This may be redundant, but what is the best stand-alone Blu-ray player?

I must admit that i was one of the first to jump on HD-DVD band wagon, buying the HD add-on for my xbox 360 way back when it first came out. But with its death, my need for new HD has been doused and i need a blu-ray player so i can buy new releases. So what is the best stand-alone player with a reasonable price?

The PS3.

The Sony 3. (does that make playstation 3 sound better...more attractive?) Anyway dont take my advice, read the new issue of Home Theater mag. They see it all.

Wait for the Panasonic 50.

that PA player is taking forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

any info on that?

Kuco, I thought the Panasonic BD50 was coming out in June? Not sure though.

As far as "standalone" bluray player (assuming you don't want to get the PS3) the best at the moment is probably the Panasonic BD30 but I don't think it can be upgraded to profile 2.0.

Just get the PS3 since it's the most futureproof bluray player out there plus for some reason it's the cheapest one too.

I'm personally waiting for more profile 2 to come out before I buy, ie: when Pioneer comes out with a profile 2.

[Post edited by enc66 on Apr 21, 2008]

i should have added that as part of my question. my entertainment system is good, but aging and i will be updating it probably later this year. What affordable player will be the most up to date around june or july and not be outrageously expensive?

The best thing to do is to wait until June when you have the money and make a decision then. There's no way to know for sure what will be available and at what price. Plus every once in a while you will see a sale on a bluray player.

For me...

the best is the PS3 - hands down. The price, updatability and WiFi are huge pluses.

i sold my ps3. i wanted to wait for a panny 50, but ill prob just pick up the 30 soon,

FYI... (updated)

> 12 ways to make the PS3 Perfect - 5/13/08, from Cnet.com




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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

My biggest issues (besides IR which was mentioned) in the article are:

- No HD Bitstream audio support. My Onkyo wants to decode that HD audio

- Having to install games and demos. Come on. The reason I bought a console was so I didn't have to sit and wait for my 1.5 GB Game Demo to first download and then install for another 5 min. Not to mention buying a game on a Blu-ray disc putting the disc in and then wait more than 10 min. for it to install. Install is for PCs. Not game consoles and Blu-ray players.

[Post edited by Henning on May 15, 2008]

Pick up either the Samsung BD-UP5000 or the LG BH-200...both are combo players...meaning that you can still play any HD-DVDs that you currently own along with any Blu-ray titles that you may pick up in the future.

Plus, the sell point on either of these units is in the neighborhood of $300-$400...well within the range of a decent stand alone Blu-ray player

The best BD players are the BD Spec 2.1 models they will announce a year after the 2.0 models become widely available. At least until they then announce the NEXT spec after that. Stand alone BD players (and BD in general if you ask me) is a hole you will be just throwing money into for the next couple of years. Until studios settle on a media type (digital or physical) for the HD generation I won't be sinking any serious amount of money into a single format other than SD DVD. I learned my lesson with HD DVD.

Quote:
My biggest issues (besides IR which was mentioned) in the article are:

- No HD Bitstream audio support. My Onkyo wants to decode that HD audio

- Having to install games and demos. Come on. The reason I bought a console so I didn't have to sit and wait for my 1.5 GB Game Demo to first download and then install for another 5 min. Not to mention buying a game on a Blu-ray disc putting the disc in and then wait more than 10 min. for it to install. Install is for PCs. Not game consoles and Blu-ray players.

Henning i been saying that all along... and other things inferior about the ps3, everyone complaints about the 360 cause it breaks... i guess if your lucky enough like to have one that doesent is the best system avail.

FYI... (latest update on the PS3)

> Sony PS3 sales now at 13 million worldwide - latest numbers and industry comment regarding Sony's PS3 business - excerpt here...

In a fiscal fourth quarter financial call, Sony announced that 9.24 million PlayStation 3s had been sold worldwide in the fiscal year ended March 31, with another 10 million expected to be sold in this fiscal year. Worldwide, nearly 13 million PS3s have been sold.

“PS3 sales in the first half of the fiscal [year] did not meet our expectations,” said Sam Levenson, SVP of investor relations for Sony. “But after the introduction of the new model and a reduction in the sales price last fall, the expansion of the platform reached the new level in Japan, the U.S. and Europe.”

“In terms of home video, Sony Pictures has done very well,” said Robert Wiesenthal, EVP and CFO of Sony Corporation of America. “We had about a 23% increase over the prior year in catalog, which was the highest increase in the industry. Overall however, for the year the industry was slightly down. It continues to be driven by new releases and pricing on catalog is still a challenge as you can see every Sunday in your local newspaper at Best Buy and Circuit City.”

He noted that, while Blu-ray is only a small part of sales compared to DVD, for new releases it can be “as high as 13%.”

“New releases are obviously an extremely important part of Blu-ray, but we are now actually starting to see classics, remastered catalog, that seem to be doing very well too,” Wiesenthal said. -[READ MORE in above link]-

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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

Quote:
Sony PS3 sales now at 13 million worldwide

Wow. They are just now where Nintendo and Microsoft were almost a year ago. This is an up hill battle against two competitors that are consistently outselling them.

Is the format finished yet?

Do we really need more brainwashing about the infamous PS3 again?

Apple is pissed!

Introducing the iBox! Apples solution the XBOX 360 and the PS3! HD DVD and Blu-Ray combo drive. Intel Quad Core 3.8 Ghz chip with 4 gigs of Ram, and 500 gig drive, Airport Extreme, ethernet, Combo ATI/Toshiba Cell chip for video, and a Crap load of BullSHIT!!!



If it was true, you can imagine the possibility fo failure...

[Post edited by ReaggieP on May 16, 2008]

the best blu-ray player is still in the planning stages.

lol. Posters. Tisk tisk.

Eddie (posters5) said -

Quote:
"the best blu-ray player is still in the planning stages."

Well, I should hope so!

Consumers expect electronics to always get better over time, with more and more improvements, with each generation that passes, whether it's a Blu-ray player, HDTV, A/V amp, cell phone, computer, etc etc.

DVD players in 1997 have improved substantially over the last decade, and with falling prices (lower than then), so I'm sure Blu-ray players of the future will be superior to what we have today [better be!], and at lower prices - although the US Dollar is getting worth less every month, so maybe not much lower. -

Reflection... look here at the DVDTOWN website, and the many improvements added over the years, from when the site was first launched. (and I remember in 2006 suggesting that the site add purchase links to Amazon, so as to earn some fees for the site's monthly infrastructure expenses, and then seeing this idea come to be realized in 2007 - I'm sure Henning had been planning on doing this anyway ).

View Eddie's latest DVD Reviews <

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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on May 16, 2008]

Quote:
If it was true, you can imagine the possibility fo failure...

You did mention Microsoft

FYI... another PS3 new feature!

> Sony quietly introduces YouTube Uploading capability from the PS3...

Mainichi Issho, a Japan-only PlayStation Network game that's been out since 2006, has quietly brought a pretty killer function to the PlayStation 3. Players can now record gameplay and upload clips to YouTube from within the console. Better still, Sony has confirmed that the toolset will be distributed to developers to integrate into games at their discretion. With the popularity of fan videos and YouTube, it's great to see Sony embracing networks outside of their own. Good stuff, and forward-thinking on Sony's part.

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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

yay!!!

that feature is a pile of dush