Which Blu-Ray and HDMI Leads for my system

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I currently have a Yamaha AX759SE 7.1 Amp and a Sony 40" W5500 along with Sky+HD and a Panasonic DVD/HDD Recorder.

I'm looking to buy my first Blu-Ray player. I've looked at the offerings from Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer and am looking to spend between £100 and £300 depending on the quality of the unit. What would be the best value for money?

As well as this, I'm looking to upgrade the connections for the other units. What HDMI lead would you recommend for the Sky+HD unit direct to the TV? Also, the Panasonic has both Component (currently connected to the amp) but also a HDMI connector that is meant to upscale (but I've never used it). Would I be better using the HDMI or the Component on this? If HDMI, what lead?

Cheers

Stu

 

[Anonymous]

For a Blu-ray player, I'd say this.

And for an HDMI lead, depending on your budget, either this, this or this.

 

[carter]

the qed is a great lead and can be found for as little as £20-£25

 

[bigboss]

That's quite a wide budget range you've got for your blu-ray player! At the very top end of your budget, I would suggest you look at Sony S760 or Pioneer BDP-320. In your mid range, look at LG BD390 which has had excellent reviews. Budget range players would include Sony S370 (available to pre-order from Sony Centres), Sony S360 or Panasonic BD60.

If you wait a couple of months, most of the manufacturers are launching new blu-ray players, some of which are significantly better specification wise than their predecessors.

HDMI cables is a hugely debated issue. Some notice a difference between the cables while others don't. I tried hard, but really couldn't tell a difference between the QED Performance HDMI cable & ThatCable. So for me, spending more on cables is a waste of money. It's really upto you whether you want to demo different cables first, if anyone offers a free trial, or first buy a cheap 5 quid cable & then go up if you're not happy with the performance.

 

[d4v3pum4]

Sky+HD comes with a cable so don't bother wasting your money on any 'upgrade'. I have been impressed with the budget Sony bluray players e.g. S350 and S360. Obviously the PS3 is still a contender and the only 'future proof' model. It doesn't ship with a remote and the remote unit is bluetooth so if you have a universal remote you need to buy an adapter but I would still recommend it. If you don't have a universal remote, I can't recommend the Logitech Harmony One enough. They really do simplify your setup and will make it easier for the whole family to use and get rid of all those remotes. They start at around £40 for the 525 model.

 

[Anonymous]

Bought my first BluRay a few weeks ago, Sony S360 for £95. Excellent value for money. briliant picture. absolutely love it!

Perhaps I was a little over indulgent with a Chord Supershield at £50! I know the rule of thumb on cables is approx 10% the value of your kit and not 50%! Perhaps my emotions got the better of me! Have also a couple of QED-P cables which are very good. Heard alot of good things about 'ThatCable', which seems to make sense for budget end.

Nick 'The Impatient'

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, I looked at the S360 and also the S760 (ignored the S560 as it didn't seem to offer anything over the 360 but also didn't have the analogue outputs of the 760). With Pioneer I looked at the 320.

However, I also did consider a PS3. If I'm spending around £300 on a S760, how much better is it than a PS3? I know a PS3 is HDMI only. As my amp is currently not HDMI compatible I'd need a dedicated digital audio out, the S760 I believe has a Coaxial out where as PS3 is Optical only.

I like the idea of the PS3 for gaming but wasn't keen on spending a fortune on a PS3 only to find out it gets replaced by a PS4 in 2011/12.

 

[bigboss]

TheYellowPeril:

Hmm, I looked at the S360 and also the S760 (ignored the S560 as it didn't seem to offer anything over the 360 but also didn't have the analogue outputs of the 760). With Pioneer I looked at the 320.

However, I also did consider a PS3. If I'm spending around £300 on a S760, how much better is it than a PS3? I know a PS3 is HDMI only. As my amp is currently not HDMI compatible I'd need a dedicated digital audio out, the S760 I believe has a Coaxial out where as PS3 is Optical only.

I like the idea of the PS3 for gaming but wasn't keen on spending a fortune on a PS3 only to find out it gets replaced by a PS4 in 2011/12.

If your amp is not HDMI compatible, then I would favour the Sony S760.

