bluray player suggestions

[doors666]

Hi Guys,

I am looking for a bluray player, this will be my first bluray player. It will be used with yamaha rx-v663 and panasonic pv8. I am on a tight budget and need to buy a not so expensive player. I would say a max 200$, but could push it to 250$ if the player is awesome and meets most of my needs. I will be getting it from US thru a friend (damn, this hobby of mine is making me use (misuse) my friends

Requirements:
0. shouldnt be an oppo:lol: cant afford it.
1. of course it should play blu ray.
2. my avr doesnt have upscaling, it will be good to have a decent upscaler for my dvd collection.
3. If it can play flac from a dvd/pendrive, I am willing to forget most of my other requirements.
4. Should play mkv/avchd/divx from dvd-r and/or pen drive. region free dvd player
5. Dont need analog outs.
6. dont care about netflix etc.
7. dont care about onboard decoders, i think my avr can handle all of those.
8. I dont play games, so ps3 is out unless it beats others in other things.
9. dual voltage will be good, not necessary though, already have a voltage converter, running my avr.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

On budget grounds you could consider Philips Blu Ray Player model No. is BDP 3000 avalibale for 16K in India and is BD profile 2.0 compatable.
You would be able to play all your disks through it but as of yet its not region free either for DVD or blu ray.
If you are looking at region free playability for just DVD's then you could go in with a Sony BDP360 (import), the region code can be unlocked through the universal remote.
But if you are looking for region free playability of both Blu ray and DVD's then I would suggest you to go for Panasonic Model from the like of BDP60 or 80 as they have Chip Based modifications avaliable.

 

[Sumain]

The Panasonic BD 60 is currently the highest selling Blu Ray Disk player at Amazon.com, and is very reasonable priced with a recent price cut. Check it out at Amazon.

 

[doors666]

The Panasonic BD 60 is currently the highest selling Blu Ray Disk player at Amazon.com, and is very reasonable priced with a recent price cut. Check it out at Amazon.

it cant even play divx, forget about mkv. only bd80 can.

 

[doors666]

before I take the plunge, can someone tell me if I will see a definite improvement in picture quality with the movies with blu ray, as compared to lets say a good upscaled dvd. I have a 720p pv8 and the viewing distance is about 12 feet. if not, no point in spending money on bluray till i goto like a 50" full hd lcd or 1080p pj.

Whats the deal with ps3. the prices of the old ones are crashing as the slim is there for like 300$. I saw the fat ones going in india for 16-17k for the 80gb version, might be even cheaper. now that the ps3 has lost the loading time advantage, is it still a good buy. btw, I dont play games and already have an htpc also.

 

[sandeepmohan]

Its good you raised the question. Forget upscaling a DVD. A Region 1 (USA) DVD minus all the upscaling will look stunning on your PV8. I don't see any real benefit of watching Blu Ray on a 32" HD or Full HD screen size. It is better to wait & save up for a much bigger screen & then invest in Blu Ray. Buy a good upscaling DVD player for now.

PS3 is excellent for Blu Ray but I would suggest a stand alone Blu Ray player to save on power consumption.

 

[aneelr]

before I take the plunge, can someone tell me if I will see a definite improvement in picture quality with the movies with blu ray, as compared to lets say a good upscaled dvd. I have a 720p pv8 and the viewing distance is about 12 feet. if not, no point in spending money on bluray till i goto like a 50" full hd lcd or 1080p pj.

Whats the deal with ps3. the prices of the old ones are crashing as the slim is there for like 300$. I saw the fat ones going in india for 16-17k for the 80gb version, might be even cheaper. now that the ps3 has lost the loading time advantage, is it still a good buy. btw, I dont play games and already have an htpc also.

Hey, a 1080p content will not show it's full/true colors on a HD ready TV.
If you are going for a bluray player, it's better to have a FHD TV 46" and above to get full quality.
And the PQ of a standalone bluray player is much better than a PS3,

cheers

 

[doors666]

Hey, a 1080p content will not show it's full/true colors on a HD ready TV.
If you are going for a bluray player, it's better to have a FHD TV 46" and above to get full quality.
And the PQ of a standalone bluray player is much better than a PS3,

cheers

people also say that at 42", 720p and 1080p look the same. so combining the two statements, it sounds like below (including) 42", bluray is a waste. to enjoy the benefits of bluray, you atleast need 46" 1080p system, right?

