Upgrade to Blu-ray or go NAS or streaming?

Current equipment BV7-40 early model with DVD player, DVI and analogue audio input (no HDMI) - a Mk I IIRC. I'm told it is 720 not 1024. BV7-2 centre, pair of BL5 front and pair of BL3 rear speakers. An older BV6-26 in another room. A Beosound9000 which I love.

Question is - do I buy a separate Blu-ray player, or something like a network storage and/or internet streaming? I watch a bit of Netflix on my laptop so I'd like to have that; I obviously have no Blu-ray discs but I've found that it is increasingly hard to get DVDs for older films as they only make them in Blu-ray. But if I can get any movie on download maybe I don't need Blu-ray?

I've been recommended an Oppo BDP-105D. This allows both Blu-ray and internet streaming, and has so many connections it has a measure of future-proofing. But I don't like the extra ugly box and want to hide it away; it is also pricey but not in comparison to the rest of my setup. If I didn't have/need the Blu-ray capability, is there a way to just have internet streaming in a way that could be more hidden? Is this the way to go?

I've found a second hand Cabinet 2168 for $200 that could be used to hide the Oppo, but it is large and a bit of an overkill I feel.

Eventually I intend to get a 4k ~55inch TV, but it is out of my reach right now, and might be for a long time. So trying to maximise what I have already.

Add a Apple TV

Can you be more descriptive of advantages/disadvantages of Apple TV? Am I restricted to only buying Apple products eg Apple Store or can I use internet streaming eg Netflix? I buy for the long term I don't want to be restricted.

I use an Apple TV (in my case an Apple TV 2) and a NAS.

So I have both - Online Movies and Movies and Pictures from the NAS

I use an Apple TV 4, which has a Netflix app, so you van watch Netflix on your BV7 via Apple TV.

Future proof enough for me.

My Oppo 103 has streaming, including Hulu, Netflix, and many other streaming services, like Vudu. So you don't need it and an Apple TV to do that. Actually, I can stream Netflix using either my TV, my Apple TV, or my Oppo BR player, and play DVDs and BRs! If I were only going to buy one box it'd be the Oppo though, for the reason I still have and rent via Netflix DVD/BR discs.The only way I have to stream via Amazon Video is using the TV, or the app on my iPad and then casting it to the Apple TV which then sends it to the TV. I usually use the TV though, the other approach seems a bit Rube Goldberg when the TV will do it natively, which isn't an option if you have an older TV.

 

Hi Beer,

I'd recommend an 'easy' start approach. Firstly, a Apple TV 3 at £59 which does the basics perfectly - allows Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes movies, TV shows. It's still a superb device.

Secondly I WOULD NOT advise spending a huge sum of money on a Blu-Ray player such as the Oppo as it's OBSOLETE. 4K UHD players have seen to this. So for now, I'd recommend a Panasonic 280 player at £100 or less. This will do a fantastic job of upscaling your DVDs.

In the future when you buy a 4K TV, you may decide to buy a 4K UHD disc player and Apple may have a 4K Apple TV box by them. (One reason why i'm not over keen to recommend the Apple TV 4 at £129).

I believe both of my recommendations will give you pleasure until you decide to go the 4K route!

But wouldn't rushing out and buying a 4k TV be giving into the crass consumerism and materialism you so mendaciously condemn?

Paul W:

Hi Beer,

I'd recommend an 'easy' start approach. Firstly, a Apple TV 3 at £59 which does the basics perfectly - allows Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes movies, TV shows. It's still a superb device.

Secondly I WOULD NOT advise spending a huge sum of money on a Blu-Ray player such as the Oppo as it's OBSOLETE. 4K UHD players have seen to this. So for now, I'd recommend a Panasonic 280 player at £100 or less. This will do a fantastic job of upscaling your DVDs.

In the future when you buy a 4K TV, you may decide to buy a 4K UHD disc player and Apple may have a 4K Apple TV box by them. (One reason why i'm not over keen to recommend the Apple TV 4 at £129).

I believe both of my recommendations will give you pleasure until you decide to go the 4K route!

Agree the Apple TV 3 is great value for what it is. I have one which I use for Netflix, films from iTunes and Now tv which works out a much more cost effective way for me to watch sky sports than subscribing to sky in the UK. (Not sure where you are based Beer).

Maybe the ROKU 4 is also a good solution and supporting 4K also. Working great on Avant.
Then you are also set for the future......

Thanks very much for the replies so far. I hadn't considered 4k because (1) I am yet to be convinced this is a "must have" and (2) it will be at least 5 years before I would consider a 4k TV, and probably 10 years - I don't like version 1 of anything, and prices will only come down. But I'm glad several replies raised 4k because I hadn't considered that at all, so now I am rethinking it.

As to Oppo, the 103 is about half the price of the 105 so I'm trying to work out whether the 103 would be better.

I'm leaning towards have a Blu-ray player (again) rather than pure NAS/streaming, which would rule out the Apple TV. But I thank you all for your replies because it has opened up some other options I hadn't considered before.

Keep it coming, and tell I'm wrong if you think so :) all opinions are helpful.

I would recommend the low memory Apple TV version 4 even though it's more expensive.

Why ?

