BD player upgrade +System matching.

[D.J.KRIME]

I am seriously considering replacing my PS3 with a dedicated BD player but am unsure which if any to go for. Firstly whilst in the main I am happy-ish with the BD proformance of the PS3, I feal that I am missing that extra wow factor BD has to offer via a dedicated BD player over the PS3.

Now I am not concerned about DVD or CD playback as I have no intension of using the BD player for these duties as I will continue to use my Denon DV3930 for this. But the player must have analouge outputs for the sound as My Yamaha amp is not HDMI equiped.

I was thinking of maybe the Pioneer BDP-51FD (being a profile 1.1 does not bother me as if I am desperate to use BD-live features I can use my PS3) but on seeing this player in the flesh it does appear rather cheap looking and very plastic, or do I spend more money and go for say the Sony BDP-S5000ES? will i really notice a significant improvement between both of these players on my Samsung PS50-P96FD plasma over my PS3? in turn is the more expensive Sony too good for my screen?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:
I am seriously considering replacing my PS3 with a dedicated BD player but am unsure which if any to go for. Firstly whilst in the main I am happy-ish with the BD proformance of the PS3, I feal that I am missing that extra wow factor BD has to offer via a dedicated BD player over the PS3.

Now I am not concerned about DVD or CD playback as I have no intension of using the BD player for these duties as I will continue to use my Denon DV3930 for this. But the player must have analouge outputs for the sound as My Yamaha amp is not HDMI equiped.

I was thinking of maybe the Pioneer BDP-51FD (being a profile 1.1 does not bother me as if I am desperate to use BD-live features I can use my PS3) but on seeing this player in the flesh it does appear rather cheap looking and very plastic, or do I spend more money and go for say the Sony BDP-S5000ES? will i really notice a significant improvement between both of these players on my Samsung PS50-P96FD plasma over my PS3? in turn is the more expensive Sony too good for my screen?

Sony S550.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Really dont like the look of the lower end Sony's with all that Blue facia and would definatly go for the Pioneer over any of the lower end Sony's.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:Really dont like the look of the lower end Sony's with all that Blue facia and would definatly go for the Pioneer over any of the lower end Sony's.

Call yourself a Chelsea fan!! What about a Samsung!!

 

[Anonymous]

I would agree sony s550, great machine and it doesnt look blue anyway it looks black!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Gerrardasnails:D.J.KRIME:Really dont like the look of the lower end Sony's with all that Blue facia and would definatly go for the Pioneer over any of the lower end Sony's. Call yourself a Chelsea fan!! What about a Samsung!!

LOL

The fact I am a Chelsea fan has no place in my decision into which player to get, think the wife has enough the blue stuff to be honest Gerrard with out having a blue BD player in the front room, and as for the Samsung BD players (yes I know you only mentioned them due to Chelsea ties but their BD players IMHO are quite woefull.

 

[Big Aura]

new Panny range out in the next few months - wait and see.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

A main problem is in not being able to HOME DEMO any of these players on my Plasma I cant gauge just how big a improvement I will see over my PS3. At £200ish is say the Sony S550 a considerible step up in picture quailty to the PS3 or more of a sideways move so maybe spending £200 for little or no differance in PQ?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:A main problem is in not being able to HOME DEMO any of these players on my Plasma I cant gauge just how big a improvement I will see over my PS3. At £200ish is say the Sony S550 a considerible step up in picture quailty to the PS3 or more of a sideways move so maybe spending £200 for little or no differance in PQ?

I've not seen the PS3 in action but the Sony S550 is brilliant and it looks good too (I wouldn't have anything in my house that looked too blue!).

 

[D.J.KRIME]

But I would worry that the S550 is not a significant PQ upgrade over the PS3 as where the admitidly far more expensive Sony S500 should blow my PS3 away in terms of PQ and definatly audio but is my screen worth that extra outlay or are BD players at that level only really worth investing into if your have something like the Pioneer 5090?

