which blu-ray DVD player-advice please?

[admin_exported]

OK, I should be in a postion to purchase a TH42Pz85 within the next week or so, and I also want to put a blu-ray DVD player to accompany this set. My question is which one should I go for?? I Spoke to my HiFi dealer and he suggested that I should hang on for six months, when prices will fall, and also makes like Arcam for example will be bringing out blu ray machines in january, so should I hang on until then, or should i go for a panasonic machine which did look pretty good i have to say! Now, i know what you may be thinking:why purchase a full HD tv when all you need do is buy an HD ready tv and upscale from the dvd player? Well, I intend to subscrive to virgin media or sky+ later on in the year. Any advice/comments are welcome with open arms🙂 clive

 

[professorhat]

If you can hang on for the next-gen of players this year, I would. Most of the players on the market at the moment have some sort of compromise.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the reply!🙂 But what do you mean by the word "comprimise"?

clive

 

[professorhat]

Well, things like, the Panny DMP-BD30 can only output the new HD Audio formats via bitstream, not convert them onboard. From what I understand, it's possible some discs are going to insist audio is decoded before it's output from the player (for copyright reasons), meaning you wouldn't be able to get HD audio on these discs using the Panny if this came true. On the other hand, the PS3 can only output via PCM, decoding signals on board. Although there's nothing wrong with this, some people argue that it often sounds better if the amplifier is allowed the process the signal rather than the player. Other machines like the Sony can output via PCM over the 5.1 analogue outputs, but can't bitstream all the HD formats via the HDMI port.

Admittedly, you may not need some of these features now, but change is the only constant and you may find youself limited further down the line by something your player can't do. Ideally therefore, you want a player which can do everything well and I think the only ones which can do this at the moment are (a) very expensive and (b) have very slow loading times as are part of the first / second generation of machines.

Thus, if you can, I'd wait and see what's coming out next.

 

[Anonymous]

brilliant! that's just the sort of respone i wanted. Thanks for taking the time to explain!;-)

any more comments/advice from anyone else?;-)

 

[Anonymous]

Have the PS3 (60gb) myself and play Blueray on it. What can I say....it's outsanding. On a 46'' screen cannot see anything doing what it does better. Bargain price, with Sony updates to keep improving it as time goes on.

 

[Anonymous]

The Panasonic, like all Blu-ray standalone players does down-convert DTS-HD Master Audio to DTS 5.1 Surround and Dolby TrueHD to Dolby Digital 5.1 and does it very well indeed. Because Blu-ray discs have higher capacity, the regular Dolby Digital and DTS Surround is encoded at higher bitrates, meaning that quality of these standard surround modes is better than DVD. For £349 or even £299, the Panasonic is a very good machine. Only on-board HD audio decoding will be available on the more expensive machines (over £500) for the forseeable future. It does appear that manufacturers are trying to get you to buy an HDMI equipped amplifier or receiver too, so it's quite understandable that HD decoding on-board will be only be available on more expensive machines. There will be the new Panasonic DMP-BD50 for around £499 (unless the pound de-values more). There will also be machines from Pioneer and Sony at £599 and £499 with on-board decoding, but there could be a long wait? Then there's expensive machines from Denon and Marantz to come!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="professorhat"]Well, things like, the Panny DMP-BD30 can only output the new HD Audio formats
via bitstream, not convert them onboard[/quote]

I'm concerned that I've spent money on kit that's not future proof as for now I only use the analogue outputs.
The manual clearly states that it can send PCM via the HDMI outputs, also I can switch between PCM/bitstream on the menu screen, confused??

 

[professorhat]

It can indeed send PCM via the HDMI. However, since it can't decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD MA onboard, it will extract the core mix of these two sound formats and export these as PCM. So you're getting a lossy format of the soundtracks, rather than a lossless conversion I'm afraid (though the bitrate is still better than the standard Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 tracks through the digital optical / coaxial output).

So to get the full HD sound from the Panny, you'll need an amp which can accept the bit-streamed signal via HDMI and decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA onboard (like the Onkyo 606 and above).

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting do you have a link to this info? I have the the BD30 along with the PS3. It would seem strange that they would insist on how the HD audio is decoded. Wouldn't that have an effect on the sales of new receivers?

[quote user="professorhat"]

Well, things like, the Panny DMP-BD30 can only output the new HD Audio formats via bitstream, not convert them onboard. From what I understand, it's possible some discs are going to insist audio is decoded before it's output from the player (for copyright reasons), meaning you wouldn't be able to get HD audio on these discs using the Panny if this came true. On the other hand, the PS3 can only output via PCM, decoding signals on board. Although there's nothing wrong with this, some people argue that it often sounds better if the amplifier is allowed the process the signal rather than the player. Other machines like the Sony can output via PCM over the 5.1 analogue outputs, but can't bitstream all the HD formats via the HDMI port.

Admittedly, you may not need some of these features now, but change is the only constant and you may find youself limited further down the line by something your player can't do. Ideally therefore, you want a player which can do everything well and I think the only ones which can do this at the moment are (a) very expensive and (b) have very slow loading times as are part of the first / second generation of machines.

Thus, if you can, I'd wait and see what's coming out next.
[/quote]

 

[Anonymous]

Would I be right in saying the 5.1 analogue outputs output full HD?

Was considering the Onkyo 606, But if future disks won't allow content via bitstream then I still won't achieve what I'm looking for.

 

[professorhat]

[quote user="Bullseye"]Interesting do you have a link to this info?[/quote]

I originally saw it in a post from the good old Mr E here. However, I've read it elsewhere since (though I can't remember for the life of me where).

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="professorhat"]
From what I understand, it's possible some discs are going to insist audio is decoded before it's output from the player (for copyright reasons),
[/quote]
It's not so much the disc but rather the Profile Standard, in this case 1.1, that mandates decoding by the player. It would be well worth holding off for players that can decode all formats, and output as LPCM over HDMI for those of us with HDMI amps/processors that don't have the required decoding, or output over 5.1 analogue for those without HDMI amps/processors.

It seems pointless to pay for the decoding in the amp when Profile 1.1 and above require it to be done in the player.

 

[professorhat]

Ah, there you go. Thanks for clarifying this.