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Blu Ray DVD Players


fruhike

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I am planning on a new Blu Ray DVD player and I was leaning toward the Panasonics. My TV has only 1 HDMI in, so I use a switcher for the inputs from my computer, DVD, and Xbox. I also run an optical audio out from the DVD to my receiver. I think I get better sound that way. I like this setup because I don’t always have to turn on the receiver to listen to the TV. Given that, do I really need the audio processing of the Panasonic BD-80 or can I just go with the BD-60? Thanks in advance.

60

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16882103416

80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16882103419

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I am planning on a new Blu Ray DVD player and I was leaning toward the Panasonics. My TV has only 1 HDMI in, so I use a switcher for the inputs from my computer, DVD, and Xbox. I also run an optical audio out from the DVD to my receiver. I think I get better sound that way. I like this setup because I don’t always have to turn on the receiver to listen to the TV. Given that, do I really need the audio processing of the Panasonic BD-80 or can I just go with the BD-60? Thanks in advance.

60

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16882103416

80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16882103419

A few questions:

  • What kind of receiver do you have?
  • Is it a surround sound A/V receiver?
  • If so, does it have 5.1 (or more) analog inputs or just digital and 2-channel inputs? Do you have a full 5-speaker + subwoofer surround setup or just stereo?
  • If not, do you plan to upgrade to surround sound anytime in the next few years?

The answers to these questions will help determine the best answer to your question. If you're just listening in 2-channel and have no plans to go to surround sound, go with the BD-60.

Offhand, though, I'd say the extra $30 for the BD-80 is worth it to get the uncompressed surround codec built-in (Dolby TrueHD), and the other hi-rez surround schemes of DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Plus. Actually, if it was me, I'd want one that also had internal decoding for DTS's uncompressed codec, DTS-HD Master Audio. If you have surround sound, the difference between old school Dolby Digital and hi-def Dolby TrueHD is pretty dramatic.

If you do plan to go surround, you'll be able to get better results more cheaply with the BD-80.

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I have an Onkyo (6.1) receiver (with only 1 HDMI in, I am not sure abou tthe other inputs, sorry) and the Boston Accoustic speaker set that you recommended from Audio Advisor a while ago. The one with the speakers powered by the sub. I have a 5.1 setup right now given it is in a smaller sized room. The 6.1 setup really didn't add anything. This is attached to a Hitachi rear projection HDTV. When I upgrade from this I will likely get a new TV and receiver etc. Which won't be any time soon. That will give me more inputs on the receiver and TV.

Thanks again JB. I always appreciate your advice.

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I have an Onkyo (6.1) receiver (with only 1 HDMI in, I am not sure abou tthe other inputs, sorry) ...

Which Onkyo receiver model? I'll look up the rest. I suspect it has 5.1 or 7.1 analog inputs, which makes the BD-80 look like a smarter buy. Tell me the model number and I can confirm the connectability and tell you how to hook up full dynamic, lossless surround sound for your Blu-ray player into your current HT audio setup.

Also, what are you using right now for an HDMI switcher, and how many HDMI sources will you have when you get the Blu-ray player?

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OK, here goes. I have an Onkyo TX-SR603X receiver and a Monoprice HDX-501 HDMI switcher (probably not the best, but decent bang for the buck). I only use 4 inputs of the 5 available: cable box, XBox, Computer, and DVD. I will be replacing my current Oppo DV-981HD DVD player with the new Blu Ray.

Thanks again for your time, it is greatly appreciated.

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I have an Onkyo TX-SR603X receiver and a Monoprice HDX-501 HDMI switcher (probably not the best, but decent bang for the buck). I only use 4 inputs of the 5 available: cable box, XBox, Computer, and DVD. I will be replacing my current Oppo DV-981HD DVD player with the new Blu Ray.

Your receiver has 5.1 analog inputs for the DVD Input section marked on the back of your receiver. Get the DMP-BD80 and connect its multi-channel analog outputs to the multi-channel DVD inputs on your receiver. Use the Panasonic's regular surround outputs, but not the rear surround outputs and then configure the Panasonic for 5.1 output. Also, connect your optical digital link like you did with the Oppo. This will enable you to still use the receiver's internal decoders for regular DVDs and CDs. When playing Blu-rays, switch the Onkyo's audio to the multi-channel input and it'll give you the uncompressed surround sound on the Blu-ray disc. When doing the Blu-ray disc setup for a given title, switch to the best codec available, such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD. When it has one of those encoding schemes (and most of them do now), you'll noticed a nice jump in clarity, dynamics, and how enveloping the surround soundfield is.

Use the HDMI cables and your Monoprice switcher as before.

BTW, Amazon currently has the DMP-BD80 for $178.64 here with free shipping and (unless anything's changed) a 30-day no-hassle money back trial period.