I also read at various places that upscaling doesnt give much results. I am currently running a cheapo samsung dvd player using component outs.

 

[aneelr]

people also say that at 42", 720p and 1080p look the same. so combining the two statements, it sounds like below (including) 42", bluray is a waste. to enjoy the benefits of bluray, you atleast need 46" 1080p system, right?

I also read at various places that upscaling doesnt give much results. I am currently running a cheapo samsung dvd player using component outs.

Hi,

There is definitely a phenomenal PQ difference in 720p and 1080p,be it on any inch TV's they can never look the same........... I can make out the PQ difference in just a matter of sec. between 720p & 1080p.I deal with these resolutions on a day to day basic in my profession.

There is no Upscaling technology available till date which can upscale DVD's to 1080p with 100% accuracy...........and there will be no technology in future also AFA my knowledge goes,

So if you want a HD setup, you need to have a BLURAY CONTENT(1080p) + FHD TV.
And AFA the size of the TV goes, the bigger the better. 32" is also not bad IMO for FHD.

cheers

 

[doors666]

Hi,

There is definitely a phenomenal PQ difference in 720p and 1080p,be it on any inch TV's they can never look the same........... I can make out the PQ difference in just a matter of sec. between 720p & 1080p.I deal with these resolutions on a day to day basic in my profession.

There is no Upscaling technology available till date which can upscale DVD's to 1080p with 100% accuracy...........and there will be no technology in future also AFA my knowledge goes,

So if you want a HD setup, you need to have a BLURAY CONTENT(1080p) + FHD TV.
And AFA the size of the TV goes, the bigger the better. 32" is also not bad IMO for FHD.

cheers

Right, but replacing a tv at present is ruled out. Wife will kill me. So, with a 42" 720p tv, is it worth it to go for bluray. Its a significant investment considering the media cost also, and if the gains arent significant, no point

 

[aneelr]

Right, but replacing a tv at present is ruled out. Wife will kill me. So, with a 42" 720p tv, is it worth it to go for bluray. Its a significant investment considering the media cost also, and if the gains arent significant, no point

Nope dude, you will not get the actual colors, the color gamut of a 720p is very small as compared to that of 1080p. I've already tested these situations.

But you could get yourself a WD TV media player and download 720p movies from the web.


For all those UPSCALE/UPCOVERSION fans, some info about the same from the WIKI.

Placing a video scaler before a limited-capability display device will not remove the limitations of that display device (for instance, you cant make a 720p display take a 1080p signal and expect to see all 1920x1080 pixels on the 1280x720 display surface). A common misconception of consumers is that if you upscale to 1080p from a 720p source and the TV downscales to 854x480 internally (like within a plasma display), that you would end up with a better image. Since the final display surface does not contain the necessary pixel amount to display the 720p content in its entirety, there is a loss in the vertical and horizontal resolution in the final displayed image. It is preferred to send the display the exact resolution that it needs to output a final display image. Some displays may have a further problem when displaying native resolution however, when sent the exact native resolution image, the display may be programmed to assume that it is receiving a signal from a PC - which will cause it to reduce its output brightness (this is a protection mechanism which display manufacturers like Pioneer have installed to prevent or reduce image phosphor burn in).

under no circumstances will an upscaling/upconverting DVD player provide "high-definition content", since video information can only be retained or lost in each successive conversion step, but not created

Hope this piece of info clears any doubts regarding UPSCALING/UPCONVERTING.

The moral of the info is "IF U GO HIGH DEF,THEN GO 1080p"


cheers

 

[doors666]

Nope dude, you will not get the actual colors, the color gamut of a 720p is very small as compared to that of 1080p. I've already tested these situations.

But you could get yourself a WD TV media player and download 720p movies from the web.
The moral of the info is "IF U GO HIGH DEF,THEN GO 1080p"


cheers

I dont get it. what has the resolution got to do with the colors. I thought the colors were decided by the width of data, 24 bit etc.
I have htpc on which i watch the mkvs.

what about the sound? On a decent system, how is the sound for dvd vs bd for movies.

upscaling is like converting an mp3 into wav file and claiming its better than mp3 but worse than wav.:lol:

Edit: just kidding, I dont have any personal experience with good upscaling, so dont know.

