Blu-Ray player recommendation?

[Pete]

Just wondering if anyone's got personal experience with a Samsung 2500 or Panasonic 35? Right now it's $265 vs. $225 at Amazon. It'll be paired with a 46" 1080p Panny and either no external or 4.1 PC speakers. My main concern is a hassle-free BD and DVD player with good PQ. Myriad audio options don't really matter, given the setup.

The Samsung has NetFlix connectivity (I don't know much about it ATM) and HQV (which may mean nicer SD DVD playback?), but CNet complains of some problems reading discs.

The Panny has great reviews (for BD playback; it's "OK" with SD DVD) and it comes with Ratatouille and The Nightmare Before Christmas (check Pana's site). It probably means one less remote to futz with, given the TV. This seems like the choice for straight playback, and I (fairly or not) just trust Panasonic's CE devices a bit more (the Panny's got slightly better warranty coverage: 1/1 yr parts/labor vs. 1yr/90d for the Sammy).

I don't know how either will handle direct output to a 4.1 setup, but I think both decode everything. (I'm sure both with play nicely with an HDMI-equipped receiver in the future.)

Yeah, there's also the PS3, but at this point it's decently pricier, and gaming isn't really a draw for the person I'd be recommending this to. Feel free to compare its PQ and load times to that of these two, though.

Edit: I haven't really been following BD player prices, but I doubt either will be cheaper by Christmas, so I consider these the best prices I'll find them at (before tax). The Sony 350/BX1 is a bit less at $200/$190, but reviews of the Panasonic seem to say it has noticeably better BD PQ than the Sony, which makes my worries about DVD PQ pointless. Maybe the reviews are overstating the differences.

 

[V3]

Samsung 1200 has really good PQ. So I assume Samsung 2500 is good too, since that is the newer model.

 

[Valzic]

I bought a Samsung bd-p2550 and it has great PQ as far as I can tell watching Blu-Ray in the bundle provided. We had watched "the Matrix" on Wednesday nite on our non-upconverting Panasonic player just before we picked up our new Samsung. So we put the movie in again to compare and we were blown away with the quality for the same movie.

Even my wife noticed that the movie was way better on our new player which means I am golden for my choice since we do have over 300 DVD's and we can at least watch them with major improvements.

In regards to Netflex, I am in Canada and that is not currently available here, but have attached my 2550 to the internet and will update. I just blew $8500 on a new Home theatre setup (excluding speakers) and every one of my components are plugged into a Network Switch and have been updated already. They all are HDMI connected and they reduction of wires is noticeable since I goy most of my stuff over 2-3 weeks and lived with combinations of s-video and component cabling until all parts recieved and HDMI cable replaced.

Samsung 52" 850 (network connection)
Samsung BD-p2550 (network Connection)
Yamaaha rx-v3900 (network connection)
xBox360 (netwrok connection)
PVR (netwrok connection)

The addition of Netflex to already released player shows the ability to change existing product like we have been doing for ages in the PC world.

 

[Pete]

Thanks, guys. The 2500 is back up at $350, which seems to narrow it down to the 35.

 

[Arwin]

We got Wall-E on BluRay and man that looked awesome. It was on PS3 so I don't have anything else to add to it, except perhaps that it is still an awesome player that supports everything there is to support when it comes to BluRay itself (even for 2.0 / Live support, it has both the 1GB ethernet and the WiFi included for instance), is really easy to update (though that's also a tiny downside of course) and fast as heck, not to mention great upscaling, DNLA support, and in the U.S. the video store, etc. And I'm sure there will still be a bunch of offers this holiday season that are mainly BluRay focussed. Plus, what BluRay player comes with a half-decent browser included? Not to mention an easily upgradeable harddrive of course.

Anyway, fully respect getting a standalone and the Samsung one at least seemed to offer some extras (like Netflix), so maybe keep an eye out for more deals on that one. But you never know what people may end up appreciating having a great BluRay player that can let some visiting kids play Super Rub-a-Dub or something.

Anyway, just had to mention it.

 

[eastmen]

Pete i would get the cheapest player you can get . Most of these players are really slow and some of them lack features that you might want now and in the future. My advice is to buy a $100-150 one and in 2years or so when the drives are faster and more feature rich upgrade yours

 

[suryad]

Or if budget is not a problem take a look at a PS3...

 

[patsu]

Thanks, guys. The 2500 is back up at $350, which seems to narrow it down to the 35.

Don't forget to check SonyStyle if you want to get a Sony player. A friend bought a 35 for $179 in the physical store. They have (had ?) good deals for other items too. I am keeping my eyes on a HDTV and (another) PS3.

As suryad mentioned, PS3 is good and is generally trouble free for all sorts of Blu-ray content. It's also one of the fastest around.

Startup and loading speed for other players seem to have improved too. I have seen figures for the newer low end models in the region of 20+ to 30 seconds (instead of minutes like last year).

 

[Pete]

All good advice. I'll continue to keep my eyes open.

Yeah, the PS3 continues to be the fastest around. The newer players seem tolerable, at least compared to previous gens. ~30secs isn't bad considering they're rated at only 20W while the PS3's using at least five times that. I guess only time will cure the slow boot-ups, until faster cheap processors make their way into these stand-alone players.

And though it's nit-picky, apparently the Panasonics have chunky menus (compared to, say, Sony's). I'll see how off-putting that is considering the premium these players are still commanding.

 

[pcchen]

PS3 is a cheap and very nice blu-ray player, but its fan noise is probably a serious problem for some. It may be possible to solve it with a nice ventilation though.

 

[suryad]

PS3 is a cheap and very nice blu-ray player, but its fan noise is probably a serious problem for some. It may be possible to solve it with a nice ventilation though.

Hmm I dont recall hearing fan noise that was that audible from my PS3....

 

[V3]

PS3 is a cheap and very nice blu-ray player, but its fan noise is probably a serious problem for some. It may be possible to solve it with a nice ventilation though.

I tried putting PS3 in an enclosed area and the fan was spinning even just playing DVD. Put it in non enclosed area and it became quite again even during gaming.

So I guess if you don't have an open or ca spare the top rack for PS3, the thing is going to be noisy. But the newer model suppose to use even less power, but I don't have it.

 

[patsu]

Yeah, my PS3 is not noisy too. I have an open shelf.

BTW, a friend just bought a PS3 as BD player partly because it has built-in wireless. He doesn't want to invest in additional $$ and mess for a wired connection or access point (for BD-Live) in his living room.

 

[pcchen]

My PS3 is not in an enclosed place, but I guess it's just hotter here especially in summer
Now I don't notice the fan noise anymore, but recently I just play LBP most of the time when I'm using my PS3. By the way, my PS3 is an early 40GB model, and I replaced its HDD to a 160GB one.

 

[manux]

Here is a nice performance comparison of different players.

 

[Arwin]

Here is a nice performance comparison of different players.

Nice. So PS3 is still best in all but one category then. And the BD-J performance numbers, wow, I didn't think the difference would be THAT big. :|