Older models get continually replaced by newer ones, there's no end to it. Forget the PS4 which MIGHT come in 2011-2012, all other blu-ray players you're currently considering are going to be replaced in 2010 (next few months). Remember that amongst all the blu-ray players you're considering, only the PS3 is going to be compatible for 3D blu-rays (It's another matter that you'll have to upgrade everything else to enjoy 3D).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice, I notice that you have both a Panasonic BD60 (I'd forgot this one was on my list at one point as i have a Panasonic DVD Recorder and quite like it!) as well as a PS3. Can you tell the difference? Which came first? Do you ever find yourself using the PS3 for films?

 

[bigboss]

The PS3 came first. I honestly couldn't tell a difference in the blu-ray playback between my PS3 & my BD60, although I am told that the Panasonic probably handles panning shots better than the PS3.

I tend to use the Panasonic when watching films simply because it's less buttons to press to get to the film!

But for overall versatility, nothing beats the PS3. It's a wireless media player for videos, music & pictures. It loads blu-ray discs the fastest. And yes, it also plays games.

If you're not bothered about the extra features of the PS3 & considering that you need a player with analogue outs, go for a dedicated blu-ray player like the Sony S760 or Panasonic BD80, or wait for newer models to launch in the next 2-3 months.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Hi,

I also have a PS3 and Panny DMP-BD80 and there is a 'huge' difference in picture and sound quality over my PS3. It would have suited me to just have PS3 in lounge but the compromise was too great.Have also used my brother in laws S360 and definetly see a big difference in pic quailty over PS3. Was considering selling my Panny and buying S360 to suit my amp but Panny to me seemed better in all picture areas. Panny DVD scaling is great too and much better than my PS3 ( which is actually not bad!). Sure Sony S760 is a great machine and i for one nearly changed, but once system calibrated with DVE disc i don't see where i can improve.

On a big plus you have lots of great machines to choose from. Have heard LG is great but a poorer with movement than others though.

Good Luck,

Cookie Monster

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I've ordered a Sony BDP-S760. Managed to find it for £280 on Amazon so a little cheaper than expected.

Girlfriend wants the Twilight disks on Blu-Ray so they're the first ones we've ordered.

Need to get my cables sorted though.

Going for either a coaxial connection, or 7.1 analog as an alternative. Which will work with my Yamaha amp, and what cables should I go for?

As for HDMI, I'm just researching QED Performance HDMI's but what about other makes?

 

[Liam19]

TheYellowPeril:
Well, I've ordered a Sony BDP-S760. Managed to find it for £280 on Amazon so a little cheaper than expected.

Girlfriend wants the Twilight disks on Blu-Ray so they're the first ones we've ordered.

Need to get my cables sorted though.

Going for either a coaxial connection, or 7.1 analog as an alternative. Which will work with my Yamaha amp, and what cables should I go for?

As for HDMI, I'm just researching QED Performance HDMI's but what about other makes?

I would say make both coaxial and 7.1 analogue connections. This way you can have DVD soundtracks (Dolby Digital and DTS) bitstreamed to your amp for decoding (which may do a better job of it), while also setting the player to decode lossless soundtracks (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) onboard and send over analogue. This is what I did with my old Onkyo amp, which did a far superior job of decoding lossy soundtracks to my Panasonic BD80 Blu-ray player.

The QED Performance HDMI is an excellent buy which is going for as little as £25 online, but you can get even more noticeable improvements if you were to spend a bit more (Chord Supershield), or a lot more (Chord Active).

 

[d4v3pum4]

I have various HDMI cables in my own setup and can't tell the difference so my advice would be save your money and spend the rest on more bluray discs for your girlfriend. She will appreciate it more than having some nice purple coloured leads behind your amp/TV.

I recommend HDcable's pro2 at £10, octava from tmfsolutions and markgrant's HDMI cables if you fancy spending a bit more. Even QED admit there is no difference. Check their site if you don't believe me. All this 'improved' picture is absolute baloney in my opinion and take it from me, I've tried various cables and looked (hard) and have yet to see or hear any improvements.

