£400 or so for a BD player.....................but what?

[fayeanddavid]

It is now time to buy, but what......................?

Yes I know about the Sony range but are they as good as a £400.00 player, haven't heard much of what Panasonic and Pioneer offer and what of the Cambridge BD player?

Sure PQ is to be good (must be surely as its BluRay) but SQ is as, if not more, important

Will need to send sound via LCPM to my amp or multi channel out, I'm led to believe that LCPM is superior to Multi channel out?

Happy to spend the 400 notes but on what....................?

Help please

Thanks

 

[Clare Newsome]

I've covered this off on this thread....

 

[Anonymous]

this thread may be worth checking out ...

 

[Anonymous]

I got a Pioneer BDP-320 that initially retailed for £400.00 for £179.00. Another option is a Sony BDP-S760.

Best picture and sound quality under £400.00 at the moment must be the Denon 2500BT, but this is a Profile 1 machine and is a Transport only.

 

[Anonymous]

SamsonD:

I got a Pioneer BDP-320 that initially retailed for £400.00 for £179.00. Another option is a Sony BDP-S760.

Best picture and sound quality under £400.00 at the moment must be the Denon 2500BT, but this is a Profile 1 machine and is a Transport only.

I Agree with SamsonD regarding the Denon 2500BT which was £900.00 note his point that it is only Profile 1 and only has one output a single HDMI if you can find one worth a demo , Sevenoaks used to stock them

 

[fayeanddavid]

So, the answer is;

wait til September or the Denon BT2500 if you want one now??

Thought there may be a lot more views on this................cos now is when I want it!!

 

[Anonymous]

fayeanddavid:

So, the answer is;

wait til September or the Denon BT2500 if you want one now??

Thought there may be a lot more views on this................cos now is when I want it!!

f and d , demoing is a must , differences in pic quality are very very marginal imo ...

ive read many a post from unhappy forumites , that couldnt figure out why their shiny new £500 blu-ray player was no better than their old one

, just my views of course , but id want to know im going to see an improvement before spending big ...

 

[Anonymous]

For £400 you can get the Cambridge azur 650BD.

As for 3D upgrades, the future of 3D is uncertain. Today's solutions will most probably be obsolete in a few years.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd save yourself half of your budget and pick up a Pioneer BDP-320 for under £200. For Blu-Ray picture and sound it is better than the CA 650BD. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and it is a great player. It was awarded 5 stars here at its original price of £400 so for less than half of that you can see what a bargain you would be getting.

 

[Anonymous]

Daveee:I'd save yourself half of your budget and pick up a Pioneer BDP-320 for under £200. For Blu-Ray picture and sound it is better than the CA 650BD. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and it is a great player. It was awarded 5 stars here at its original price of £400 so for less than half of that you can see what a bargain you would be getting.actually , thats what i would buy too , for that price its a good deal , i think spending £400 is needless ...

 

[Deleted member 2457]

maxflinn:

fayeanddavid:

So, the answer is;

wait til September or the Denon BT2500 if you want one now??

Thought there may be a lot more views on this................cos now is when I want it!!

f and d , demoing is a must , differences in pic quality are very very marginal imo ...

ive read many a post from unhappy forumites , that couldnt figure out why their shiny new £500 blu-ray player was no better than their old one

, just my views of course , but id want to know im going to see an improvement before spending big ...

I agree with Max, i once did a demo with the pioneer bdp-lx52, denon 2500 and the pioneer bdp-lx71 and everyone who saw our demo said the 71, i have seen the sonys as well and they have there own type of makeup as well so it comes down to own personal taste, i also think combinations can play apart, ie tv, cables,leads and amp.

 

[Anonymous]

The Denon will be the best between these 3.

