Is an expensive Blu-Ray player worth it right now?

[hunnyy]

My current home cinema set-up currently comprises:

Samsung 50" plasma TV, HD-ready (not full-HD), PS50Q97HDX

Yamaha RX-V3800 amp

Yamaha DVD S-2700 DVD player

Monitor Audio Gold Reference 10, 5.1 speakers

I reckon now is a good time to join the Blu-ray party. Whilst I am happy to consider buying the likes of the Pioneer BDP-LX51, or better, the pace of improvement seems to be such that in a year or two we will be able to buy Blu-ray players with better performance, more features, faster load times, etc., for less cost than now.

Therefore, should I buy the Panasonic DMP-BD55 now, and possibly be changing in a year or two's time? Does this seem a reasonable strategy, or nonsense?!

Many thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

I must admit I am beginning to think the same. I need to update my receiver and the Onkyo 875 looks great value but if I spent the £599-£649 on that then buying the Sony 350 Blu-Ray at £192 from Amazon seems a great cheap set-up.

I was thinking about getting the Pioneer 71 Blu-ray and not upgrading the Receiver but at £600 I would feel cheated once the next improved version comes along and next week at this rate!

Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally I wouldn't spend serious money on a piece of kit like that at the moment, but I guess it depends how much cash you have to spare. I'm of the opinion that standalone players are only really coming into their own with this new generation of hardware, which finally offers Profile 2.0 and on-board decoding of all formats as standard. Give it more time and we'll start to see the sort of convenience features that have become standard on DVD. Obviously I can't make up your mind for you, but I just picked up the S550 for under £275 and it's leaps and bounds better than older machines. Quite sickening that my previous model did so much less for about £60 more and it's not even a year old!

 

[lobby]

Might be worth hanging on till after xmas, but like any technology it always advances and prices drop. I bought a top spec pc for £2500 18 months ago you can get a better model for £1699 with bluray player more hd storage and more ram. Like i said after xmas there should be some good deals with the current economy being so bad retaliers are going to take a big hit this winter . Im sticking to my ps3 til next year.

 

[roger06]

lobby:..., but like any technology it always advances and prices drop.

True, in the boom years.

I'm wondering though, as we head into a global recession, whether manufacturers will radically revise their sales figures and massively scale down production, thus not flooding the market and actually maintaining prices.

Having recently bought a superb 42" Pana plasma for a mere £650 I reckon I did the right thing. I would not be surprised if we see cheap TVs coming to an end - the manufacturers have been building them like crazy but there will be fewer people buying in future so I actually reckon prices could go up.

But I'm not an economist !!

 

[hunnyy]

Hi roger06,

I've got no doubt, especially as Blu-ray is a relatively new format, that performance will get even better and prices will continue to fall into the forseeable future. I remember not too many years ago that a half-decent DVD player (with no HDMI, upscaling, etc.) cost many hundreds of pounds, and a "budget" DVD player cost around £100. It will be a similar story with Blu-ray, I'm sure; better and cheaper over the next couple of years.

 

[Alec]

Mentasm:Give it more time and we'll start to see the sort of convenience features that have become standard on DVD.

I think im being dim but what are you refering to here (it might help sway me)? I'm at the same stage as some here and might be taking the plunge in the next few days, probably with the Panny BD30, but i dunno.

Im currently trying to decide whether i should worry about sound (but i dont have room or inclination for surround sound just now so may just boost the sound now and then with my stereo speakers), but then i might want to improve things in the future if i moved and had the same BDP, yet theres no sign of that happenning!

Also, id love to know its boot time as they seem to be improving. im not sure ive the patients to wait 2/3 minutes for BRs to boot up, but i gather some are down to seconds now...

 

[Anonymous]

Nothing major, just things like step/slow play/zoom on all machines, resume on all discs (even Java authored), DivX playback etc. Obviously you don't need any of this to watch films, but over time these things became pretty much standard on DVD players.

Load times are improving on the newer models, but they vary from machine to machine and indeed title to title on those machines. For example, the PS3 loads Batman Begins quicker than my media PC, but everything else is about the same or quicker on the PC. Conversely, someone on these boards said the new Panasonic BD55 took a couple of minutes to load Spider-Man 3. I can't comment on the validity of that statement as I don't own one, but I can tell you that SM3 takes about 30 seconds on the Sony BDP-S550. I haven't tested all of my BDs in the new player, but I tried the 'problem' ones and none have taken more than a minute to get to the main menu (and that's including wading through all of the studio logos on BD-J authored discs).

 

[Alec]

Mentasm:
Nothing major, just things like step/slow play/zoom on all machines, resume on all discs (even Java authored), DivX playback etc. Obviously you don't need any of this to watch films, but over time these things became pretty much standard on DVD players.

