ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi
Whathifi recommended these players
http://www.whathifi.com/review/denon
http://www.whathifi.com/review/bdp-s790
I'm just wondering what most people use and or might recommend for a blu ray player please?
Is there merit in keeping it "in house" as B&O or people more agnostic in this?
Thoughts welcome.
http://www.avforums.com/reviews/index.php?parent=7&search_special=1
Personally I use the PS3 as I'm also an avid gamer and it produces a really good picture (it's received pretty good reviews as well, I believe FlatpanelsHD use it for their reviews).
On this forum I've heard a lot of people liking the OPPO 93/95 - it's even supposed to come in a B&O version
BTW, where in AU(stralia) are you ?
BeoNut since '75
I am using a Panasonic DMP-BBT01.
There is a PUC Entry from B&O available for this BR player and it has one advantage:
One can operate the player in vertical mode, so the player can be easily mounted/hidden behind the Beovision.
Thought I'd resurrect this thread. I'm looking for a Blu Ray player to connect to a BV11. A vertical mount model would be ideal, possibly to mount directly on the rear of the TV.
The Panasonic model listed above (BBT01) now seems to be out of production. Are there any similar vertical mount models available?
Graham
Guys, let me pose a scenario and you can tell me where I'm going wrong ;)
Why on earth would anyone even think about spending close to £1000 on a blu-ray player? It makes no sense at all. I'm not saying you might get a slightly better picture (over, say, a PS3), but we're talking marginal differences here.
I've ripped by blu-rays to my NAS drive, with excellent results. For instance, I've noticed that the picture rendering of my NAS-sourced ripped blu-rays appears to be better than, say, my slimline PS3. As the picture processing is handled completely by my BV11, it handles the colours and black levels more effectively. When it's handled by the PS3, there's different a noticeably different in colour level. Much darker. Great picture, but I'm not a fan of the colour-rendering from the PS3.
So why not just rip your blu-rays to a NAS drive? Not only do you get better picture processing via your B&O TV, you still get the HD picture and audio, plus all your movies are there, accessible, within seconds, from your B&O remote. Plus you can use the said NAS drive for other content, such as your FLAC audio files and your favourite family photos. You save £1000, which you can use towards a new B&O TV.
I was thinking of spending £150!
I have various discs inc CDs and DVDs I'd like to play on the BV11 without ripping to another device first.
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
I have an Oppo BDP-103, very happy with it, fast, outstanding pixel perfect picture, and built like a tank. $500 US though.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
vikinger: I was thinking of spending £150!
Oh I wouldn't pay much more than that either, Graham. But the Oppo player is around £900 in the UK.
Chris Townsend:I know it's easy as an armchair warrior to say the 11 should have this that and the other, but even cheapy laptops can have a Blu Ray player built into their slender body.
To be honest though Chris, the BV11 handles streaming from a NAS drive very very well (one of things B&O have got right!). You don't need old-school disc players with the BV11, IMHO. Mine is driven by just an Apple TV and the NAS drive. Everything is now on those two devices. Never use the built-in smart apps, either.
Chris Townsend:Saying that I've only bought one Blu ray movie in 12 months, and that's faulty. Another 40 mile round trip to replace it, compared to flawless downloads with Apple TV!
Oh you are right, don't get me wrong - I use the Apple TV for renting most movies, as it's so easy. I didn't buy Skyfall, for example. Rented it via Apple TV. I tend to wait for blu-ray offers (3 for £17 or something) before buying.
The PQ is better on a blu-ray and audio is HD (uncompressed), rather than standard Dolby, so there is an improvement, which is something we strive for as B&O users, so it's good to catalogue these movies on the NAS.
I don't have an AppleTV, but do stream from Netflix to the TV with decent results, it's more dependent on how the original movie was encoded, same as with DVD but at best I'm not getting BluRay resolution I think. But, I also have Netflix disc as well, so I can get any disc they have in about two days max, they do have an amazing distribution setup.
