New Bluray Player? Stick or Bust?

[admin_exported]

Hi all, I'm really struggling to decide weather to stick with my Pioneer LX54 of move on to something different. I've had lots of problems with this player and have been looking through the mags and forums at new players. I just can't make my mind up. I've been using the LX54's DLNA media streamer which is a feature I like to use more regularly with limited success. I can play some xvid's and mkv's, but nothing else I've tried worked. No music at all. I also been reading that old Pioneer players are having trouble with the new Star Wars blu ray, among others and have lost all faith in Pioneer as a Blu Ray manufacturer.

I've looked at several new players including Oppo's 93 & 95, Cambridge Audio's BD751 and Onkyo's new spinner. The problem is, will I get the full potential from these players if I only connect via HDMI and analogue stereo( I've an Pioneer LX53 amp which as no analogue multi channel inputs ). I mostly use my system for movies and tv, but music is also important. I don't want to spend a small fortune on features that I can't use. Any advice?

 

[micks_address]

I use the Oppo BD 93 via HDMI and I can say its a brilliant solution.. the amount of stuff it will play back from external hard drive is a godsend for me.. i used to use the ps3, but its 4gb file size limitation used to drive me insane. the Oppo plays everything i throw at it, i've even ripped some of my dvds as .iso's and they play back fine from hard disk.. its a very convenient solution.. i think the hdmi/analogue out argument comes more into play with the 95, its only worth going for the 95 if you are going to use the analogue outs of the player as there is no improvement to the HDMI out of the player..

Hi all, I'm really struggling to decide weather to stick with my Pioneer LX54 of move on to something different. I've had lots of problems with this player and have been looking through the mags and forums at new players. I just can't make my mind up. I've been using the LX54's DLNA media streamer which is a feature I like to use more regularly with limited success. I can play some xvid's and mkv's, but nothing else I've tried worked. No music at all. I also been reading that old Pioneer players are having trouble with the new Star Wars blu ray, among others and have lost all faith in Pioneer as a Blu Ray manufacturer.

I've looked at several new players including Oppo's 93 & 95, Cambridge Audio's BD751 and Onkyo's new spinner. The problem is, will I get the full potential from these players if I only connect via HDMI and analogue stereo( I've an Pioneer LX53 amp which as no analogue multi channel inputs ). I mostly use my system for movies and tv, but music is also important. I don't want to spend a small fortune on features that I can't use. Any advice?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi micks_address, the media side sounds great. It would be interesting to know just how big a difference there is between the 93 & the 95 when using just HDMI? Do you use the stereo outs with music and if so, is it a good improvement over what you had before?

 

[John Duncan]

Expect 751BD first impressions (audio and video) later tonight, just FYI.

 

[gosalh]

Hi jase

I have the oppo 95 and i can say it is an amazing player. Very well built and comes with an array of features. However i heard that the only difference between the 93 and 95 is that the 95 has analogue multichannel connectors which are excellent for music but my receiver beats the oppo for watching movies via hdmi.

I have 2x hdmi out on my oppo 95, the first is dedicated to video only connected to the tv. The second hdmi goes to my receiver and supports audio but also video. However ive been told by oppo that they are going to release a future firmware that will make the 2nd hdmi dedicated to digital audio only. For the time being this configuration is the best in order to get the highest video and audio from the oppo via hdmi.

 

[Anonymous]

I heard that the only difference between the 93 and 95 is that the 95 has analogue multichannel connectors which are excellent for music but my receiver beats the oppo for watching movies via hdmi.

It would be very interesting to find out if that were true? Could save a lot of people, (including myself) a big wedge of cash if that was the case. Then also I'd only have to consider the CA BD751 or the Oppo 93.

 

[gosalh]

Check the thread 'the apex club', we had a discussion going on there about the 93 and 95.

 

[Anonymous]

Check the thread 'the apex club', we had a discussion going on there about the 93 and 95.

Thanks for the heads up. I read a review on a US site last night, comparing the 93 & 95 directly. Having stripped the two machines down, they found that they were identical in performance in regards the HDMI output. They share all but the power supply, DAC's and analogue output stage. The differences in the HDMI output were so small that it was like, and I quote:

"The audible differences with regards to crosstalk between these two players would be like trying to compare the loudness of a gnat's fart in loud New York City traffic if one listener was sitting in Florida and the other in Australia"

This was the info I was looking for in trying to make a decision over which player to buy. As my LX53 as no surround input stage, I'll be going for the 93. To improve my stereo sound, I guess I'll need a new DAC to improve things with my present system. I don't know how much I'll need to spend to improve on the DAC's in the LX53 so any suggestions would be welcome.