 

[Anonymous]

SamsonD:The Denon will be the best between these 3.
Please Demo as much models as you can , everyone suggested cracking machines with justifiable reasons

My last point on the Denon is that personally it was the improvement in sound , ( found it more dynamic ) that swung me to a 2500 in preference to a Pioneer 320 , very marginally better with video IMHO had both on home demo from Sevenoaks sale or return

Built like a tank as well

 

[bigboss]

For your budget, I would consider Pioneer LX52, Panasonic BD85 and Sony S760. All are excellent in SD & HD picture quality and are superb audio decoders too (although your Yamaha should decode audio just as well). If you can wait a couple of months, the Sony S770 will be an excellent player (going by the recent range of players from Sony).

For superior DVD upscaling, look at Denon 2500BT, Oppo BDP-83 & Oppo BDP-80. Denon 2500BT is only profile 1 & is very slow to load. Also, it's only a transport but that shouldn't be an issue with you.

Another player which comes highly recommended is Cambridge Audio Azur 650BD which can easily be modded to be multiregion for DVDs & multizone for blu-ray discs, is a universal player that can play SACDs too & is renowned for its sonic abilities. Oppo has all the same features & can easily be modded, but the 650BD comes with a UK warranty.

 

[fayeanddavid]

Thanks all

my first venture into Bluray, so picking lots of brains and experiences before jumping in

Lots of auditioning to do then, not always possible for the SQ side, every one sells on the PQ, but I'll make a up a short list and give it a go

 

[Anonymous]

fayeanddavid:
Thanks all

my first venture into Bluray, so picking lots of brains and experiences before jumping in

Lots of auditioning to do then, not always possible for the SQ side, every one sells on the PQ, but I'll make a up a short list and give it a go

sound quality is irrelevant , your yam will take care of that , image quality is your only concern imo , and the jury is out on whether there is any appreciable difference in that regard , id bring along some blu-rays that you know well to auditions , and judge for yourself

 

[fayeanddavid]

maxflinn:fayeanddavid:

sound quality is irrelevant , your yam will take care of that , image quality is your only concern imo , and the jury is out on whether there is any appreciable difference in that regard , id bring along some blu-rays that you know well to auditions , and judge for yourself

Thanks maxflinn

Would have thought that SQ would feature re processing ability or are you saying that all processing is similar so therefore there should be no appreciable difference in SQ output?

 

[bigboss]

fayeanddavid: Would have thought that SQ would feature re processing ability or are you saying that all processing is similar so therefore there should be no appreciable difference in SQ output?

Yamaha is an excellent decoder, it will process sound better than most blu-ray players. Don't bother about audio abilities of your blu-ray player.

 

[Anonymous]

as bb has said f and d , sq is not an issue , just pic quality , or maybe features if they are important to you ..

i think davees earlier suggestion of a pioneer , for 200 would be perfect , or the sony s370 , i personally just dont see the point in spending more money for .... well what for ?

 

[Clare Newsome]

PLEASE test some machines - it's only by comparing a range of Blu-ray players you can see (and hear) the difference.

There is SO much rubbish posted that's second-guessing and parroting about what 'should' be. Auditioning - as ever - is the best solution.

 

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:
PLEASE test some machines - it's only by comparing a range of Blu-ray players you can see (and hear) the difference.

There is SO much rubbish posted that's second-guessing and parroting about what 'should' be. Auditioning - as ever - is the best solution.

as everyone has suggested clare

 

[fayeanddavid]

Thanks all, advice taken and looking forward to it.

Will let you know once the deal is done

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Should be interesting to see which one you go for after reading this thread and doing some demos

 

[fayeanddavid]

gel:Should be interesting to see which one you go for after reading this thread and doing some demos

So...................the short list is;

Sony 760

LG 390

Panasonic BD 85

Real problem is trying to demo the various players in one store, however our local RS have the facility and stock, however they did warn me that they may well be manic with TV sales due to that World Cup thing

So going tp pop in, make arrangements, if I can review them today well and good, if not probably Sunday once the first game is out of the way

Any thoughts on short list at all?

 

[Anonymous]

That's a good shortlist.