Choosing a Blu-ray Player

[TheIgster]

Hey folks,

Need your help. I'm finally going to add a Blu-ray player to my home entertainment system. I have an HD DVD player already, but am finally going to make the jump and go purple. Not much choice in the matter after all...

I'm looking to buy one of these players. I'm kind of leaning toward the Sharp one because I have an Aquos HDTV already and the price is very good. Not sure though which one would be my best choice:

Sharp

Samsung

Sony

As an aside, does anyone know if any of these players will playback DivX files burned to a CDR/CDRW disc (I have a regular DVD player now that allows me to play DivX files and it would be nice if I could replace this with a Blu-ray player and kill two birds with one stone).

Thanks for any advice.

[mcblob]

personally would go with the samsung, being a profile 1.1 player and bd-live aswell in the future with a firmware update, me thinks, not sure though

it can't do divx though

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by TheIgster

Hey folks,

Need your help. I'm finally going to add a Blu-ray player to my home entertainment system. I have an HD DVD player already, but am finally going to make the jump and go purple. Not much choice in the matter after all...

I'm looking to buy one of these players. I'm kind of leaning toward the Sharp one because I have an Aquos HDTV already and the price is very good. Not sure though which one would be my best choice:

Sharp

Samsung

Sony

As an aside, does anyone know if any of these players will playback DivX files burned to a CDR/CDRW disc (I have a regular DVD player now that allows me to play DivX files and it would be nice if I could replace this with a Blu-ray player and kill two birds with one stone).

Thanks for any advice.

Honestly I would wait a few more months as more players are coming out and the price should be falling in time for Q4 sales. If you cannot wait, I would go with the Samsung as the Sony and Sharp are 1.0 players that are slow and cannot play 1.1 or 2.0 content (if the matters). Neither player can decode DTS-HD-MA which is standard on all Universal, Fox, and MGM titles. The Samsung can bistream to a modern HDMI 1.3 receiver that can decode.

The Sony S350 would be my other recommendation (probably my first as Samsung can be hit or miss) and there are rumors that the S350 will be getting a $100 price drop (the new MSRP will be $299 US) in late September. So I would at least wait a month.

[LastSonOfKrypton]

Someone is selling a used BD30 in the exchange forums for $250 shipped. I absolutely love mine! It's worlds better than my 1400! If you don't care about BD-Live I highly recommend it

[TheIgster]

Thanks for the responses guys. Not sure I care much about BD-Live and I don't know much about the different profiles or what difference it will make.

I rarely watch any movie extras or any other content like that. Just want to be able to put the movie in (ANY Blu-ray movie) and watch it... Not sure if the profiles make a difference where that is concerned or not.

[TheIgster]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

Honestly I would wait a few more months as more players are coming out and the price should be falling in time for Q4 sales. If you cannot wait, I would go with the Samsung as the Sony and Sharp are 1.0 players that are slow and cannot play 1.1 or 2.0 content (if the matters). Neither player can decode DTS-HD-MA which is standard on all Universal, Fox, and MGM titles. The Samsung can bistream to a modern HDMI 1.3 receiver that can decode.

I ended up buying the Sharp, but now that I have had a little time to think it over, I'm returning the Sharp and getting the Samsung. The Sharp was $299, the Samsung was $349. The Samsung went on sale today and is $299 now, so just a basic exchange for me.

You are right about the Sharp...should have listened. Profile 1.0 and what they claim is a "fast start" well, not so fast. Not to mention no DTS-HD.

The Samsung can do DD, DTS, DD+, True HD, DTS-HD and is BD Live (profile 2.0) ready (via future firmware upgrade) as the Best Buy site claims.

[thebatman355]

I would also second the vote for the panasonic 30.. a really fine player. with the latest update its much faster now. I would stay away from the samsung brands for dvd/bluray. heard nothing but bad things about them.

Jacob

[posters5]

the funai clones are fantastic, too.