From n-Vi to blu ray - recommendations ?

Posted by: james n on 27 February 2012

After 6 years of mostly happy ownership (usual n-Vi software niggles cured with latest firmware) i'm thinking about moving my n-Vi on. I haven't used it in 5 channel mode for a few years and since the arrival of the NDX its been relegated to pure DVD duties (rather than FM / DAB / TV sound) so it's rather wasted in its present role.

 

I'm looking for a simple player to replace it - it needs HDMI and preferably coaxial S/PDIF out and it must fit my isoblue rack so nothing too big. The Denon DBP-1611UD looked ideal but was too tall. £250 max. Any advice appreciated

 

James 

Posted on: 28 February 2012 by Billy Rubin

Well, I doubt that you are considering such a cheapo player but I've just bought a Toshiba BDX1200 for 60 quid including delivery from Richer Sounds. It has HDMI and a coaxial digital output (but no optical output). It is multiregion for DVDs out of the box and I bought an OEM firmware download online for less than 3 quid which also confers multiregion capability for Blu-ray. (This is relevant for me as I have recently moved back from Canada to the UK). In fact, with the firmware I downloaded, you could buy the 'standard' version of the player for 50 quid since the firmware actually gives multiregion on both DVD and Blu-ray. I bought the player as a temporary stop-gap for use until I move into permanent accommodation but am impressed with the picture quality. Am not using the digital out so cannot comment on this aspect of performance. As an aside, I previously had the top of the range Pioneer blu-ray player ( I think I paid $2,000 in early 2007 - at the time I was using it with a full Naim surround system with AV2 etc) and this cheap Toshiba starts up and loads *so* very much more quickly.

Posted on: 28 February 2012 by Desertrat

James

 

Having spent thousands of pounds on expensive AV receivers and DVD players only for technological changes to quickly make them obsolete and worthless, I have realised belatedly that you get an awfull lot of the performance of the top end stuff for much less but excluding the bells and whistles that you probably won't use.

 

So recently I decided to venture in to bluray. Having an old AV receiver I wanted a bluray player that had all the decoding formats and 7.1 analogue out. Now not many players are now doing this but I found a Phillips BDP 7500 MkII which used to sell for over £200 but can now be had for £100 or even less in places. It can also pick up the internet or your home network via a dongle. So far very pleased with it.

 

Karl

Posted on: 28 February 2012 by {OdS}

James,

 

Sony now has a new line of players which size and form almost matches that of the PlayStation 3 Slim. They are extremely feature-rich, too.

 

Christian

Posted on: 29 February 2012 by james n

Folks - many thanks for the responses and suggestions. It seems the low cost Sony players should do exactly what i want.

 

Thanks again.

 

James