worth, though. The Sony does have two HDMI and supports SACD, but no analog outs.

S~

Bill, thanks very much for the information.

So I assume that on a 2.35:1 movie the 1.2 zoom option would crop less off the ends while leaving some smaller black bars top and bottom. That is, it would magnify the image more than 1:1, but less than Full Screen (according to the manual, a 1.33 zoom).

At a viewing distance of 12 feet, even on a 65" display, a 2.75:1 movie such as "Battle of the Bulge" looks like "slot vision" to my wife and I. In that case, we might even use 1.3 or 1.5 zoom.

BTW, do you happen to know if the new 103 has the same zoom as the 93? From the manual, it appears to, but if I understand the owner's thread correctly, the zoom over HDMI is not functional at the present time -- similar to what happened with the 93 when it was first released.

Again, thanks for the information, Bill.

The zoom function and levels are the same.

The only restriction on the -103/105 I know of is that Blu-rays with the Picture-in-Picture Bonus View feature are not zoomable. This is presumed to be some conflict with the java layer and we hope it will be fixed in future firmware (but can't promise).

-Bill

Thanks, Bill!

(If it weren't for that new Cinevia "feature", we'd spring for the 103.)

Thanks for this.

Does anyone see a good reason for me to upgrade from the Insigna BRDVD-3 to a 2012 model? If so please share your recommendations. Again, I have no need for "smart" features or 3d but I am interested in DLNA.

Thanks again.

stay away from samsung. you should be fine with the other players.

Jacob

At Costco, both are at $100 with manufacturers instant discounts..

Hmmm.. What to do, what to do... Will streaming Netflix be any "better" than currently streamed though my son's Wii? Streaming wise, it will only be netflix (if better than WIi) as well as streaming Pandora. Is the DVD PQ in the panny enough to edge out possible Pandora and Netflix streaming?

Assuming you are happy with the disc playback capabilities of your player, then the reason to update probably would be to add DLNA functionality to your system. That might bring you to the question of whether a new Blu-ray player is the best way to accomplish that, or if you want (another) dedicated streaming device.

What specifically are you desiring to accomplish with DLNA? What types of files will you be playing? Video? Audio? What file formats? Source of the content? Where will the content live? On your computer?

I mostly use DLNA for playing back MPEG2 .TS files that I capture from my DVR. The Sony BDP-S590 that I have works great for this. A lot of people also use these players for DVD and Blu-ray rips in various file format.

These players can also be used for audio playback via DLNA and they work okay for that, but that's not where they excel. I don't know of any DLNA capable Blu-ray players that offer gapless playback, for example and only the high end players like Oppo can handle high resolution lossless audio files (example 96 kHz 24-bit FLAC files). I have heard that some of the AVRs with DLNA are better at audio and of course there are dedicated audio streaming solutions like Sonos as well.

Overall, DLNA can do some cool things, but it's not a perfect technology, so if you're looking to buy a new device to gain that functionality you should understand it's capabilities or at least try to figure out if it can do what you want.

The sony is far more versatile, but since my focus right now is on playing discs, I rarely use the sony (I have both).

Build quality is far better on the panasonic as well. For disc playing only, the panasonic is definitely better. For overall versatility (files, streaming, etc.), sony wins.

Also, while not politically correct, I actually like the 'sweeteners' for PQ in the panasonic player, but only for DVD's. They will definitely add artifacts, which you can notice if you put your nose to the screen, or if you freeze frame and study the picture, but in motion, a bit of picture sweetening looks great.

Without the sweeteners, DVD PQ is unfortunately quite similar between the sony and panasonic, namely, dvd's don't look very good at all for the most part.

Good questions. I really don't know what I want to do with it so I should do some research. Thanks for the info.

What is the general consensus of the Panasonic BDT500 vs Sony S790? The BD PQ will be the same. I am more concerned with the upscaling and PQ of my old DVD movies as well as PQ of the streaming movies from NetFlix, VuDu, and Cinema Now. As for audio, I use HDMI, so no real need of 7.1 analog out.