Load times are improving on the newer models, but they vary from machine to machine and indeed title to title on those machines. For example, the PS3 loads Batman Begins quicker than my media PC, but everything else is about the same or quicker on the PC. Conversely, someone on these boards said the new Panasonic BD55 took a couple of minutes to load Spider-Man 3. I can't comment on the validity of that statement as I don't own one, but I can tell you that SM3 takes about 30 seconds on the Sony BDP-S550. I haven't tested all of my BDs in the new player, but I tried the 'problem' ones and none have taken more than a minute to get to the main menu (and that's including wading through all of the studio logos on BD-J authored discs).

Thanks for that.

By the by, i think the 4 latest Pana BDPs have DivX playback. They seem to according to the Panny and WHF sites.

 

[JoelSim]

roger06:
lobby:..., but like any technology it always advances and prices drop.ÿÿ

ÿ

True, in the boom years.

I'm wondering though, as we head into a global recession, whether manufacturers will radically revise their sales figures and massively scale down production, thus not flooding the market and actually maintaining prices.

Having recently bought a superb 42" Pana plasma for a mere £650 I reckon I did the right thing. I would not be surprised if we see cheap TVs coming to an end - the manufacturers have been building them like crazy but there will be fewer people buying in future so I actually reckon prices could go up.

But I'm not an economist !!

ÿ

I can't imagine for a moment that production will go down significantly as then prices would go up, all that R&D across fewer units...they would rather sell them for a lesser margin I think.

However, if I were you I would get myself a decent 2nd hand dvd player and sit it out for a year or two, then buy a great BD player

But what di I know

ÿ

ÿ

 

[bigblue235]

JoelSim:However, if I were you I would get myself a decent 2nd hand dvd player and sit it out for a year or two, then buy a great BD player

He has a pretty good DVD player at the mo

To the OP, if you're thinking of a 'stop-gap' player to tide you over until BD players are more mass market, then you could do a lot worse than a PS3. You could pick one up second hand, then when you want to buy a standalone BD player you won't take much of a hit selling the PS3 on.

You may well find you like the PS3 enough to keep it

 

[Anonymous]

al7478:Thanks for that.

By the by, i think the 4 latest Pana BDPs have DivX playback. They seem to according to the Panny and WHF sites.

I think they do. Personally I have one dedicated unit for each format as I find they do a better job. My Oppo is a decent DVD player that also handles DivX and DVDA/SACD, I have the Sony for BD and a Tosh EP-35 for HD DVD, plus the PS3 and an old modded Xbox for media streaming etc.

 

[Alec]

Mentasm:
al7478:Thanks for that.

By the by, i think the 4 latest Pana BDPs have DivX playback. They seem to according to the Panny and WHF sites.

I think they do. Personally I have one dedicated unit for each format as I find they do a better job. My Oppo is a decent DVD player that also handles DivX and DVDA/SACD, I have the Sony for BD and a Tosh EP-35 for HD DVD, plus the PS3 and an old modded Xbox for media streaming etc.

Good God!

All i can think of is all those wires and connections (which regular readers may know im rubbish with), and the task of making room for all those boxes! Rather you than me

 

[Sliced Bread]

I was one of the 'idiots' who bought a DVD player for £500 (non progressive scan) probably at a similar stage of DVD's life as Bluray is now. It could be bettered after about 6 month / 1 year by players costing a quarter of the amount. I'm waiting.

 

[Anonymous]

IMO, a "budget" blu-ray player would suffice for now if you really need blu-ray. I don't see much point in buying the high end systems unless you're really super critical about the picture quality and look at every single pixel on your TV. I think the Panasonic would be good enough.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

hunnyy:
My current home cinema set-up currently comprises:

Samsung 50" plasma TV, HD-ready (not full-HD), PS50Q97HDX

Yamaha RX-V3800 amp

Yamaha DVD S-2700 DVD player

Monitor Audio Gold Reference 10, 5.1 speakers

I reckon now is a good time to join the Blu-ray party. Whilst I am happy to consider buying the likes of the Pioneer BDP-LX51, or better, the pace of improvement seems to be such that in a year or two we will be able to buy Blu-ray players with better performance, more features, faster load times, etc., for less cost than now.

Therefore, should I buy the Panasonic DMP-BD55 now, and possibly be changing in a year or two's time? Does this seem a reasonable strategy, or nonsense?!

Many thanks.

Go for the Sony BDPS550. I paid £299 for mine - I've since seen them for £270ish. Amazing picture, discs load in under 10 seconds and it ticks all the spec boxes. WHF gave it 5 stars. And if you want to upgrade a year or two down the line, you will be able to sell it on easily.

 

[hunnyy]

Yes, that was my thought when starting this thread. I don't mind (too much!) buying a Blu-ray player for £300-£400 and then selling it (for probably little money) in a couple of years or so when a significantly better new player will probably be available at similar or lower cost.

If, however, I spent £600-£900 on a Blu-ray player now I have a very strong feeling I'd be seriously regretting it in a year or two.

 

[roger06]

JohnNewman:I was one of the 'idiots' who bought a DVD player for £500 (non progressive scan) probably at a similar stage of DVD's life as Bluray is now. It could be bettered after about 6 month / 1 year by players costing a quarter of the amount. I'm waiting.

