How to Choose a Blu-ray Player:
| Sony PlayStation 3 |
Everything Else |
| Pros – Best value for a Blu-ray/DVD player as well as a gaming console and streaming content Cons – Lack of analog multichannel outputs or IR receptors |
Pros – Can have analog multichannel outputs and IR receptors and support high quality audio options like Dolby TrueHD lossless format Cons -Not nearly a multifunctional as a PS3 |
Choosing a Blu-ray player is fairly straight forward. All player support Dolby Digital, DTS, and linear PCM formats that offer exceptional video and audio quality. Of course, image quality will be relative to your television’s maximum resolution. Really, unless you are a hi-fi fanatic, the hardest choice for you to make is choosing between a stand alone unit or a Sony PS3. Which isn’t really a hard choice when you thinking about it.
Stand alone units give home theater enthusiast more analog multichannel outputs as well as higher quality lossless sound choices for distinguishing audiophiles. If you don’t have a audio system that cost as much as a small car, then the PS3 really is the best way to go.
The PS3 does everything a stand alone unit will do as well as play games and connect to the internet for streaming media. Since most stand alone units and the PS3 cost about the same amount of money, unless you really want true hi-fi quality sound that the PS3 does not provide, it is hands down the best option.
Experts may all agree on the advantages or shortcomings of any product they review but, at AudioReview.com, we believe that the average consumer can best summarize all the details a product has to offer… So read what users have to says!
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Description: The Sony BDP-S550 is a terrific Blu-ray player which supports both BonusView and BD-Live (Profile 2.0) content. It delivers a superb movie experience and lets you access all the advanced interactive and Internet-based content that Blu-ray has to offer. More Products from Sony >>
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4 of 5
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Description: Enjoy high-definition movies on your HDTV with this Sylvania NB-501SL9 Blu-ray DVD Player. The NB-501SL9 delivers greatly enhanced video performance with standard DVDs by upconverting their video resolution to HDTV-compliant 720p, 1080i or 1080p via the HDMI interface, adding a new layer of realism to your old favorites. This player also supports a wide variety of disc formats, BD Video, BD-RE, BD-R, DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, Auido CD and more. More Products from Sylvania >>
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0.00 of 5 Amazon Review E. Smith says: I am back- after viewing “Chronicles of Narnia/Price Caspian”, and “HANCOCK”. They both looked fantastic and played without a problem. (both NETFLIX rentals). I have aso viewed 5 other Blu-ray Discs that I purchased from Amazon (great discounts) that I was “lucky” to have correctly delivered to MY address. Although they were viewed on the Insignia, I would expect identical results from the Sylvania. To further identify them as clones-the Manuals are the same and the face of the units and remotes are identical. We are completely satisfied with our purchase of the Sylvania NB-501SL9.
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Description: The BDP-S5000ES’s 14-bit HD video processor improves standard definition and high-definition picture quality with the help of HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technologies, enabling extraordinarily smooth and detailed picture quality. And not only does it play Blu-ray Discs in stunning, Full HD 1080p/24p, it also upscales DVDs to Full HD 1080p resolution. More Products from Sony >> Search AudioReview forums for the Sony BDP-S5000ES Blu-Ray Player >>
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5.00 of 5 CNET says: Altogether, the BDP-S5000ES hits all the major feature points we look for, plus some nice extras such as the quick start option and 7.1 analog outputs. As Sony explains it, the HD Reality Enhancer, “continually analyzes bit by bit of the original source, sharpening edges and reproducing detail, while reducing the effects of film grain.”
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Description: For the optimal high definition Blu-ray video experience at home, the Elite BDP51FD features True24fps capability. Because all your favorite movies are filmed at 24 frames-per-second (fps) while most home video systems are equipped to display video at 30fps, most standard systems have to subject film-based video content to alterations that make the 24fps content display ay 30fps. While this solves the problem, it also causes others — this alteration often results in the appearance of artifacts, or distortion of the video image. Tru24fsp capability, on the other hand, offers processing that seamlessly transfers the 24fps content on your favorite Blu-ray movie to your 24fps-compatible HDTV. Video as the director intended. |
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CNET says: If the BDP-51FD seems a little expensive for what it offers, then the BDP-05FD really seems expensive for its step-up features. The step-ups seem to be mostly cosmetic, with the player sharing essentially the same feature set as the cheaper BDP-51FD. For an Elite player like this, we’d at least like to have seen some enthusiast-friendly features such as SACD and DVD-Audio support, DivX compatibility, or even networking functionality like we saw on the BDP-HD1.
AudioReview says: Given the cheap price you can get this player at it is now a better deal than the $599 that CNET is complaining about. We are in full agreement with CNET. $599 is too high, but with the under $300 you can find it at now it is a good value Blu-Ray Player.
No offence to technology evolving, however, why is – after the years it has taken DVD products to jump and take-off, drop in price player-wise, etc. – Blue-Ray the new thang !?!?!?
Almost everyone I know is not even remotely interested in buying a Blue-ray product, mostly because they have taken quite a long time to collect the library of DVDs they have at the moment and do not want to re-purchase every DVD again, in a new product, simply due to the fact that the new “digital movies” cannot be played on normal DVD players and vice versa (any original DVDs cannot be played/viewed on the new Blue-ray systems, only because they are a different type of format – how convenient !!!!!!!) …. Technology may be evolving extremely quickly – quicker than humans did/have – just like everything in the past: Vinal Records were replaced with Cassette Tapes, which were replaced with Compact Discs, which were then (almost) replaced with Minidiscs, which are now, pretty much, being erased by MP3 players !!! Not happy, Jan !!! just because something new is introduced does not mean the old must be deleted – now the free-to-air television stations are going to be overtaken by digital broadcasts which are nowhere near better than analogs: the reception on analog tv’s may not be as crystal clear as LCD tv’s however, they are more often then not clear enough to view & receive the complete broadcasting of whatever show happens to be on, without pixelling up the entire screen – and all that just because it is being spat out to as many places as it can find (“IT” being the ‘signal digitally broadcast from channel [whateva]‘) ….
Now there’s an interesting and sceptical ‘look-into’ the future debate for anyone who wants to ride the same boat !!! Cheers to us all though – Each For Their Own, after all.
;^}
Kaine
Kaine, Blu-ray players _can_ play DVDs.
There is an error in the assumption that 7.1 channel TrueHD cannot be used with the PS3. The PS3 fully supports Dolby TrueHD as well as DTS-HD Master Audio. These can be output as LPCM via HDMI. While this does mean you will have to have HDMI on your receiver but that’s clearly a conditional and not necessarily the case that would automatically make it a pro for other players and a con for the PS3. Your article implies that the lossless codecs and higher resolution formats aren’t supported at all on the PS3 and that simply isn’t accurate. Add to that the fact that less than 5% of movies are encoded with 7.1 channels and it becomes even less of an issue.