 

[Liam19]

d4v3pum4:
Even QED admit there is no difference. Check their site if you don't believe me.

You're entitled to your opinion on the merits of cable upgrades, of course, but I'm very interested to find where exactly on QED's website they 'admit' this?

Perhaps you could show me?

 

[d4v3pum4]

...because they have removed any mention of "improved picture" etc. from the product descriptions and their HDMI article

http://www.qed.co.uk/1/news/hdmi_explained.htm

 

[professorhat]

"The QED 'Signature' is a range of unrivalled, truly aspirational models, which boast superior ability and performance headroom"

"Superior ability" certainly suggests that they are saying the Signature cables are better at doing their job than other cables. Their job being to send video and audio data. And if they're better, this means the picture and sound must be improved.

 

[Anonymous]

the thing is with these cables , you read all the info from the web , tests , reviews , take peoples views into account , and you decide what kind of hdmi cable or cables to buy , cheap , midrange , or expensive ..

i dont believe there is a difference between them myself , yet i bought a e30 monster cable this week , i just had to try for myself to see if there would be a difference , and theres not , at least i cant see one , i initially thought the monster cable was better with sound , but no , the same for me ..

i think many many people have done and will do the same as me , and find there was no point , curiosity killed the cat , and it makes lots of money for cable makers .

 

[bigboss]

Not wanting to start another HDMI cable debate here. Some people find improvements & some don't. At the end of the day, just buy what makes you happy. If you're not comfortable about spending only 5 quid on a cable, by all means, spend more. You will be happy with whatever cable you buy.

Check this article from a senior member of IEEE.

 

[d4v3pum4]

professorhat:
"The QED 'Signature' is a range of unrivalled, truly aspirational models, which boast superior ability and performance headroom"

"Superior ability" certainly suggests that they are saying the Signature cables are better at doing their job than other cables. Their job being to send video and audio data. And if they're better, this means the picture and sound must be improved.

Sorry but that does not infer better picture or sound to me. If that was the case, they would just say so. The "headroom" just means it has been passed to some far off resolution. This is how a digital cable is tested i.e. to pass data.

How can it be improved? Please explain how one cable can improve anything?! Their job is to pass data, not improve it. You could say that a poorer cable (not digital) could make something worse but not better. It either get's to B or it doesn't or it will manifest in sparklies or errors. This is usually the case with long length cables only, not some 1-5m cable.

 

[professorhat]

As others have said, I'm not getting into yet another debate on this - my views are easily searchable within the forum.

However, you stated they weren't claiming improved picture and I quoted a part of their website which does state their cables "boast superior ability". And since their function at the end of the day is to provide pictures and sound on your TV, then superior ability to me infers that their cables will do this better than others (NB - notice "better than others". No one is saying one cable can improve the picture over what's being sent, just that it can improve the picture when compared to using another cable).

If you want to infer something else from this statement then fair enough.

 

[Anonymous]

bigboss:
Not wanting to start another HDMI cable debate here. Some people find improvements & some don't. At the end of the day, just buy what makes you happy. If you're not comfortable about spending only 5 quid on a cable, by all means, spend more. You will be happy with whatever cable you buy.

Check this article from a senior member of IEEE.

good read that , ive read a few similar articles myself , various tests etc , they all agree , if a cable , however cheap , conforms to certain standards , and is in perfect working condition, then it wont be any worse or any better at doing what is was made to do than any other cable that meets the same standards ....

but i still bought a monster cable

 

[bigboss]

maxflinn:

but i still bought a monster cable

As I said, we all end up buying what makes us happy. Just don't start comparing with other cables unless you're planning to buy more.

 

[d4v3pum4]

professorhat:
As others have said, I'm not getting into yet another debate on this - my views are easily searchable within the forum.

However, you stated they weren't claiming improved picture and I quoted a part of their website which does state their cables "boast superior ability". And since their function at the end of the day is to provide pictures and sound on your TV, then superior ability to me infers that their cables will do this better than others.

If you want to infer something else from this statement then fair enough.

Prof - Please explain how a digital cable can improve something. Please explain how an error can be fixed but not just fixed, "improved". I am dying to hear.

 

[robjcooper]