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I too was looking at the Panasonic Blu-Ray player to go with a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, but after a short chat with JohnnyB I decided to check out the OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player he recomended... it's about $500. A bit more... so I started my own research.

Ever review I read said it came in second place... to a $3500 unit...

It arrived the other day, but I'm still waiting on the new TV...

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When I needed a Blu Ray player, I bought a PS-3.

... and those have a lot going for them. One thing they don't have, however, is multichannel analog outputs. In fruihike's case he has a surround sound system, but no processor to do the new lossless codecs like the one built into the Panasonic DMP-BD80. The Panasonic I recommended would enable him to make use of the new audio codecs with his existing system, whereas the PS3 would require replacing his AV Receiver.

And yeah, the Oppo Blu-ray is better yet, but I figured that since he's equivocating between $169 and $199, I wouldn't go there. If, however, he has a significant collection of SACDs and/or DVD-As, it definitely would/i] be worth it.

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Hey, hey, I an't that cheap. I didn't realize the prices on thse came down so much lately. Last time I looked, the price difference was greater.

And yeah, the Oppo Blu-ray is better yet, but I figured that since he's equivocating between $169 and $199, I wouldn't go there. If, however, he has a significant collection of SACDs and/or DVD-As, it definitely would/i] be worth it.

I have an Onkyo TX-SR603X receiver and a Monoprice HDX-501 HDMI switcher (probably not the best, but decent bang for the buck). I only use 4 inputs of the 5 available: cable box, XBox, Computer, and DVD. I will be replacing my current Oppo DV-981HD DVD player with the new Blu Ray.

Your receiver has 5.1 analog inputs for the DVD Input section marked on the back of your receiver. Get the DMP-BD80 and connect its multi-channel analog outputs to the multi-channel DVD inputs on your receiver. Use the Panasonic's regular surround outputs, but not the rear surround outputs and then configure the Panasonic for 5.1 output. Also, connect your optical digital link like you did with the Oppo. This will enable you to still use the receiver's internal decoders for regular DVDs and CDs. When playing Blu-rays, switch the Onkyo's audio to the multi-channel input and it'll give you the uncompressed surround sound on the Blu-ray disc. When doing the Blu-ray disc setup for a given title, switch to the best codec available, such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD. When it has one of those encoding schemes (and most of them do now), you'll noticed a nice jump in clarity, dynamics, and how enveloping the surround soundfield is.

Use the HDMI cables and your Monoprice switcher as before.

BTW, Amazon currently has the DMP-BD80 for $178.64 here with free shipping and (unless anything's changed) a 30-day no-hassle money back trial period.

Once again, you rule. Thanks for taking the time to lay it all out for me. As I stated in the last post, the prices on these came down a bunch. Asside from the Panasonic, are there others in that price range you would recommend as well?

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As I stated in the last post, the prices on these came down a bunch. Asside from the Panasonic, are there others in that price range you would recommend as well?

Basically, my attitude is that the best overall cheap Blu-ray players are the Panasonics, with early implementation of Blu-ray Live 2.0 and faster load times than most. If you have an existing surround sound system with 5.1 or 7.1 analog inputs, spring for the little extra and get the BD80 over the BD60.

If you're a gamer as well and don't want multiple sources clogging the equipment rack, get a Playstation 3.

But if you want near the best performance available at any cost, but well within reach of most people, the Oppo BDP-83 at $499 stands alone. It not only competes with units up into the thousands of dollars, it's one of the very few at any price that plays DVD, Blu-ray, SACD, and DVD-A.

Oppo has some specific advantages in the price/performance ratio over the traditional brands: They're located in Silicon Valley with a tremendous talent pool to draw from (subwoofer maker Velodyne is there too), and they're a direct-market Internet company, so there isn't a wholesale-to-retail markup.

The reviews are widespread and consistently positive-to-glowing:

Home Theater Mag

Audio Video Revolution

Secrets of Home Theater & Hi-Fi

AV Guide (AV division of The Absolute Sound)

Ultimate AV Magazine (AV division of Stereophile Magazine)

There are 77 5-star reviews out of the 87 total user reviews at Amazon for the BDP-83.

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The only problem with the Panasonics is they're finicky as hell about what they'll play. They say they'll do pretty much anything, but I have a stack of about 15-20 home-recorded and/or imports that used to play fine on my old Sony and won't play at all on the Panasonic.

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The only problem with the Panasonics is they're finicky as hell about what they'll play. They say they'll do pretty much anything, but I have a stack of about 15-20 home-recorded and/or imports that used to play fine on my old Sony and won't play at all on the Panasonic.

For those with this situation, that's a case in point for keeping your previous DVD player in the system as well-- for the DVD-Rs and imports--if you have the shelf space and I/Os available. Otherwise, the Oppo would be the smarter move. Universal compatibility is a primary Oppo performance value.

