Bluray Palyer choices

I thought we'd already done this one. 8-)

Oppo 83SE

Well sort of, I knew you had an Oppo, I thought it worthwhile seeing just how many Forum members have BR players and which ones. Clearly the Oppo is a favourite

Another 83SE user

I cast my vote for the Cambridge 650bd. I'm not using surround sound, just 2 channel into my Supernait. This is my transport for CDs also.

Going on 6 months it's been a great machine for me, no firmware problems or difficulty playing new discs or anything like that.

There are a few reviews on the Cambridge site.

Me, I've an Oppo 83!

Oppo 83 here too.

samsung along with the TV.

I am using a Sony BDP-S560. The audio outs are connected to my 552 with Chord Crimson for 2-channel sound.

Mark

Another Oppo 83SE here using analogue to an AV2.

Charlie

Pioneer LX08.

Simply because it matches the external box of the Pioneer Kuro plasma.

And it gives a really good picture for £600 and
I wasn't prepared to pay £2k at that time for a better blu-ray player that would probably be surpassed in performance terms within 18 months and
the Oppo 83 special hadn't been released at that time and
because there weren't (and still aren't) enough blu-ray music DVDs to justify spending ££££££ on a blu-ray player

Cheers

Don

Cambridge 650BD for me personally...

Start up time and disc loading are very fast, the automatic software updating is a breeze and with on board HD sound decoders it suits my supernait quite well for Blu-ray playback.

Pioneer LX71. Marvellous sound, beautiful picture, and looks and feels like it's been carved out of a piece of black granite. It also upscales superbly.

Unfortunately Pioneer were never able to deliver the promised response speed but it's still a magnificent piece of kit.

Currently, I use a PS3 direct into my 282. Musically it's a dog's dinner that's been out too long and fit only for hedgehogs with strong stomachs. I've considered the DAC but it still sounds too much like the PS3 so still considering my options (and rebuilding the bank balance after it got hijacked by a new kitchen).

At the moment there are a lot of snips going due to impending stock/product replacement. You could wait for the new stock to flow into the dealers in a few weeks or you could pick up a bargain now. E.g. I sold our ex-demo Pioneer DMP-BDP320 for £147.95 (or so!). That was a £400 machine when new and not far off an LX71 for picture. Cracking machine for £150!

I am very interested in the marantz UD9004 but it's £4k too expensive

I am however prepared to wait until nobody wants a machine that has never heard of 3d and doesn't understand 1.4 or 1.5 by then HDMI.

I just need to find a dealer with one on their shelf gathering dust......

I have the Philips BDP7500, with QED Reference leads. Simply because it's a 21:9 format player to go with my TV.

I have been wondering myself what is considered the best Blu-ray source available?

I've always been uncomfortable that a £4k screen is being fed by a £300 quid source!

quote:

Originally posted by TomK:
Pioneer LX71. Marvellous sound, beautiful picture, and looks and feels like it's been carved out of a piece of black granite. It also upscales superbly.

I can only fully agree and strongly recommend I will aslo add that most picture post processing stuff can be disabled on the player, which I personnaly find mandatory.

quote:

I've always been uncomfortable that a £4k screen is being fed by a £300 quid source!

Don't buy £4000 TVs then, wait a couple and they will be probably be £500. First takers always get stung.

Mine's a Sony BDP-S1E. I am feeding it to a Naim DAC with a QED optical cord.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:

quote:

I've always been uncomfortable that a £4k screen is being fed by a £300 quid source!

Don't buy £4000 TVs then, wait a couple and they will be probably be £500. First takers always get stung.

True.. I'm genuinely interested as to why there are players on the market now topping £4000? Are there any benefits to this approach over a £200-300 quid player?

I have a Denon Cara, which I love, but it blew up yesterday. Yes, really.
I would tell you how, but it seems they are going to replace it under warranty, so I'm keeping quiet.

quote:

Originally posted by Holty:
True.. I'm genuinely interested as to why there are players on the market now topping £4000? Are there any benefits to this approach over a £200-300 quid player?

The differentiating factors will be:

• software which will affect load times, responsiveness, a/v sync quality etc.
  
• Upgradeability (if it is important to you)
  
• Scaling quality of SD content->HD resolutions
  
• The way the player deals with interlaced content (typically DVDs as most BluRays are progressive)
  
• Quality of analogue outs
  
• Engineering (i.e. what it looks/feels like)
  

Note, the more expensive player may not be better than a cheaper player in one or more of the areas above. I know in our HD decoders for TV, we've put a lot of effort in getting the scaling right (the company I work for owns the Faroudja IP) and these chips only sell for the low 10s of $ in volume.

Whether that's enough to make a 10x price difference is up to you to decide (most of the replay chain is digital anyway until you get to the analogue audio outputs).

quote:

I have a Denon Cara, which I love

Doc, what drew you to the Cara? It seems awfully expensive for its level of performance.

quote:

Originally posted by Andy S:

quote:

Originally posted by Holty:
True.. I'm genuinely interested as to why there are players on the market now topping £4000? Are there any benefits to this approach over a £200-300 quid player?

The differentiating factors will be:

• software which will affect load times, responsiveness, a/v sync quality etc.
  
• Upgradeability (if it is important to you)
  
• Scaling quality of SD content->HD resolutions
  
• The way the player deals with interlaced content (typically DVDs as most BluRays are progressive)
  
• Quality of analogue outs
  
• Engineering (i.e. what it looks/feels like)
  

Note, the more expensive player may not be better than a cheaper player in one or more of the areas above. I know in our HD decoders for TV, we've put a lot of effort in getting the scaling right (the company I work for owns the Faroudja IP) and these chips only sell for the low 10s of $ in volume.

Whether that's enough to make a 10x price difference is up to you to decide (most of the replay chain is digital anyway until you get to the analogue audio outputs).

Andy, you forgot to add - "Take a $500 Oppo BD83SE, slap on a different facia that says 'Lexicon' & you can charge $4000 for it"

A Cambridge 650Db just landed in my AV rack and very happy with the results.
Awesome picture even on std.def. diplays and the sound is a massive improvement on my old sony hdrdh910...
Sadly I still cannot take advantage of the HD sound as the reciever doesn't even accept 7ch analogue in, let alone HDMI!

It's a hard one might be interesting to see how Arcams machine performs however I see sony are doing a 3d ready machine for a little over £200.