Thinking of getting a blu-ray player

[zoiks]

I was not really into blu-ray and don't know the deal with the spec revisions 1.0, 1.3, 2.0 etc. What's a good player to get? Is it better to wait for prices to fall or for a newer revision player to come out?
I have a good htpc (linux) with 4gb of ram as well. Do you think that it'll be better to get a blu-ray drive and use that instead?

I'm blue when it comes to blu-ray. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[erwos]

Sony's BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 players should be equal to or better than the PS3 in terms of playback quality and flexibility.

 

[zoiks]

Some dude on CL is selling the BDP-S301 for $285. How does this player compare to the S350?

 

[krotchy]

The S300 is the older model of the sony (predecessor to the 350). Not sure about the 301 specifically but I would guess its a model # change for certain retailers. The big complaint I hear about it is excessively slow load times.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: krotchy
The S300 is the older model of the sony (predecessor to the 350). Not sure about the 301 specifically but I would guess its a model # change for certain retailers. The big complaint I hear about it is excessively slow load times.

Yeaps. I just found out that the new 350 is profile 2.0 ready (whatever that means) but the disc load time is quicker. I can find the player for 399 but that's more than I want to spend. Maybe I should just get a drive for the htpc and then use it with my Pioneer plasma. It'll be cheaper and in the long run, I can get a much better player when there are more options and the prices are reasonable.

 

[zoiks]

Oops. Looks like there are problems with audio on hdmi when a blu-ray drive is used.
Looking for more answers..

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: zoiks
Some dude on CL is selling the BDP-S301 for $285. How does this player compare to the S350?

If it's like the 300 then it's probably not worth it unless you don't care about high res audio at all. It is also slow loading.

I currently have a Samsung BD-UP5000 and I think it's one of the best standalone blu-ray players out right now. If you can find one on clearance at best buy or something I'd definitely pick one up, even if you have no intention of using it to watch HD DVDs. It can bitstream all of the audio codecs and decode TrueHD internally and has 7.1 analog outs. It's possible they will add DTS-MA decoding with a firmware update (the chipset supposedly supports it).

Also it has a Reon video processor for standard DVD upconversion better than anything else out there. It is also very likely that they will upgrade this player to profile 2.0 since the hardware is already there because it was required for HD DVD.

 

[zoiks]

I ended up getting the DMPBD30AK Panasonic for $336.xx at Provantage.

 

[Blayze]

Originally posted by: zoiks
Some dude on CL is selling the BDP-S301 for $285. How does this player compare to the S350?

The S301 is the same player as the S300. It was sold at places like Sam's Club.