Blue Ray Disc Players

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a DVD player for around £400, ideally Samsung to go with the Samsung 40" LCD I currently have. Can anybody recommend one? Do the more expensives ones really make a big improvement? Is the Playstation 3 a viable option or doesn't it make for a good film watcher?

Also regarding cables. Is it wise to invest decent money on Monster scart / HDMI leads? Do they make a noticable difference?

Thanks in advance

 

[Andy Clough]

Yes, a good £400 DVD player will perform better than a budget one. The thing is, there aren't that many at around £400. One of our favourite models at the moment is the Marantz DV7001 (£600), our current Product of the Year, or another Award winner, Denon's DVD-1940 (£250).

But I see you've headed your post Blu-ray disc players, which raises an interesting point. For £350-£400 you can buy one of the new-gen high-definition players, such as Sony's £400 BDP-S300 (4 stars) or Sharp's £400 BD-HP20 (also 4 stars), which will of course play regular DVDs as well as Blu-ray discs.

And yes, the PS3 is a good DVD player and very good Blu-ray player, so is fine for watching movies.

Alternatively, if you decided to go the HD DVD route instead, you could buy Toshiba's excellent HD-EP35 for £350 (5 stars).

Whatever your final choice, we'd definitely recommend upgrading the cables as they do indeed make a discernable difference to picture quality. The Monster ones would be a good buy.

 

[Anonymous]

At the moment you can get the Sony BDP-S1E (Sony's first UK Blu-ray player) for £400 in Debenhams in Reading, or probably even less online. It got 5 stars in What Hi-fi fairly recently and originally cost nearly a grand I think. It has a real luxury feel to it, being made of thick metal, and has a beautiful blue glass front. You can probably tell that I really like this machine, even though it unfortunately doesn't fully support the new high-def sound codecs.

 

[Anonymous]

Samsung BD-UP5000 DUAL FORMAT due Jan 15th in the USA according to amazon.com, can't wait for the Euro release! Amazon.co.uk have it as £485 and worth waiting for if not too long a wait.

Cambridge Audio HDMI lead is around £25-30 or the QED Qunex HDMI-P £45-50 which I am getting. Both get good write-ups in the mag.

 

[Anonymous]

sony bdp 300is exellent mate i got mine from amazon £340

 

[Anonymous]

I have a Sony 40W2000 display a ps3 and a Panasonic dvd ex75 recorder.For dvd playback i would choose the
Panasonic any time,Sharper picture better blacks and solid motion,or go for a toshiba hd ep35 £270 7 hddvd's free from Amazon uk or a denon 1940 but according to What hi-fi tosh's dvd playback is as good as the Denon 1940 and if you really most then wait for Samsung's bluray/hddvd player or Toshiba hd xe1 £440 7 hddvd's free from Amazon uk. Again according to what hi-fi team the Tosh xe1's dvd playback is more or less the same as Denon 2930 which you can get for around £500 if you shop around.[quote user="Bluebirds_1927"]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a DVD player for around £400, ideally Samsung to go with the Samsung 40" LCD I currently have. Can anybody recommend one? Do the more expensives ones really make a big improvement? Is the Playstation 3 a viable option or doesn't it make for a good film watcher?

Also regarding cables. Is it wise to invest decent money on Monster scart / HDMI leads? Do they make a noticable difference?

Thanks in advance

[/quote]

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="burhan"]wait for Samsung's bluray/hddvd player [/quote]

If you are not in a rush, then it may be worth waiting for the Samsung (BD-UP5000) or the LG. These latest dual format players have been 'coming out' for the last 3 months and had tests and reviews followed I might have delayed my PS3 purchase just to see whether they delivered the promises.

However the Samsung is not now due out now until sometime Jan. stateside, so we all may have to wait a while longer.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all your help and suggestions. I might wait for the Samsung BD-UP5000 after reading some reviews.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Bluebirds_1927"]
Thank you for all your help and suggestions. I might wait for the Samsung BD-UP5000 after reading some reviews.

[/quote]
Good.
Whatever you do take a long good look at the ps3's dvd quality,trust me no good, or at least compare it with some other dvd players.
good luck bluebirds.