OFFICIAL "HELP ME CHOOSE A PLAYER" THREAD: Can't decide? Start HERE. - Page 490

Can anyone give a quick/experienced comment on the quality of Marantz BD decks? I'm sort of interested in buying a display UD7006 but I see some mixed stuff about their players. I did notice that it was really lightweight....I love my current main player (Sony 5000ES), but I'm kind of tired of having to keep a second blu-ray player connected for 3D content (Panasonic BDT310). Thanks!

Why not just use the 310? Are you looking for a universal player for SACD/DVD-A? Have you looked at the Oppo 103 or 105? You may be better asking about the Marantz offerings in the Marantz dedicated threads.

The 790 continues into 2013. Only the 185, 390 and 590 will be replaced with the new 2013 players.

What is my absolute BEST option for my following requirements:

Blu Ray 3D that can handle (I mean play regularly!) movie and video files from USB: .avi, .mkv, Divix, etc???

Great PQ and Excellent sound decoding for all of the popular audio signals???


I was looking at the Sony BDPS790 and Panasonic DMP-BDT500

I would like to stay under $250



~ Big Marcus

Forgot to mention that I have a LG BD570 (no updated firmware!) that works well... usually. But sometimes freezes and shuts off when making selections from my external drive. Plus it is painfully slllllow!

~ Big Marcus

I don't think either of those will work for what you want to do. Sony won't do divx natively, and Panasonic won't do most file formats. LG and samsung are probably better options. Oppo is ideal but out of your price range.

Current Sony players sold in the U.S. do not support Divx, but do support Xvid. See page 44 of the S790 manual, for example. Supposedly Divx is much more popular in Europe. I don't know which U.S. players do support Divx.

Thank You Both For The Rapid Reply! :-)

Which SAMSUNG would You Suggest?

And Can Anyone Answer This: My LG 60 PZ950 TV Will In Fact Play Damn Near Everything And Is Fast At Loading, But Won't Support DTS. Why Is It So Much Faster Than The LG player???
Sorry For The Capital Letters.... I'm Using My Android Device And It Does This For Done Reason...

Anyone know when the LG BP730 will be available for purchase?

~ Big Marcus

Probably some time in March.

S~

Thanks. I may just hold out for this one just because I have the nice LG 60" Plasma to match and knowing it should handle most video formats.

~ Big Marcus

Though the LG players generally support a wider variety of file formats than other budget players, I would not suggest becoming an early adopter (aka unpaid beta tester) of an LG player.

I have owned BD570 and BD670 and unless something has changed dramatically over the last year or so, they have a horrible track for software quality control. I was an early adopter of the 670. Every month or two they release updates without telling you what has changed, and usually it breaks something that was working previously.
You'd have to pay me pretty well to go through that again.

After switching to Sony BDP-S590 to replace a failing 670, I quickly purchased a second and took my LG BD570 out of service. The Sony players are much more stable and reliable, even if they don't support as many files. I have heard you can convert the FourCC codes on divx files to xvid so the Sony will play them. If encoding/converting your files in the formats supported by the Sony is too much work, you might consider getting a BDP-S590 or Panasonic 220 and a dedicated streaming device to handle files from your hard drive. Samsung players do not get rated very highly either. My 2 cents.

I actually have the bd 670 LOL! So I've been reading reviews on both units you mentioned above. And although in not a "Sony" guy, it appears to be decent for my needs. What roe of streaming device would you suggest and will it support DTS and DD 5.1?


BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

I use my BDP-S590 in conjunction with Serviio DLNA server and that is meeting my needs, but I don't use divx files myself. I honestly have not done enough research about dedicated streamers to give you an informed recommendation.

People seem to like the WD TV Live, but I would suggest looking in the media streamers topic under
'Gaming & content streaming' on AVS to learn about other offerings, there seem to be lots of these devices available. I even recall users in the LG Blu-ray player threads (570 and/or 670) mentioning streamers they purchased to expand functionality beyond what those players can do (iso playback, for example).
Edited by Vampidemic - 1/22/13 at 6:25pm

Folks, may i ask what do you think of cambridge azur 752 or 751 from build up quality comparing to Arcam Diva 139 or 137 ? I mean if i play DVD in both will the Cambridge sound better than Arcam ?
I need to use the player only as transport using coaxial output for the sound . Im worry that the Arcam still sound better because its well build up for both power supply and jitter reduction .
Anyone like to answer, and thank you.