Me too! I paid top dollar for a Pioneer player - and more to have it chipped as, at the time, it wasn't even clear DVD was going to take off in the UK and most discs had to be region one bought from the states.

I think I watched may 6 DVDs in the first year I had it and then saw prices plummet and the choice of title available go through the roof.

I too want a Blu-Ray player but don't want to make this mistake again - I'm trying to hold out another year if I can.

 

[roger06]

hunnyy:
Hi roger06,

I've got no doubt, especially as Blu-ray is a relatively new format, that performance will get even better and prices will continue to fall into the forseeable future. I remember not too many years ago that a half-decent DVD player (with no HDMI, upscaling, etc.) cost many hundreds of pounds, and a "budget" DVD player cost around £100. It will be a similar story with Blu-ray, I'm sure; better and cheaper over the next couple of years.

Yes, I tend to agree and am not really suggesting otherwise. But with a global recession on the cards people will stop buying (so much) and I wonder what affect this will actually have...

The massive price drop in DVD was due to the format's meteoric rise and take-up being unprecedented. I'm sure I heard one Christmas that DVD players were the faster growing consumer electronics item - EVER. I just can't see this happening with Blu-ray unless the economy picks up.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

roger06:hunnyy:
Hi roger06,

I've got no doubt, especially as Blu-ray is a relatively new format, that performance will get even better and prices will continue to fall into the forseeable future. I remember not too many years ago that a half-decent DVD player (with no HDMI, upscaling, etc.) cost many hundreds of pounds, and a "budget" DVD player cost around £100. It will be a similar story with Blu-ray, I'm sure; better and cheaper over the next couple of years.

Yes, I tend to agree and am not really suggesting otherwise. But with a global recession on the cards people will stop buying (so much) and I wonder what affect this will actually have...

The massive price drop in DVD was due to the format's meteoric rise and take-up being unprecedented. I'm sure I heard one Christmas that DVD players were the faster growing consumer electronics item - EVER. I just can't see this happening with Blu-ray unless the economy picks up.

I agree with that. DVD has improved a lot as well in the last five years. Upscaling and better screens and the invention of hdmi have all played a part. There will be too many people that watch films on an upscaling £70 5 star winner and think that it can't get much better than this.

Bluray is amazing though and it's not just the picture of course. I was always expecting the picture to be obviously stunning but was sceptical about how much better the sound could be. However, one week in, the sound is possibly more impressive than the picture. I think the reason for this is I've had Sky HD for a while and films in HD (1080i) are very impressive. They only have a DD soundtrack though. Last night I compared the film Rendition on bluray and at the same time on Sky HD. The picture on bluray is even cleaner and more vibrant than on Sky HD, however, the sound is completely different in quality.

 

[roger06]

And I sir, agree with you (what a lot of agreeing this morning

).

However, us bods on here who really appreciate, and will pay for, the quality probably represent what ? 1% of the market?

DVD players as far superior to VHS which was crying out as 30 year old technology to be replaced in just about every house in the land, not just for qulaity but because they take up less space etc.

So I think the mass market just may not materialise for Blu-ray.

I'm waiting for a top brand player with onboard decoding for all HD format & multi channel output to come down to around the £250 mark before committing...

 

[Gerrardasnails]

roger06:
And I sir, agree with you (what a lot of agreeing this morning

).

However, us bods on here who really appreciate, and will pay for, the quality probably represent what ? 1% of the market?

DVD players as far superior to VHS which was crying out as 30 year old technology to be replaced in just about every house in the land, not just for qulaity but because they take up less space etc.

So I think the mass market just may not materialise for Blu-ray.

I'm waiting for a top brand player with onboard decoding for all HD format & multi channel output to come down to around the £250 mark before committing...

Well, my Sony does all that for £270 (if you google). Not far to go...

 

[Anonymous]

I was just about to say the same thing. BDP-S550 delivered for £274 and worth every penny.

 

[Big Chris]

Personally. As someone who has only just got a Blu-Ray (but no discs as yet). I wanted to get on the 'band wagon', as I didn't want to keep buying new DVDs. I'd rather start my Blu-Ray collection A.S.A.P.

Think about it, you could wait for a couple of years for "better" Blu-Rays to come along. Fine. But if you're an avid film fan, you're probably gonna end up spending £200/300 on films in that time.

How annoying is it gonna be replacing them with Blu-Rays? Especially as the more people that end up with Blu-Ray aren't gonna want DVD. (Just look at the price of VHS cassettes...You can't give them away)

My player cost £200 which I think is a great price, especially as it'll do justice to all my existing DVDs too. Even if it's gonna be superceded by superior players in the future, it's further away from obsolescence(sp?) than a regular DVD player is.

 

[hunnyy]

I entirely agree, Big Chris, with your point about getting into Blu-ray now; it is the future (for a while at least!).

My contention is that it is better (for most folk) at this point in time to opt for one of the better "budget" players, circa £270 - £400, rather than players in the £600+ bracket, as I'm sure players will get better and cheaper over the next couple of years. Replacing a machine in a couple of years will not hurt so much if you've been "sensible" about the budget in the first instance.