Denon AVR-2309, which budget Blu-Ray player?

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Hi everybody, I have just ordered an upgrade (Denon AVR-2309) from my Yamaha DSP-AX750SE and was wondering which Blu-Ray player would make the most of the new HD formats that the Denon can decode ie: TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio.

Could somebody clear up a few points that I am unclear about:

1. If I buy a Blu-Ray player that also decodes the HD formats will this confuse the playback by decoding the codec twice?

2. Am I better getting a player that transmits the data in its raw form (bitstream) and if so which player does this the best below £300?

3. Is there a Blu-Ray player that would play music CD's better than others and still make the most of HD sound in movies?

My speaker setup is B+W 685 front, HTM62 centre, Mission s/w and b+w rear's.

Regards, Sideshowbob.

 

[Anonymous]

hello sideshowbob.

1. NO

2. NO

3. NO

 

[Anonymous]

I'm only joking. But no, the codec will not be decoded twice. Once it's decoded, your amp wouldn't be able to 're-decode' it because the signal has already been decoded and is therefore completely different to an 'un-decoded' signal, and therefore 'un-decodeable'... because it's already been decoded! Does that make sense? No? Well, imagine in a factory where a conveyor belt is moving cardboard boxes along to be closed shut by a machine. If one of the boxes is already closed then the machine cannot re-close the box - it's already closed. Unless the box is reopened, and then reclosed. But (back on topic) your Denon will not 'un-decode' the signal back to raw bitstream so it can decode it all over again! Once it has been decoded by the player, the amp will leave it as it is ie. in it's decoded form.

However, when you buy a player, I would recommend that you set the player to send the signal to your Denon as raw bitstream, for your Denon amp to decode. I get the impression that players only really have their own decoding as a kind of consolation prize for those unfortunate people who have older amps without their own decoding. So, get your amp to do the decoding, after all that's surely why you bought an amp that decodes the HD codecs.

The budget Blu-ray player with best playback of music CDs, while not in any way compromising HD sound, would unsuprisingly given their hi-fi past, be Pioneer's LX51. Although this is listed as having a price of £400 which is over your £300 budget, you can actually buy it for less than £350 which is only a little bit over your budget, and well worth the extra money because it does exactly what you asked for; it does a superb job with music CDs and HD soundtracks, not to mention HD pictures. It also happens to have it's own decoding of the HD codecs, but like I have already said, I would have thought it be better to have your amp do the decoding. However, why not try it both ways; with the player doing the decoding, and then with the amp doing the decoding, and see which you find gives better sound? Obviously IMHO the amp will do the better job of decoding but I may well be completely wrong. It would not be the first time.

Other good players to consider are the Sony BDP-S350 and the Sony BDP-S550, and the Panasonic DMP-BD35. The Sony players seem to have slightly better sound, and the Panny has slightly better picture quality. I would imagine that the Sony players also offer better music CD playback, but all I know for sure about this is that the Pioneer is king of the bunch when it comes to music CDs. Well worth the extra money. Anyway Mr. Side Show Robert, good luck. It's a jungle out there.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Gansta, 'preciate that. ssb.