best value Blu Ray in the sales???

[Minigill]

tinydancer:
Luckily managed to find some techy-minded friends with Panasonic BD55, Sony 550 and Pioneer BDP-55. Tested all on a 5090 Kuro with Yamaha Z7 and M&K Xenons with SB1250 sub. Panasonic did have the edge over the Sony (unilateral opinion) when bitstreaming audio through the Z7, or coming straight from bluray. Better imaging, colours and soundstage. Then we looked at the Pioneer BDP-51 and it really did blow the others away. Quite simply much better picture and sound. More drama, more filmic, clearer dialogue and richer natural image. In fact, just like the WHF review states 'refinement and finesse'. CD player excellent too.

Ethernet not important to us as can burn upgrades to disc, plus not interested in low qual extras. At £325 for the Pio 51 (and fast running out apparently), we put our order in! Worth noting that this was all viewed on a 50" screen, and a 9th gen Kuro at that, so Pana 55/Sony 550 might be absolutely brilliant for smaller screens but the price differential is much reduced right now, so temptation kicks in. Enjoy.

p.s Glad no-one had a high end Denon or Pio for testing!! Daren't see what that looks like on a Kuro or proj.!

Did you try then with standard DVD also ?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, if you need the analogue stage, it's rather a moot point. The 2500 is a transport, I need the player to be the best at analogue conversion as well.

So which should it be? Pioneer 51, 71 or Denon 3800?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Folks,

I'm toying with picking up a good budget blu-ray player, Sony BDPS350 or similar, to go with my Accoustic Energy Aego P5 surround system although the best it has for sound is DTS capacity. Would the What Hi-Fi Team comment on how much difference would I notice if I picked up a new amp and speakers to take advantage of the new formats sound capabilities?

Thanks

Shayn

 

[Andrew Everard]

In a word, lots.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andrew,

I guessed that would be the answer, perhaps an increased budget is now necessary!

Cheers

Shayn

 

[Anonymous]

Actually one more thing, I guess I can get away with HD Ready TV, Pano 37PV500, for the time being and just upgrade the sound kit along with blu-ray player?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Indeed, yes.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Andrew,

Any reason please why the Samsung BD-P2500 has not been reviewed as I have purchased and run it via an Arcam AVR-280 and Projector and the picture and sound seem brilliant to me.

Maybe I would find the Pioneer to be a slight improvement but at another £150 I think my first jump into Blu-Ray and HD sound especially showing Dark Knight via the Samsung has been very enjoyable.

Cheers.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I guess it's just that Samsung has chosen not to supply one for review yet, but Andy Madden assures me that we are, as ever, on the case...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andrew. I just think it will be a good bet at its price point for some people testing the format.

 

[vidar6]

I'm fully aware this maybe premature, but does anyone have any idea how easy/difficult it would be (when it becomes available of course) to upgrade the firmware of the Pioneer BDP-51FD in order for it to internally decode HD Audio formats?

I'm looking to pull the trigger on the Pioneer, but my AV Amp is the Sony STR-DA 5200ES and as I really, really like I'm not looking to change and would need a Blue Ray player that at least eventually are capable of decoding HD audio internally.

Thanks in advance

 

[professorhat]

I can't guarantee it of course, but I've yet to come across a device where upgrading firmware is more complicated than this:

Download a file on a PC, (potentially unzip it if required) and then burn these files to a CD. Place CD in drive of said device and then upgrade, following any instructions on screen.

That's the most complicated I've seen, sometimes it's even easier than that.