Panasonic BD35 or Sony - Blu Ray

[admin_exported]

Hi All,

My PS3 has died a death and as I bought it from ebay is out of warranty.
I tried to dismantle the blu ray drive and clean the lens but my huge clumsy hands created more problems!
So Im going to replace with a stand alone blu-ray - I think they should be better than PS3 anyhow.
I currently have a Pioneer KURO and a SONY DAVIS10
Should I go for the Panasonic BD35 which seems to get great reviews and is really keenly priced at present or the SONY S350 which is now 149.99 in Argos.
My thinking is the SONY may match my system a little better and be easier to link to the DAVIS but Im not entirely sure thats right.
Budget is about £150.
What would you suggest people ?

 

[Big Aura]

this will probably be a shade above budget, but there's a new Sony (BDP-s360) coming http://whathifi.com/News/Sony-reveals-new-BDP-S360-Blu-ray-player/

It's already available in the US (check out Amazon.com) for an initial consumer review. If you can hold-off, I would...

 

[Anonymous]

But it may be worth saving up for!
I dont think I can get HD sound through my DAVIS though can I ?

 

[professorhat]

The most important thing to think about now is whether you are likely to replace the DAV-IS10 soon, and if so, will you get an amp with onboard decoding. If the answer to those questions is yes and no respectively, I'd stray away from the S350 just because it can't decode DTS HD Master Audio onboard and go for the Panny BD35 instead. Otherwise, I think it comes down more to personal preference.

ÿ

 

[Big Chris]

professorhat:
I'd stray away from the S350 just because it can't decode DTS HD Master Audio onboard and go for the Panny BD35 instead. Otherwise, I think it comes down more to personal preference.

ÿ

I think (not sure mind) that the firmware updates on the 350 enable it to decode all HD codecs.

Also, the 35 is an outgoing model, so may prove tricky to find.

 

[professorhat]

Indeed, right you are Chris.

Ignore me

 

[Anonymous]

OK All - Thanks so much but Im still confused (not hard for me!)
I will probably keep the DAVIS as Ive been generally pleased with it.
Will the Panasonic play HD audio through my DAVIS as is as soon as its plugged in ? (Will the sound on the Panasonic be DTS HD and better than that of usual DVDs played through my DAVIS non blu ray)
The Sony possibly can though (after an upgarde of firmware)
Is that right ?

 

[professorhat]

Sorry, this is my bad! The DAV-IS10 can't accept HD audio as this can only be transferred via HDMI or via analogue multichannel outputs not via optical. The DAV-IS10 only has an HDMI output, not an input, meaning you can only use the optical connection to connect your Blu-Ray player. This means you will be able to get standard DTS and Dolby Digital, but not the high def DTS HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD formats I'm afraid.

My input was more if you were thinking of upgrading the DAV-IS10 (and even then it wasn't a valid point!) so don't worry about it if you're not.

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

LOL! Oh OK - Sounds still good enough but sure will upgrade in a couple of years time if this credit crunch sorts itself out.
Really appreciate both of your time and help.
Think Ill see how things pan out - I guess the new model is why the S350 is dropping (but still seems a decent player)
All the best
JamietheMagician

 

[Anonymous]

Unless there has been another update recently, the 350 doesn't decode dts hd. I have not connected it to bd-live for a month or so though. The other day it was showing Wall-E as standard dts when I was viewing in 480/576p, when I switched to interlace it output the bitstream and my amp showed dts hd master as the sound format.

 

[Anonymous]

No probs for me as cant play it through the David anyway.
Ive just gone for the S350 and have a few questions so will start a new thread.
Thanks everyone for your help.
Jamie