Decent Blu-Ray Player vs PS3

gaztop_3

I'm in the market for a reasonable blu-ray player (not a really expensive one, but not an Aldi one either). I've been told that a 2nd hand PS3 is a good option as they have high quality video electronics in, but I don't play games, so I'm wondering if I should go for something more conventional.

Anyone got any ideas?

Abbafan1972

You can't go wrong with Panasonic blu-rays . We have 2 in our house and beats the PS3 hands down for picture and for sound quality. They also produce a virtuall sound through the tv speakers which ps3 can't do as well .They also do a good job of up scaling dvd films .
I run one through an amp with 6 surround sound speakers ,In DTS mode its fantastic.

gaztop_3

I should have said that it's to replace a Marantz DVD player that I'm running through a 5.1 DD/DTS seperates system and a 1080p Panasonic plasma.

Which models do you have? Were they expensive?

turk3y

ps3 is actually quite competant as a bluray player, get the slim over the fat as I believe the fat cant bistream the DTS master audio.

The downside is the shape so they wont fit in a traditional AV stack as easily.

The higher end players now offer faster boot time I believe and are probably quiter in operation than the ps3.

GeoffX

One disadvantage of the PS3 is that it uses far more electricity than a stand-alone Blu-ray player, but on the plus side it is upgradeable, so for instance it can support some, if not all, 3D disks. The PS3 itself is pretty quiet, although with poor ventiilation it will sound like a jet engine.

billywhizz

The PS3 is also very good at upscaling standard def and can stream from your PC as a media centre and has iplayer. I hardly use mine for games at all but as a player under the telly it gets my vote

Abbafan1972

gaztop wrote: »

I should have said that it's to replace a Marantz DVD player that I'm running through a 5.1 DD/DTS seperates system and a 1080p Panasonic plasma.

Which models do you have? Were they expensive?

Panasonic DMP-BD60 Runs through Onkyo amp via HDMI and surround Sound speakers, hooked up to Sony Bravia TV. Got it from Amazon last year. Price is currently £129

Panasonic DMP-BD35 hooked up to Samsung TV with a pair of Logitech Z4 speakers. This one was 2nd hand off Ebay £45

savemoney

I have a LG one that plays divx, mkv and also has youtube on it and can play files on a network with builtin wireless n. I am really pleased with it had it almost a year now

I have it hooked to surround sound amp and large tv it also plays from usb stick/ external hd

My friend got one too after seeing mine

aliEnRIK

The Sony 370 is (was, not checked) 100 quid on play.com. Upscales better then the PS3 and What Hi Fi claim its a better picture than most sub 300 quid players

I have one and a fat PS3, I definitely prefer the 370

trets77

gaztop wrote: »

I should have said that it's to replace a Marantz DVD player that I'm running through a 5.1 DD/DTS seperates system and a 1080p Panasonic plasma.

Which models do you have? Were they expensive?

sounds like you have a good set up here , so probably worth aiming for the middle end of the market .

i have one of these but i wasn't so lucky to get it for £200

http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/sony/bdps760/sony-bdps760

picture wise it shares same sort of processing as Sony's flagship Blu ray and is very impressive on my Panasonic 37" LCD . also it hooks up to your wireless network wirelessly straight out the box , so you can use BD live ect when watching a film . you will need to stick a cheap USB pen drive in the back for some memory ( £3 one from Staples in the back of mine ) .

this might be a good option for you if your Amp does not do HD sound processing or have HDMI inputs / video switching . it has a full set of 7.1 analogue channel outputs on the back , so you can let the player do the HD sound decoding send it down the multichannel outputs into the amp and then let your amp output it . hey presto HD sound from a older amp .

that said don't throw away your old Marantz dvd just yet . i may have been spoiled all this years but DVD playback on the Sony does not come close to the quality my Arcam DiVa can pump out . and My Arcam actually sounds as good and on some films better in plain old 5.1 Dolby than a lot of HD sound blu rays .

we watched The disappearance of Alice Creed on a rented DVD last night and as always the Arcam gave a a brilliant performance in terms of Picture and Sound . what i tend to so now is rent Blu Rays and if i want to own the film buy it on DVD later . Blu Ray disks are still pretty expensive IMO and have forced DVD disk prices down as well . recently purchased "The Hurt Locker " and DVD from ebay for the grand sum of 99p , to get it on Blu Ray your looking at around £10

.

gaztop_3

Wow! What great responses. Thank you to all.

Tretts77 - the multichannel output sounds ideal as I have one digital input, as well as a six channel input. This means I can still hook my DVD player up digitally. Good call!

Tretts77 & aliEnRIK - I like the idea of the wireless option being built in to a standard player, that's something I hadn't considered. And my TV doesn't have a USB input, so that sounds ideal too.

GeoffX - The noise could definitely be a problem. After reading your post I went to my friend's house and listened to his an it's noisier than you'd think when in a hi-fi rack.

I think you've all swayed me away from getting a PS3. My Marantz DVD player was a What Hi-Fi? product of the year (about 8 years ago, admittedly), and sounds great with CDs, so I won't be chucking it, I just don't see the point in having a 1080p telly and feeding it with composite!

Time to go shopping!