choosing a blu-ray player

[audioidiot1]

hi all on this rather cold and well snow covered evening.

i,m looking to a new blu-ray player for around £300 and i have found 3 that seem to be very good but i,m unsure which way to go.

1. panasonic bd85 with 6 free discs for £209

2 pioneer bdp 330 £ 180

pioneer bdp lx 52 £ 269

can u guys give me some advice on which would be best?

cheers

 

[grdunn123]

Not sure what the rest of your setup is but I'd consider going for the Sony BDPS70 for around £100 ish and spend he rest of your budget on BD's or cables.

 

[Anonymous]

I think that the Sony's 570 or 770 will be the best buys and well within budget!

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

MartSmith:I think that the Sony's 570 or 770 will be the best buys and well within budget!

I hope you can back that statement up with hard evidence.

 

[ziggy47]

Hi, I think for the price the already mentioned the Sony BDPS 370 @ £100 is very hard to beat, cheers.....d'oh!

 

[grdunn123]

MartSmith:I think that the Sony's 570 or 770 will be the best buys and well within budget!

I based my opinion on the fact that none of the 3 players suggested by the OP is 3D capable which looks like it's not imortant. I think te Sony 370 represents phenomenal value for money and the other £100-200 can buy some quality cables ifneded + a great selection of BD's

 

[kinda]

Yes, but the poster seems to have selected players he thinks offer the best all round performance with BluRay for up to £300.

No disrepect to the 370 but while it might be very good value for the price, it is going to fall short against the good higher priced machines. From various reviews and not experience I don't think the 570 is necesarily the best up to £300 in that respect either.

I think the three players selected will be good quality, but maybe a bit slow and the Pioneers possibly a bit picky.

The Samsung C6900 might be worth a shot. In various reviews it's well-rated, and is quick and has some of the new features, even 3D. Was £350 now can be had for about £250.

 

[Anonymous]

my advice would be to demo the 3 players listed along with a sony s-370.. and buy the one that gives the best bang per buck..

i think its unrealistic to expect performance to increase as price does with blu-ray players. maybe very very marginally, if at all imo.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Hi,

Only advice I can give you is avoid the Pioneer BDP-330, as I believe it is basically a Sharp player, and not of the same quality as normal Pioneers. I have the Pioneer BDP-320, and it is excellent sound and picture wise, but a little slow in loading discs.

From the reviews I have read, I think the Sony BDP-S370 or BDP-S570 would be your best bets, and a little more future-proofed than the Pioneers.

 

[Anonymous]

BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW:

Hi,

Only advice I can give you is avoid the Pioneer BDP-330, as I believe it is basically a Sharp player, and not of the same quality as normal Pioneers. I have the Pioneer BDP-320, and it is excellent sound and picture wise, but a little slow in loading discs.

From the reviews I have read, I think the Sony BDP-S370 or BDP-S570 would be your best bets, and a little more future-proofed than the Pioneers.

I also have the Pioneer BDP-320 and agree the PQ and sound is excellent. It takes about 20 seconds to load but if you are about to sit down for a couple of hours to watch a film what's 20 seconds extra? When my girlfriend puts the Blu-Ray disc in she sits there jabbing the play button instead of just waiting for it to load up, that winds me up!

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

The female of the species is more deadly than the male......especially around excellent av equipment.

I think I'm right about the 330 being some kind of Sharp/Pioneer co-production, though wouldn't bet my life (or wife) on it.

Got my 320 from sevenoaks for around £130, and already loaded with latest firmware and multi-regioned for dvd-very happy.

 

[bigboss]

audioidiot1:

hi all on this rather cold and well snow covered evening.

i,m looking to a new blu-ray player for around £300 and i have found 3 that seem to be very good but i,m unsure which way to go.

1. panasonic bd85 with 6 free discs for £209

2 pioneer bdp 330 £ 180

pioneer bdp lx 52 £ 269

can u guys give me some advice on which would be best?

cheers

Of the three, the Panasonic BD85 offers the best performance per pound, IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

Ravey Gravey Davy:

MartSmith:I think that the Sony's 570 or 770 will be the best buys and well within budget!

I hope you can back that statement up with hard evidence.

Ha! just you wait....!

 

[kinda]

In terms of performance increasing with price I think it does happen, based on reviews, even with BluRay, though I think the differences may not be huge, especially depending on size of display.

People have definitely favoured the more expensive Marantz players over cheaper alternatives, and it seems accepted generally the PS3 is not as good as many standalone players. From various reviews higher priced players get good ratings and comments on excellent performance which surely if they were essentially the same as £100 model just wouldn't hold water

The delay in loading is small when considered in context, but from experience of having a couple of demos with a Pioneer player, my C6900 makes the loading times of the Pioneer feel like an age. The C6900 is more like DVD on most cases.

Also, to say that while I wasn't sepcifically demoing the player, I've seen no particular benefits of the Pioneer over my current C6900 on a projector.