I received some excellent feedback lately on the blog. One was to get right to the facts and provide a quick summary so expect more of that.
I recently replied to a client who was asking about the current BluRay player options. IMHO, the current crop stinks. They tend to have performance issues (slow), compatability issues, and supporting HD Audio is worth waiting for. The 2.0 versions also support a slew of new features I’ll cover in another blog.
This client is getting a really cool surround sound processor (B&K Ref 70) to take advantage of his excellent speakers and amps, so sound quality is very important. They also have a JVC DLA-RS2 projector so there’s no shortcomings on the display side.
What is missing is a BluRay player and something to play their large collection of standard DVDs. He does not want a DVD carousel and a media manager system like the Escient, Axonix, or Kaleidescape. Charles Feeland put in a beautiful DVD case for us so it’s already convenient to browse their collection.
><client>,
I repaired my Sony BDP-S300 and speaking from personal experience, it’s frustrating to use. That said, the Samsung has similar issues:
The bad: Does not currently support Profile 2.0 or have onboard DTS-HD Master Audio decoding; Blu-ray image quality could be better; DVD playback will disappoint videophiles; no analog multichannel outputs; some annoying operational glitches; operational speed still sluggish compared with PS3.
It is cheap–that’s the only good thing about it. The PS3 may be our best bet BUT, it does not bitstream to the cool chip in the Ref-70.
The benefits of the PS3 are:
1. Relatively cheap.
2. Can be integrated with the remotes relatively easily.
3. Relatively fast
4. Plays games
5. Updates automatically
6. Plays games (need to mention that twice because your sons may visit more which <wife> will appreciate)
7. I can get a custom shelf for it.
8. The auto-cooling in the rack will keep it happy (they get really hot).
9. You can pack it up and give it to your sons if you don’t like it and everybody wins.
and the number 10 reason is…
10. …there are 9 other really good reasons.
We could also add the reference Oppo as a standard DVD player. Easy to deploy and use and faster for DVDs when you want to just pull something from your existing collection. I have one in stock if you want to see it. I’m very impressed with them and would love to also hear your thoughts after hearing it connected to your HiFi system.
There are several new BluRay players arriving around the New Year. If you can wait, that’s the time to jump.
Subscribe to The Design Perspective and as always, I’ll sort out all the noise and keep you informed on “only what works”.