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The only problem with the Panasonics is they're finicky as hell about what they'll play. They say they'll do pretty much anything, but I have a stack of about 15-20 home-recorded and/or imports that used to play fine on my old Sony and won't play at all on the Panasonic.

For those with this situation, that's a case in point for keeping your previous DVD player in the system as well-- for the DVD-Rs and imports--if you have the shelf space and I/Os available. Otherwise, the Oppo would be the smarter move. Universal compatibility is a primary Oppo performance value.

The problem is when your old DVD player dies and you decide to take the plunge on a Blu-ray only to find out you have disks that won't play.

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I've got an Oppo BDP-83 and a Sony PS-3 in my main HDTV setup, and a Sony BDP-350 on a smaller HDTV.

The Sony PS-3 is a great do-it-all product. If you could only have one device, this would be it - Blu-ray, DVD, gaming, movie rental downloads, streaming Netflix (announced but not available yet), streaming media from your PC, fast loading, and more powerful processing than any standalone player. It's also the most compatible unit I've found - never had any disc fail to load or play, or have a non-working feature.

But you get only optical and HDMI outputs - no analog audio if you need it. But HDMI capable AVR's are getting so inexpensive that it's worth it to upgrade that as well.

The Oppo BDP-83 really is in a class of its own. Best DVD upconversion on the market at anywhere near the price, SACD, DVD-Audio, and loads almost as fast as the PS3. My main complaint is that it responds slowly to commands, while the PS-3 responds instantly. Also, Oppo updates it's firmware a lot, and even offers unsupported beta updates. But even so I've had more compatibility issues with pre-recorded Blu-rays, and there are various reports of problems with DVD-A's. But Oppo will actually listen to feedback and address specific issues with specific discs. You can actually email them and they respond, unlike Sony or any other big A/V company.

But here's the kicker - if you are playing 1080p Blu-ray material to a 1080p HDTV with zero scaling (full-pixel mode in Sony's vernacular), most Blu-ray players perform very similarly. That's because they are just transferring the data and doing nothing to it. Just about any major brand player will be fine with Blu-rays. What separates one player from another is feature set, and processing of non 1080p material. Like de-interlacing 1080i video to 1080p, upconverting 480i DVD's to 1080p, etc.

JohnnyB - did you get an Oppo yet?

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JohnnyB - did you get an Oppo yet?

Nope, actually, since I quit working for health reasons, I have to carefully choose my home entertainment investments. My stepson bought a PS-3 1-1/2 yrs ago so it does the Blu-ray movies. Sure, I miss the lossless surround schemes, but even DTS-ES and Dolby EX sound better on a Blu-ray disc than from a std. DVD because the transfer rate is significantly higher, even through an SP/DIF digital link. The other way I could get lossless would be to replace my AV surround processor with a new one with the decoders for the lossless codecs, but my current one was originally a $2K unit and it sounds so good that I'm in no hurry to replace it either.

If I were still working I would have gotten in on the Oppo BDP-83 beta program like you did.

Actually, since my HDTV is a late 2005-era 720P native mode LCD rear projector, before I spend more money on a better Blu-ray player, I should upgrade the TV to a direct view flat panel 1080p with a refresh rate that can do 24fps. That's where I'd get the most improvement in display resolution.

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Great info here! Looks like I'll be putting it to use soon.... Thanks!

ON EDIT:

I like that Panasonic DMP-BD60, as I don't have any surround-sound. I was in Costco today and they had it for $159.99, while at Amazon it's $129.99 with free shipping, here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001V9LA4...;pf_rd_i=507846

I'm gonna wait till after Thanksgiving to see if it comes down even more....

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So I waited, and today I got the Panasonic DMP-BD60 at Costco for $125. Got it home and hooked it up via HDMI cable to my 720p Sony LCD TV. Stuck in JB at Ronnie Scotts and got blown away! Not only by JB and co., but by the clarity of the video and audio. I was very impressed and glad I got it. Thanks, JB, for the great advice, as I was also eyeing a Sony Blue-Ray which had the capability to "talk" with my Sony TV. Big deal. Panasonic in a walk for those on a budget. ;)

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Stuck in JB at Ronnie Scotts and got blown away! Not only by JB and co., but by the clarity of the video and audio.

I only have a 720p as well, but I'm so spoiled by Blu-ray I can barely bare to watch conventional DVD.

Funny thing about the audio. The new lossless codecs (TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) can only be enjoyed if you use an HDMI 1.3a connection to a like-minded surround decoder, but even without it, the downconverted bitstream sent over Toslink still sounds better than any conventional DVD because the transfer rate is about four times as high.

If you want to see another guitar virtuoso at work on a Blu-ray concert DVD, check out Pat Metheny: The Way Up. You can get it on Blu-ray from Netflix. The music may be a bit busy for your taste but there's no question that that man can rip on a guitar in just about any musical format you can think of.

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