Would be interested to hear from one of the WHSAV staff who have seen these BD players in action as to which BD player is a better option than my PS3 and best suited to my system.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:
But I would worry that the S550 is not a significant PQ upgrade over the PS3 as where the admitidly far more expensive Sony S500 should blow my PS3 away in terms of PQ and definatly audio but is my screen worth that extra outlay or are BD players at that level only really worth investing into if your have something like the Pioneer 5090?

Would be interested to hear from one of the WHSAV staff who have seen these BD players in action as to which BD player is a better option than my PS3 and best suited to my system.

Do you get HD audio at the moment with the PS3? If not, for £200 or so, the lesser Sony is worth it for that alone. I see what you are saying. I just don't see how much better the BD picture can get - I know it must look better on the Denons and this latest Sony but it's hard to imagine.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Nope no HD audio at the moment due to the age of my amp so yes you are right that the S550 would be much beter in that respect as I can use the analog outputs and get HD audio as opposed to normal Dolby 5.1 that I currently get. But I often find that the PS3 gives a somewhat noisier picture than your would expect for BD especially when playing at 1080p/24 with the TV set to Just Scan(1:1) So I think a better player would iliminate this noise.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:Nope no HD audio at the moment due to the age of my amp so yes you are right that the S550 would be much beter in that respect as I can use the analog outputs and get HD audio as opposed to normal Dolby 5.1 that I currently get. But I often find that the PS3 gives a somewhat noisier picture than your would expect for BD especially when playing at 1080p/24 with the TV set to Just Scan(1:1) So I think a better player would iliminate this noise.

Can your set do 24fps? That might be why your picture is not great. My screen won't even show a picture if I set the BD player to 1080p 24fps. Wait til you hear HD audio!!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

My Plaz is 1080p/24 compliant and shows at a native 24htz so no problem as regard to the, IMHO the picture is down to the actual hardware limitations of the PS3 as opposed to any problems with my screen. As odd as it may sound I find that sometimes DVD upscalled to 1080p via my Denon DV3930 have less noise compared to that of the PS3.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

D.J.KRIME:My Plaz is 1080p/24 compliant and shows at a native 24htz so no problem as regard to the, IMHO the picture is down to the actual hardware limitations of the PS3 as opposed to any problems with my screen. As odd as it may sound I find that sometimes DVD upscalled to 1080p via my Denon DV3930 have less noise compared to that of the PS3.

The S550 will be a jump in class then.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Still not convinced the S550 is a serious step up from the PS3 tho

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there, thought I would share my opinion since I have the PS3 and 550. The 550 is noticably better in picture and sound. More fuller sound (PS3 sound seems a bit thin in comparison) and the pictures are more vibrant and have more depth. Objects and characters seem to stand out more. Would say motion is better too. I won't pretend it's a huge leap in quality - think you'd need to spend a good bit more for that, but at £230 I certainly don't regret buying it. If you can strech to a 5000 it's bound to be better but for the money the 550 is worth it. Just my opinion though. Also as the previous poster said it does look black unless you actually shine a bright light at it, hard to believe when you see the pictures I know!

 

[laserman16]

D.J.KRIME:Really dont like the look of the lower end Sony's with all that Blue facia and would definatly go for the Pioneer over any of the lower end Sony's.
They only seem to be slightly blue when sunlight catches them at a certain angle.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Well I have been out this morning and had a look at both the Sony S550 and the Pioneer BD51 (unfortunatly neither could be viewed working) and IMHO found both to be rather cheap in their build quality and very plastic, maybe I have been spolit as I am used to my Denon DV3930 which does not have a hint of plastic and weighs a ton as where in compassison both BD players felt very light weight. Yes I know my Denon is a differnt budget and its BD equivilant is say the Denon 2500BT which is no good for me as it is only a transport.

Maybe need to go for the Sony S5000 to be happy all round with both PQ/Sound and build quailty but cant find one in stock any where apart from Sony stores and TBH did not really want to spend that much.