Hi, after a search, the original comments on here interested me because I have been trying to decide between a Panasonic 310 and the £500 range ones mentioned above - Denon 2012 / Cambridge 651BD / OPPO BDP-93.
In the end I was about to go for the Panasonic 310 since I have no need for SACD or DVD-Audio; I figured this was the main difference for the £300 extra. OK, maybe the analogue sound is better, but in no way the same league as the Cambridge 751 or OPPO 95. I'm thinking along the lines of getting an Onkyo 609 AV Receiver, so HDMI digital out to this may make the sound better anyway?? Given the good but satellites speaker system (plus maybe a couple of shelf cabinet speakers) I am intending on getting for discreet purposes, I also figure that any gain in sound of the £500 players are overkill (I get the impression that I would need better amp/AV rec and better non-satellites speaker system).
So there you have it - didn't see the point in spending £300 extra on the sound and SACD/DVD-A when - as far as I was aware - the picture quality would be about the same (and I do like how thin the Panasonic is).
However... I'm intending to use it on a JVC X30 projector, so screen size will probably be at least 100 inches:
I was speaking to a local Sevenoaks dealer/sales person/advisor recently and he said that for a projector screen - due to them being in much larger screen territory - I should get the Denon 2012 over the Panasonic 310 because the picture quality IS better! I think he was actually meaning Bluray for Bluray too. Is this true or is he talking rubbish?
I can understand that the DVD upscaling will be better, but bear in mind that I will have a better video upscaler in the Onkyo 609 AV rec (irrelevant, but it's a 4K upscaler as well). Or do you think the Onkyo's upscaler will not be up to the job for a projector screen? Will the Denon 2012 upscaler be much better if at all?
So taking all this into account - particularly the Onkyo 609 AV receiver - is it worth the extra £300 for picture only quality on my projector?