Sony BD370, Pana BD45 / BD60 or LG BD 560 - which one produces best picture?

[AMITNOIDA]

I wan to purchase a BD player. I have shortlisted Sony BD370, Pana BD45 or BD60 and LGBD 560. Price wise Sony is the cheapest, comes with two free BDs. The most important criteria for me is the picture quality, colour reproduction and sharpness of the picture. The next important thing is sound quality. To start with I will use my Leben Amp and Usher BE 718 speaker with no Sub. The bass of BE-718 is adequate for me. Later on, I may go for 5.1 system.

I have seen the demo of all the four models in different showrooms with different brands of TVs. As per review, Pana BDPs have edge over LG, Samsung in picture quality. What's your view?

How Sony BD370 compares with Pana BD45 or Pana BD60 in picture quality? Any side-by-side comparison experience?

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Come on guys. I need your feedback urgently.

I think most of the HFV members have Oppo BDPs and few have Pana BD-60 or Pana BD-80 also. Oppo BDPs are available in India at unjust higher price. Oppo BD-SE 83 at Lakozy is at 1L plus (as I have heard) with hardware modding kit.

In comparison, Sony BDP370 is only at Rs. 9.99k. Pana now is marketing BD-45 model. Their showroom sales guy told me that Pana BD-60 is no more available. LG BD 560 is about 11k.

So, price point of view Oppo is no brainer in India. I don't have any relative in USA, who can volunteer in sourcing an Oppo for me.

Regarding Sony BDP370 I have read in the review that sometimes the sound creates some disturbances, but the picture is very good. This BDP has very good features also. My prime concern is the picture quality. If any Sony BDP-370 user shares his experience, it would be really helpful.

Pana BD-45 does not have coaxial Digital sound out, it has optical out. My Ayon CDP has the capability of using it as DAC, but the digital in is through coaxial. So Pana BD-45 will land me in some problem in using my CDP as DAC. But if, the Pana BDP 45 analogue out are decent I may directly connect it with my Leben Amp. Any Pana BDP user may guide and suggest in this regard.

Regarding LG BDP 560, I don't have much of information with respect to it's picture quality and sound quality. It supports 7.1 channel audio. Any suggestion?

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

My vote for the Sony 370. I own it and it is a dutiful performer. Best thing - DVD's look great too.

 

[madbullram]

Last time when I was in US, I had a chance to see the Pana BD 85k / 60, Samsung 3D based BD. The 85 was beautiful and the PQ was top notch. I didnt have an Oppo to compare but felt it was definitely in same league.

Also, the SQ of 85 was excellent and would be parallel to a mid range CDP. Its an awesome package and had decided to buy 85 next time in US.

The spec of 85 is excellent with jitter correction (not sure if its limited only to HDMI or also extends to Digital out , if it is an excellent transport for you).

Not sure if this helps you, but thought will post what I saw.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

My vote for the Sony 370. I own it and it is a dutiful performer. Best thing - DVD's look great too.

Thanks Shaiju. The picture quality of Sony 370 is good, no doubt. I have experienced it in their showroom yestarday with Toy Story-3 and Jodha Akbar Blu-ray. But how is the sound? Does it ever poses any problem of jitter or inconsistencies? May please tell your experience.

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

I don't have a dedicated speaker system, so can't comment on sound.

 

[reignofchaos]

Hi Amit. I had a chance to compare an Oppo BD83, a PS3 and the higher end Sony BDP-S1. In bluray, there wasn't any noticeable difference between the three on the 46" Sony X450A we tested on. In DVD playback, there was very little difference between the Oppo and the PS3 with the former winning by a whisker. The BDP-S1 was definitely inferior in upscaling. Also another thing in favor of the PS3 and Oppo were the loading times. The BDP-S1 took ages compared to these two to start playing bluray discs.

Considering this, I'd suggest you avoid the low end Sony bluray players if you care about DVD upscaling. I'm not sure about the panasonics so I'd not comment. A PS3 or an Oppo will definitely keep you happy.

As far as sound is concerned, don't bother using the audio outs in any bluray player. They are terrible. The only way out is to use HDMI to bitstream it to a compatible receiver that does the decoding even if this means investing 20-25k on a cheap receiver. It'll be infinitely better than the onboard audio outs of a bluray player.

 

[venkatcr]

I would agree with what ReignOfChaos has said. Here is my take after seeing a few BD Players - my own HTPC, an Oppo BD83, a Samsung BD6800, the Dune BD Prime. Keeping everything else the same, one can hardly make out much difference in PQ between these players. This is for playing Blu-Ray discs. Playing regular DVD discs is a different matter. Today I was watching AKS and the Dune failed completely. My HTPC though played the disc without any issue when I inserted the disc in the DVD drive. I would strongly suggest all BD player buyers to get an inexpensive DVD player also.