These days I really have to love a movie to buy a copy. I have a lot of DVDs, many of which I should never have bought but at the time they were cheap, or cheap-ish. In the future unless it's a truly favorite movie, or one that's obscure and hard to find, I'm not buying the bigger Hollyweird movies, they are always easy to get.
The ideal solution would be to go with a NAS type setup, and an interface that lets you browse and select from your TV screen and remote, similar to how the Netflix and AppleTV user interfaces are setup. The only issue then is does the s/w and h/w combo in the PC display the content properly? Many of the things I've seen in HTPCs are not as good as dedicated h/w and firmware in players like the Oppo. But that's the ultimate in convenience and, dare I say it, minimalist style as you don't have to have walls of discs cluttering up the place. That's how I've managed CDs, rip, and store the hard copy off somewhere out of sight and out of the way.
I've now discovered that both the Panasonic and Samsung Blu Ray players recommended for the BV11 (i.e. recommended by dealer and with stbbrackets mounts available on their website) are out of production.
I actually tried ordering a Panasonic from Peter Tyson, only to find that they hadn't updated their website. PC World claim to have a few of the Samsung players, but after you reserve one for collection you get a call back saying they don't actually have them.
So now I am looking at other options altogether, without mounting behind the TV. I could connect a player with 10m of hdmi cable and be able to have the player near the seating rather than have to visit the TV. Moxxey has got me thinking about NAS..... but I really don't want to be rippiing or copying all my old discs. I've already done this with CDs and a Brennan player. The Brennan is fine, but by the time I have instigated a search for a particular piece of music and found it, I could have just as easily found the CD. Probably on-screen menus get around this problem.
As far as movies are concerned, I have so many things going on that I never seem to have time to watch a movie. I am more likely to watch one by chance on a TV channel 2 years later than to rent or buy the thing!
Many things to think about.... but I am going-off the idea of a vertically mounted blu ray player fixed to the tv!
vikinger: Moxxey has got me thinking about NAS..... but I really don't want to be rippiing or copying all my old discs.
Moxxey has got me thinking about NAS..... but I really don't want to be rippiing or copying all my old discs.
It doesn't take long. I obtained a superb blu-ray ripper which was fully-working for 30 days and did over 100 well within this period. Just stuck the disc in, let it run. Easy. Since doing this, I tend to watch the latest movies via the Apple TV and note those I might watch again. Wait for the blu-ray to be reduced (which doesn't take long - 6 months?), then buy it for archiving. I'll do that with Skyfall, eventually.
New blu-ray movies appear to be rising in price, if anything. The Hobbit starts at £17 and Django Unchained is about the same, as a pre-order. I like my movies, but I'm not that keen. Certainly not keen enough to spend nearly £1000 on a player to view them, either.
Now if only somebody cold produce a one stop device and library that provided access to, stored and played the finest quality movies and music, i'd buy it in an instant. It could have a cd drive so if the movie wan't available you could simply rip it straight to your library.
Essentially a Beosound 5 GTI but with a touch screen and the video/audio file library to match. It could have a monthly subscription service to download unlimited highest quality music.
Beonotify
No need for Apple TV,iTunes,Spotify CD/DVD player, NAS drives etc etc
Chris Townsend: Now if only somebody cold produce a one stop device and library that provided access to, stored and played the finest quality movies and music, i'd buy it in an instant. It could have a cd drive so if the movie wan't available you could simply rip it straight to your library.
DVD (well, blu-ray) ripping is still illegal in the UK :) You are allowed to rip/backup your audio CDs as they lack any kind of protection. The recent change in law didn't include DVDs as they ship with encryption, so backing up would mean breaking the encryption, which is illegal here (and a reason most ripping software is from Asia).
Well I've taken the plunge and bought a Cambridge 651..... which, thanks to Flappo in another thread, I've realised is the same as an Oppo 93.
Richer Sounds have just a few of this model left at £349. All reviews seem to be good except the Cambridge version has a less intuitive remote, which shouldn't be an issue if the IR blaster and Beo4 will work its main functions.
Now I just need to get that long hdmi cable!