Blu-Ray Decoding - Does it Matter?!

I've read plenty about the BV7's Blu-Ray decoding issues, or rather lack of!

Now I fully appreciate why people would be disappointed that after spending so much money on the internal drive, when an external Blu-Ray player for £100 would decode more formats.

My question is money aside, does it really matter? Would I hear the difference since I plan to use a BL 7-2, then possibly add 4 BLs + sub to give me 5.1 surround. Most likely this won't happen for years if at all, by which time Blu-Ray will probably be obsolete.

Are there any other disadvantages to the built in player over a PS3? I've heard its slow but I'm sure by the time you've booted up a PS3 and gone through the menu options it'd be just as slow.

Opinions welcome please! :-)

No one?

Hi there dude!

Definitely worth messaging Moxxey on this one or indeed Seanie s they both have experience on the Blu-ray in the BV7.

I hope that helps

 

Best regards

For average user I would say no - it does not matter. One needs to have extremely well located speakers and adjustments to even get most out of dolby surround, let alone dolby digital (eg normal 5.1 on most dvd's).

If you have BeoLab 5/9 setup in good placement and more importantly well located rear speakers you would benefit from lossless surround formats. But even then 99% of all tv shows/movies/video on demand will max out at dolby digital 5.1

So conclusion is. If you need to have the best that is available go for external blu-ray. I would take the built-in option for the ease of installation and intergration.

k984942:

My question is money aside, does it really matter?

Yes it does, for three reasons:

1) There's definitely a difference in audio quality between standard Dolby 5.1 and HD audio. After watching various Blu-ray movies via my PS3, when I moved to my BV7 built-in Blu-ray player, there was a noticeable drop in audio quality. Sounds I had heard via my BL9s before, had disappeared when I lost the HD audio.

2) Why buy a Blu-ray when half the reason for owning the disc is the HD audio? It's plain madness to be buying expensive Blu-rays and have to listen to standard Dolby audio. If I had to do this, I'd simply buy an Apple TV or an equivalent and rent/buy HD movies from the internet. You get almost Blu-ray quality pictures, with standard audio. Basically what you are suggesting by "does it really matter".

3) You've spent £10K on a BV7 Blu-ray TV and are prepared to accept it can't decode some of the audio supplied on your Blu-ray discs. I'm astonished - saddened - that users have so much money they can spend £10K on a TV and then write off the lack of decoding, which is half the reason for owning a Blu-ray disc.

Actually, 3) sums up what I feel about most users who buy B&O. Sorry that sounds direct and personal - it isn't suposed to be (I owned a BV7/Blu-ray myself) - but it's a reason why I didn't pull the trigger on a BV12 and yet some people really feel it offers "value".

I agree , blu ray is ok but personally I'd rather have digital downloads anydaty. No storage problems , no scratched discs , contrary to popular belief blu rays can be scratched !

Considering blu ray is supposedly the carrier of perfect picture and sound , out of more than 75 % of mine I'd say the picture quality is at best mediocre. not impressed . In fact I'm not going to buy another blu ray player , I'm going all apple tv , got a 1080p one arriving this morning ... Can't wait !

Thanks for your thoughts Moxxey.

I certainly don't have so much that I don't care about value for money (wish I did!!). My struggle is decide between ultimate performance Vs neatness and the B&O experience.

I like the idea of a PS3 as it gives the best sound possible and can be integrated reasonably well with a BV7 using brackets and IR to bluetooth converters etc. However, I'll never play any games on it or use and iPlayer type services, so it'll purely be a Blu-Ray player that I'll use every now and again.

I also like the idea of the built in Blu-Ray player as it's the neatest option, and means I get to enjoy the full B&O experience we all love, like the illuminated drawer silently emerging from the TV. Having had Avants in the recent past, it bothered me a bit that part of them (the VCRs) were obsolete. A BV7 with DVD would give about the same result and sort of take the shine off the whole package.

I guess the answer for me is to go with the built in Blu-Ray player UNLESS you think that I will hear the difference through a BL 7-2 or there are other performance issues I don't know about. I think if I had a 5.1 setup I'd go for the PS3 for sure, but given that this is unlikely for some years (if at all), the realistic scenario is that all I'll have is a stereo speaker.

Does that change your opinion Moxxey?

Apple TV has already been bought

k984942:

Does that change your opinion Moxxey?

You must have mis-read the part where I said I owned a BV7 with Blu-ray? :) My opinion is mostly based around my own (short) experience. But were are mugs for investing so much money in an expensive TV and speakers....and then accept a degraded audio experience as our supplied Blu-ray player can't decode the format!

That annoyed me. In the end I traded in the BV7/Blu-ray for a BV10-46 and use the Apple TV, although the PS3 is attached, too, if I want to watch the occasional Blu-ray from my collection. I rarely do these days.

Don't discount the 7.2. It's far better than the BV10's speaker setup! It's better than the average home user's hifi speaker arrangement. But, if you only have a 7.2, Apple TV - or an equivalent - is probably wiser than buying and storing Blu-rays. Now iTunes supports movies via the cloud here in the UK, you can download on demand, at your leisure, in the future, if you want to watch a HD movie you're bought.

No no, I got the fact that you have a BV7 with Blu-Ray built in, but also understood you were disappointed with the sound compared to a stand alone BR player when run through your multi-speaker setup.

I just want to know if the superior sound the PS3 offers can be appreciate on a BL 7.2 alone?

k984942:

I just want to know if the superior sound the PS3 offers can be appreciate on a BL 7.2 alone?

Well, yes it can (which is why I say don't discount the 7.2 as a speaker), but I wouldn't compromise anyhow. Accepting second best, on a £10K TV, is still not something I'm comfortable about, even if you're only using a 7.2 or not. And, besides, I started with a 7.2 with early BV7s and eventually moved up to a 7.4 with BL9s. Most of us do, eventually.

Thanks Moxxey.

Not the answer I was looking for! Looks like I'll have to give this PS3 idea a bit more thought.

 

Cheers

The ps3 is noisy and unreliable. I had 3 of the crappy things ! I suggest a dedicated blu ray , maybe an oppo if you must go that route or just use an apple tv.

Remember that player in the BV7 is a Samdung - you know the one, the ones that are found on the bottom shelves of dodgy supermarkets! Very Very rude of B&O wanting to charge over £1000 for a Samsung! Nice profit!

I have noticed that Panasonic make a new real tiny Blu_ray player the T01 that fits on the rear of the B&O tvs. Certainly Panasonic are up there with the best...

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/Home+Entertainment/Blu-ray+Players/DMP-BBT01/Overview/9502303/index.html

I have experience with bv 7-40 and -55 built-in blu-ray now for several years.

I agree with all that has been said here.

I noticed that the devices have been improved over years in terms of speed, % acceptance of disks, bd live (just terrible with the initial devices), noise, but besides the audio discussed here there are still some issues (from my perspective):

Unlile the bv7 dvd player, the br player is very limited in terms of video formats (no divx, xvid etc.). I know what you think: who wants to watch divx on a bv7? Well it can be convenient sometimes. Moreover, the bv7 br player doesn't like dvd-rw or cd-rw, which can also be annoying sometimes. It's particularly difficult to understand when you see that the cheapest br player out there does all this without problem.

Also pray that a disk never gets stuck. Impossible to remove it without dismantling part of the tv.

Griebel:

I know what you think: who wants to watch divx on a bv7? Well it can be convenient sometimes. 

It would be much much easier streaming these from a local media server! Who needs to burn a divx movie to disc to watch? Just stream it locally.