And as long as you send the bitstream the audio, you will have no issues.

And, BTW, the Oppo players are not available anymore, even in the US. We have to wait for the BD 93 to be released.

Cheers

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

For the above mentioned reasons I did not rid the Pioneer 420.
Sony does blu-rays well and the Pioneer for DVDs. That said the Sony is very good upscaler for casual users.

Pioneer BD60 is a good choice too. It was available in Mumbai for 13-14K about 4 months back.

If you are new to blu-ray then start off with a good budget player. As far I have seen and read (more than I've seen), one needs to be really in stroke of bad luck to land up with a bad blu-ray player. I started searching for the Oppo and landed up with the Sony. Thought it is wise to give myself some time to adopt/absorb/learn what the technology has to offer rather than just buying an expensive kit.

 

[mailalok]

LG Player can play all hidef videos from USB.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Thanks you Reignofchaos, Venkat, Saiju and Alok.

I could not show patience (as I have already 12 BR discs delivered to me) and purchased Sony s370. It's picture quality is quite good. Yes, I have also the same opinion - for BR play, the budget player will not perform bad in picture quality. I don't have any plan to play DVD in BR player. So the budget BR player makes sense to me.

As far as sound is concerned, I am presently using HDMI and listen through TV speaker. Also, I have tried BR player analogue out to my Leben-BE718 combo. The sound quality is better in mid-range and bass compared to TV speaker but defiitely inferior to Asus Xonar sound card of my PC.

Future plan is to connect the Coaxial digital out from BR player and connect it into my Ayon CD1s Digital in for use as DAC which will be connected to my Leben-BE718 combo.

Any suggestion for good coaxial cord?

 

[spirovious]

I don't have any plan to play DVD in BR player. So the budget BR player makes sense to me.

Even you play it can be OK & will not cause any problem as DVD lens within will be different than Bluray.Yes,upscaling capablities will differ.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Yesterday, I have purchased a coaxial digital audio cord from Lakozy Delhi and tried with my Sony 370 BRP and Ayon Cd1s (used its DAC). The cord was from Somerset USA and costing <1K. The sound on its first day of use was quite good. The Sony 370 BRP as transport is not bad, I say.

My Ayon CD1s does not have SACD playback capability. So my next plan is to have one SACD and try in Sony 370 BRP and use Ayon CD1s as DAC.

 

[reignofchaos]

SACD can't be output over spdif AFAIK.

 

[abyshines]

Hi everyone and a very happy new year to all of you.
Few days back i purchased SONY KDL40EX710 led lcd,and i am simply loving it.

Today i got the Sony Blu ray player BDPS370 and paired it with my sony bravia 40EX710.

Needless to say it was hassle free due to the Bravia Sync HDMI control,The beauty is that my mom can actually play the DVD/blu ray with ease owing to auto switching on of the LCD due to bravia sync[No need to seperately switch it on and then selecting the source].It was splendid to see how intelligently the unit turns on,and displays its menu.


Watched the BLU ray TITLE''LEGION" which came bundled with the blu ray player.The details were marvellous,and the sound in Theatre mode was excellent.




The BEST part about the combination is the Surround sound of the BRAVIA SERIES,Specially in theatre mode.

I am GLAD to have SONY product and would definately recommend them to people and friends.

NEXT in the wish list is TATA SKY HD and then a SONY AV PLAYER/YAMAHA RXV667,would try my best to find out the best SONY AV receiver, again owing to the ease of Bravia sync and teeny weeny features that actually help a lot in easing out the daily use,like in this case the Auto shut feature when the LCD is in idle state depending upon what time gap you have selected from the menu.[also the presence sensor which works fine and the ambient light sensor which is added bonus]

I understand today why Sony doesn't give away their products with too many offers,
"SONY like no other",indeed they know very well where they stand.


Coming to The blu ray player i must admit Sony blu ray BDPS370 is indeed the best in features for the price,for the fact that it plays DVDs in an upscaled HD format.
Besides the user interface is quite beautifully laid and very easy to operate with tonnes of features.
I accessed my NOKIA N79 through front USB and the Player in seconds displayed all the contents including list of songs with details in split seconds.Again the lay out was very rich and clearly displayed.Sound was again top of the line,although i am not a true audiophile but can appreciate what an audiophile would love to hear.
Must have Player more so if you have a SONY BRAVIA SYNC enabled LCD.

 

[ssps]

Does lgbd570 support hd audio from external hdd when connected to avr?