 

[aneelr]

I dont get it. what has the resolution got to do with the colors. I thought the colors were decided by the width of data, 24 bit etc.
I have htpc on which i watch the mkvs.

what about the sound? On a decent system, how is the sound for dvd vs bd for movies.

upscaling is like converting an mp3 into wav file and claiming its better than mp3 but worse than wav.:lol:

Hi,

it is not the resolution but the technology which goes behind the TV manufacturing, every medium that displays color is associated with a color gamut and in Color Theory, a gamut of any device is a portion of the color space that can be represented or reproduced by it, and when certain color cannot be displayed within the specified color model, it is said to be "out of gamut" and also A device that is able to reproduce the entire visible color space is an unrealized goal within the engineering of color displays and printing processes. There are different types of color gamut's used in the manufacture of the TV's. Color gamut of 72% - 75% is typically considered normal.Before wide color gamut monitors became available to the general consumer (initially they were only for expensive LCD monitors geared towards the graphics professional; about 2 years ago) all LCD monitors used standard color gamut. Color gamut is determined by backlighting. CCFL (cold compact florescent lamps) can produce up to 114% color gamut. I believe LED backlighting has up to 142%


So at the time of manufacturing, say HDR tv they use standard color gamut, but for FHD a wide color gamut is used, hence the difference in the COLOR O/P.

hope this helped.

cheers

 

[GKV]

Hey, a 1080p content will not show it's full/true colors on a HD ready TV.
And the PQ of a standalone bluray player is much better than a PS3,

cheers

Any specific reason for this?

 

[psychotropic]

isn't it cold cathode fluorescent lamps?

Hi,
CCFL (cold compact florescent lamps) can produce up to 114% color gamut. I believe LED backlighting has up to 142%

cheers

 

[aneelr]

isn't it cold cathode fluorescent lamps?

oops, your right, sorry for my mistake, and thanks for the correction.

cheers

 

[crn12]

@ doors666: Pl let us know on what you bought! I am sailing the same boat

 

[doors666]

@ doors666: Pl let us know on what you bought! I am sailing the same boat

lets see. I have posted another thread asking for feedback from people who are running the same setup. coming weekend I will try to goto the panasonic showroom and try to see how the combo looks like, then I will make a decision.

 

[allajunaki]

Nope dude, you will not get the actual colors, the color gamut of a 720p is very small as compared to that of 1080p. I've already tested these situations.

But you could get yourself a WD TV media player and download 720p movies from the web.


For all those UPSCALE/UPCOVERSION fans, some info about the same from the WIKI.

Placing a video scaler before a limited-capability display device will not remove the limitations of that display device (for instance, you cant make a 720p display take a 1080p signal and expect to see all 1920x1080 pixels on the 1280x720 display surface). A common misconception of consumers is that if you upscale to 1080p from a 720p source and the TV downscales to 854x480 internally (like within a plasma display), that you would end up with a better image. Since the final display surface does not contain the necessary pixel amount to display the 720p content in its entirety, there is a loss in the vertical and horizontal resolution in the final displayed image. It is preferred to send the display the exact resolution that it needs to output a final display image. Some displays may have a further problem when displaying native resolution however, when sent the exact native resolution image, the display may be programmed to assume that it is receiving a signal from a PC - which will cause it to reduce its output brightness (this is a protection mechanism which display manufacturers like Pioneer have installed to prevent or reduce image phosphor burn in).

under no circumstances will an upscaling/upconverting DVD player provide "high-definition content", since video information can only be retained or lost in each successive conversion step, but not created

Hope this piece of info clears any doubts regarding UPSCALING/UPCONVERTING.

The moral of the info is "IF U GO HIGH DEF,THEN GO 1080p"


cheers

This may be true, But what about a scenario where we feed 1080p signal to 720p display? We are giving the scaler some pixel bandwidth to represent the image (ofcourse assuming the TV has a good scaler, yeah thats a lot of assumption). But I have read elsewhere that some 720p tvs look pretty darn good with 1080 feeds.

 

[aneelr]

...., But what about a scenario where we feed 1080p signal to 720p display? We are giving the scaler some pixel bandwidth to represent the image (ofcourse assuming the TV has a good scaler, yeah thats a lot of assumption). But I have read elsewhere that some 720p tvs look pretty darn good with 1080 feeds.

I've already exlained this earlier in the same thread......pls refer back.

cheers