Blu-ray player with 720p resolution TV

[admin_exported]

I am looking to purchase a blu-ray player circa £400.00 and am wondering if the improvement in quality is worth the expense bearing in mind the following:

[*]AV amp Arcam AVR280 lacking some of the latest HD surround sound processing
[*]DVD player Arcam DV137 also used for playing cds
[*]TV Toshiba 37" WLT66 lcd (maximum resolution 720P ?)

Can the blu-ray player process the latest HD sound codecs and send them through HDMI to the amp or is this wishful thinking

 

[Andrew Everard]

Definitely still worth doing, but IIRC the Arcam can't take any form of HD multichannel sound over HDMI, so you'll need a BD player with onboard decoding and mutlichannel analogue outputs, and either three or four pairs of analogue interconnect cables between it and the Arcam's multichannel analogue audio inputs.

 

[Sorreltiger]

I have a 42" Pioneer TV which is HD ready (768p) and a Sony BDP-S350 blu-ray player. The image quality for blu-ray is significantly better than DVD. Although edges are slightly softer than they would be with a full HD set, in every other respect the picture is outstanding, with amazing colour, contrast and absence of noise. Sound-wise, the new codecs are also a big improvement in clarity and impact. I would definitely say that blu-ray is worth it for me.

In your case, one important consideration is that the player needs to process the HD sound formats and send the signal by multichannel analogue to your amp. The Arcams only use HDMI for video, not audio.

If it were me, I would aim to spend less than your £400 budget, as I think the extra wouldn't produce a significant improvement. A player which fits the bill would be the 5 star Sony BDP-S550, which can be obtained from RGB Direct for £198 or from other retailers at a little over £200. This has the analogue outs which you require.

 

[Anonymous]

Go for it i have 37"panasonic plasma 720p and a Sony bdp-360 blu-ray player, you will for sure see a improvement in picture qualityand sound.On most if not all blu-ray players you can manualy change output resolution to suit your tv,turn off 24fps etc.As for HD sound you need to purchased a blu-ray player with analogue outputs to send the signal to your amp .

 

[Sliced Bread]

I also have 720p/1080i screen and I have noticed a big difference by adding a bluray player. The resolution of the picture is only part of the story. Bluray is also far less compressed than DVD, so you get a more colourful and punchy picture, with less on screen noise and 'nasties' (such as crawl) that DVD often produces. Plus the sound is a clear improvement in pretty much every area.

 

[Big Chris]

You can add me to the above pile of people who run BD on a HD Ready TV and think it's great.

 

[Anonymous]

I have the 42" version of the OP's TV (42WLT66), which is also only HD Ready, and there is definitely a clear improvement in picture. I also found even the sound just through the TV speakers was much more detailed...don't know if it should be, but it was the first thing I noticed.

 

[Sliced Bread]

Acciesboy:...don't know if it should be, but it was the first thing I noticed.
Yes it should be...don't worry your not going mad