- it runs Apps not just an html interface to a streaming service (the previous generation)

- supported Apps in Australia include Apps from most of our free to air provides and allow binge viewing of a series, catching up viewing of a missed episode

- you can purchase or rent content from Apple: movies; tv series; music

- you can access (if you have one) your iTunes library - which in my case is 80% of ripped CDs that I have physical still own

- runs Plex App which is my "poor man's kaleidoscope" accessing my ripped music DVDs or movie DVDs or documentary DVDs

- you can use either iPhoto App or Plex to browse or screen your photo library or even home made movies

- you can subscribe to Netflix YouTube Vimeo etc - each with their own App / interface

- you can run Apps - true Apps - which in our case are things like education programs for the G'kids, Puzzle solving games, participation "games" (dance, exercise), NASA TV, etc

In our house hold we watch about an hour of live free to air TV for news and current affairs. The rest of our viewing is via the Apple TV, and we have a cheap Sony BluRay player that at best is used once a week more likely once a month.

We don't even use the DVR in the set top box - using the Apple TV to use catch up streaming is way more flexible

Can the Apple 4 connect to my old BV7-40 Mk I with DVI and analogue audio? I have no HDMI...

Beer_Baron:

Can the Apple 4 connect to my old BV7-40 Mk I with DVI and analogue audio? I have no HDMI...

Yes ! This is no problem using a hdmi cable, a hdmi audio extractor (extracts analouge audio from hdmi), a chinch to scart audio cable and a hdmi to dvi cable. This is what I use on my BV7-40 MKII.

 

Please keep in mind that Apple TV 2 is the last one that can actually be jailbreaked if it matters to you.

 

Martin

Thanks Martin. I've spent hours browsing the forums here to find out how to hook it all up. B&O tech told me that I connect the audio to AV4 L/R; you say to connect the audio through a SCART cable - is the SCART connection the AV3 socket?

And is the audio connected in this way just stereo (two channel) or is it 5.1 surround sound? Seems pointless to have a Blu-ray player/high def movies if I've only got two channels of sound. I enjoy movies more for their sound than the visuals, to be honest.

No idea what "jailbreaked" does for me, or that I should care... can you expand on that?

Looks like I'm now leaning towards Apple TV + a cheaper Blu-ray player...

Thanks for the detail Elephant. Right I'm off to upgrade my Apple TV 3 to the ATV 4 .

Beer_Baron:

... I've spent hours browsing the forums here to find out how to hook it all up ...

This is what I did two month ago too. Spend hours on searching on the internet and testing components myself at home until it works now.

Connecting newer equipment to the "old" BV7-40 MK1-3 is not just plug&play. Missing connections like HDMI is not the only problem. Another well known problem is AC3/DTS/PCM sound on lower software revisions.

Basically you have to connect both digital and analouge audio, regardless of the connectors (AV1-4 and A1-4) you use if you want to have stereo AND multi-channel sound.

You can use any Scart or Chinch Input on your BV7, but not all inputs can be mapped to all sources existing on your remote.

For example you can't assign V.MEM to AV2-4. This is restricted by the BV7's software.

In short: you have to extract digital and analouge audio from the hdmi signal as the hdmi/dvi cable only transports video signal, no audio signal. Then you can feed digital audio to connectors A1-4 and analouge audio to connectors AV1-4.

As an extractor you can use this one. I use this too and it works flawless. Tested other devices before, but this is definitly working.

 

Jailbreaking an Apple device opens the door to install other software than Apple wants you to. I jailbreaked my Apple TV 2 to install atv flash black. This is, in short, a media player which let's you access a NAS directly to play, for example, mkv files.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Martin

I'd never heard of this before, but a quick Google search shows that it is consistently reviewed as better than the Apple TV (and also better than Chromecast and a slew of other names I'd not heard of). Cheap enough too. Thanks for sharing, another item to consider.

Beer_Baron:

I'd never heard of this before, but a quick Google search shows that it is consistently reviewed as better than the Apple TV (and also better than Chromecast and a slew of other names I'd not heard of). Cheap enough too. Thanks for sharing, another item to consider.

By "it" you mean the HDMI extractor ?

No, I think he means ATV flash black - a piece of software.

 

Martin

Get a MK3 (or higher) version of the BV7-40 - then you'll have the HDMI's, that you need.

(And get it PUC'ed with what you need).

Anything else will be fiddling around and will create only halfworking solutions...

....unless you choose to connect a small PC to your current one.

That may give you all the possibilities, that you want - but certainly not as convenient and elegant as when you have PUC-controlled devices for it.

MM

jvdl:

Maybe the ROKU 4 is also a good solution and supporting 4K also. Working great on Avant.
Then you are also set for the future......

This what I didn't know and googled - ROKU 4 appears to be well regarded.

Sorry, I missed the embedded quote in the post four above this one...

Re the difference between the Oppo 103 and 105, I know the 105 is theoretically supposed to be better, but I have a hard time imagining it would actually be better in any way that's detectable, the 103 is that good in my opinion. I've at times run my cable box thru the 103 to take advantage of the 103s video processing and upscaling which is actually very good, there's a good video engine in there. I've known some people who don't even have a surround receiver, using instead the 5.1 analog outputs of the Oppo to drive B&O speakers or an outboard 5 channel amp and a powered sub.

If you truly want to be able to stream Netflix and play discs, it's the way to do it. I used it solely for my Netflix streaming until I bought an Apple TV, I still rely on my Oppo a lot as I watch a lot of BR/DVDs, both from my collection and from Netflix's disc rental service. The selection on any streaming service is quite limited compared with the depth of the catalog of discs Netflix has.

Beer_Baron:

This what I didn't know and googled - ROKU 4 appears to be well regarded.

Sorry, I missed the embedded quote in the first post...