The Cambridge Bluray players are based on the Oppo players.

They basically are the same models with some variations. In the case of the Cambridge, they use Wolffson DACs where the Oppos use Sabre DACs. I believe the asur 752 is based on the Oppo BDP-105, and the 751 is based on the BDP-95 (previous model ) Here is a discussion where some users compared a Cambridge player, the Oppo 95 and the Arcam 139. You can draw your own conclusions from it.

The Oppo BDP-105 is different from the 752 in that the power supply has been upgraded, has a built in headphone amp and it also includes asynchronous USB inputs for jitter free transfer of music from a computer. That along with the different DACs are the main functional differences between the two players. Obviously the 105 is the incremental upgrade from the 95, as is the 752 from the 751.

Thank you hernanu for your input & understood .

What players are superior to the ps3? I'm wanting to get away from using a gaming console to play movies but don't really feel like dropping 1500 on the oppo 105

^^^^

bdp-s790 around $200 - $250. Fantabulous!

Is it the same audio video performance as the oppo 103? I have an elite kuro and don't really care about frills just perfect audio/video.

Check the 790 thread. IIRC tests have shown A/V reproduction is perfect. But if that's not good enough, check out the panny 500.

As far as what player is better than the PS3, I think that would be just about every player.

While watching Harry Potter's Goblet of Fire with my girls my PS3 overheated and just outright died with 10 minutes left to go (How fitting) I'm not going to replace the PS3, I will wait for the new console so I'm now looking into getting a BDP, I have a budget of $250. I don't have a 3D TV so this is not a priority however fast load times are, upscaling of DVD content, Solid wired network performance is a must. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Look into the Panny 220, Sony 390, and Sony 590.

Hi, The player I have been using is the Sony BDP-S360 (with my samsung LN40A650). I purchased a new TV and am looking for a new setup, what I have is a Panasonic P50ST50 and a Yamaha HTR-4065 reciever, nothing too fancy but now I'm looking for a player. Maybe I should have bought the player before I purchased the receiver, I had no idea many came with their own sound processing. I could always take the receiver back, though. With that in mind, I am looking for something with great video processing, mostly, can play most video formats, and probably comes with 3-D capability which I think everything does now anyway.

My first big question is how much of the cost for the mid and upper end players goes into handling the sound? One I was looking at is the OPPO BDP-103, which has pre-outs for 5.1 analog sound but my receiver doesn't have inputs for that. I'd have to get an amp to make use of these. So say if I were to purchase this player, how much would I have wasted not being able to use that feature? I've looked at the sony 590s in the store, which had pretty decent reviews, but they couldn't handle all the file types and networking was kind of hit or miss, plus it felt really cheap.

The second one is how much better is the video processing in the higher end units or is it more just how and the kind of file types they handle?

Looking for suggestions and advice.

Welcome to AVSForum.

Analog audio output in players is mostly to accommodate people who have already spent hugely on receivers that have it. People who have HDMI in their receivers almost always use that, making the analog capabilities of the player moot.

If you are looking to upgrade the audio of your system the money would go to the receiver and speakers, not swapping the HDMI player source.


Digital audio and video is a quality leveler. The higher end machines are pricier for features, support, etc, not necessarily video quality.

-Bill

Thank you, I decided to get the S790, build quality is important to me so I decided to get the S790 since the S590 looks cheap

Decided on and ordered a Panny BDT 500.


BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Thanks Bill, I think after doing a lot of reading I'm going to pickup the Sony S790.

Hello All,

My wife and I are replacing the DVD Player in our main living room. We'd like to upgrade to blue-ray player as well. I'm overwhelmed by the choices as well the prices.

Heres what we need. Blue-Ray, ability to play standard DVD's too. Also we'd like to able to watch WatchESPN, I see the apps for Netflix, Pandora, etc but no ESPN3...

Is ESPNs not possible?


Other things not brand loyal although I've been told to stay with the three S's Sharp, Samsung, and Sony.

Thoughts? Reccomendations?

Sony S590 or S390 and Panasonic 220 all great choices. Samsung blew up for me after 2 weeks. The S390 doesn't have 3D capability. The blu ray picture and DVD picture are all the equal of the $500 OPPO. Another choice would be the 620 by LG, but the DVD upconversion is not equal to the Sony or Panasonic.