Comments on my choice of player

[cvictorg]

My total budget for everything - receiver, TV, speakers and blu ray play is no more than $3000

So - I've decided on a Panasonic TC-P46S2 46" Class Viera S2 Series Plasma TV

For a blu ray player - after getting a migraine doing research I've narrowed the choice down to 2

The Denon DBP-2010CI or the Oppo BDP-83. Price difference between the 2 is appx $50.

Which one would you choose OR do you other suggestions

 

[teachsac]

I have the Denon 2010. It has been rock solid. You could very well go with a player like the Panasonic BD65 and use the saved money for getting a 50" set, upgrade on speakers, or upgrade on receiver. It plays everything thrown at it and is very good at upscaling SDDVDs. The 65 could also give you streaming options which are not available on the Oppo or the 2010. If you have your heart set on Denon, you might wait on the 1611 if you need a universal player with some streaming.

S~

 

[jayn_j]

I have the Denon 2010. It has been rock solid. You could very well go with a player like the Panasonic BD65 and use the saved money for getting a 50" set, upgrade on speakers, or upgrade on receiver. It plays everything thrown at it and is very good at upscaling SDDVDs. The 65 could also give you streaming options which are not available on the Oppo or the 2010. If you have your heart set on Denon, you might wait on the 1611 if you need a universal player with some streaming.

S~

I would second this as well. The sub $200 players perform so well that it would be a shame to compromise the rest of the system in order to have a cadillac BD player. I have been pretty happy with the BD-60 and had it hooked up to a a 50" Panny plasma until last month. The combination worked flawlessly.

 

[teachsac]

The BD65 is 109 on Amazon right now.

S~

 

[cvictorg]

I have the Denon 2010. It has been rock solid. You could very well go with a player like the Panasonic BD65 and use the saved money for getting a 50" set, upgrade on speakers, or upgrade on receiver. It plays everything thrown at it and is very good at upscaling SDDVDs. The 65 could also give you streaming options which are not available on the Oppo or the 2010. If you have your heart set on Denon, you might wait on the 1611 if you need a universal player with some streaming.

S~

It has to be a 46" scrren - the wife gets a headache with anything larger

As to speakers - I'm also looking at an Ascend/Hsu combination for around $1600 - there is a little leewy in the budget

 

[cvictorg]

I have the Denon 2010. It has been rock solid. You could very well go with a player like the Panasonic BD65 and use the saved money for getting a 50" set, upgrade on speakers, or upgrade on receiver. It plays everything thrown at it and is very good at upscaling SDDVDs. The 65 could also give you streaming options which are not available on the Oppo or the 2010. If you have your heart set on Denon, you might wait on the 1611 if you need a universal player with some streaming.

S~

For the receiver I'm thinking Denon AVR 1611.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Only thing I'd say about the player, is the Uniphier chip in the BD85 is better than the 60/80 and 65. Better DVD, and it's color interpolation (deep color mimic), which the 2010 Plasma can accept, is very good.

BD85 is also very cheap on Amazon right now.

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Panasonic-DMP-BD85-Blu-ray-Player.shtml

 

[navychop]

I have the OPPO and love it. It handles all optical media I throw at it. However, it will not handle 3D. All the same, considering budget, I recommend going cheap on the BD player. I've seen fast boot/fast loaders for $100. You can always plan to upgrade the BD player in a couple of years, IF you get interested in 3D. You can do well in this department for less than $200. Why spend more now, when later the big bucks will buy you the option of 3D? Or allow a better AV receiver today? HDMI 1.4, anyone?

Might want to also look at the Onkyo series AV receivers.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Another consideration is web content. Pandora, Netflix and Amazon VOD on the BD85, with it's wifi adapter. BD65 needs a hardline or some other method.

 

[TheForce]

I have the OPPO and love it. It handles all optical media I throw at it. However, it will not handle 3D. All the same, considering budget, I recommend going cheap on the BD player. I've seen fast boot/fast loaders for $100. You can always plan to upgrade the BD player in a couple of years, IF you get interested in 3D. You can do well in this department for less than $200. Why spend more now, when later the big bucks will buy you the option of 3D? Or allow a better AV receiver today? HDMI 1.4, anyone?

Might want to also look at the Onkyo series AV receivers.

Don't dismiss the PS3 to have it all, including HDMI1.4 and BD 3D after September update. One good thing about the PS3 is that it is used to evaluate all the BD releases from all the studios. That is why it always seems to work when other players say check for an update. Then you check and discover the mfg hasn't yet released one. That's why I dumped my Samsung.
The one disadvantage of the PS3 is it is not very user friendly as a BD player for IR remote control. It also is restricted to DD5.1 and DTS 5.1
I wanted 7.1 too so I added an Oppo BD83SE. It is superior to anything I ever owned for upconverting DVD to 1080p 24 and the sound quality from the analog outputs doing all decoding internally, especially for clean smooth bass down to 30 Hz. It's as fast loading as the PS3. But the price is out of the this guideline. I think the best bang right now would be the PS3 plus it will add gaming to your home theater.

I'm happy to hear the $100 BluRay players are less trouble these days but last winter they just were trouble on some disks. Read the user forums for real world reports.

 

[teachsac]

PS3 will not have 1.4. HDMI is not upgradable. The advantage of the PS3 is it is software based rather than hardware based like a SA player. It will still be 1.3 with certain functions missing. More than likely it will still require an actual 1.4 receiver to be able to pass lossless PCM otherwise it will have to go to the TV with optical out.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

PS3 also has a slightly softer PQ (seen by myself, as well as others) than the newer standalone models. It used to be in the tops in PQ, but it has been surpassed. I'd not have anything but a standalone for Blu-ray veiwing.

 

[navychop]

$100 BD player now on Amazon Gold box. Amazon.com Gold Box: New Deals. Every Day.@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VWrJqafwL.@@AMEPARAM@@41VWrJqafwL

 

[navychop]

FWIW, I have a PS3 (no games) on a 52" Sammy LCD, a Sammy 1500 (rarely used - at RV) on a 24" and the OPPO (primary machine) on a 61".

 

[scott5626]

PS3 will not have 1.4. HDMI is not upgradable. The advantage of the PS3 is it is software based rather than hardware based like a SA player. It will still be 1.3 with certain functions missing. More than likely it will still require an actual 1.4 receiver to be able to pass lossless PCM otherwise it will have to go to the TV with optical out.

S~

The new 320GB PS3 will be 1.4.

 

[navychop]

A little different slant on the current PS3 and HDMI 1.4 here. While talking about 3D games:
The upgrade basically makes every PlayStation 3 HDMI 1.4 compatible - that's the standard that governs 3D displays.

What this means is that there is no setup at all required. If you have a PlayStation 3 and you buy a 3DTV, you simply connect via your HDMI cable and your PlayStation 3 will automatically recognise that you've got a 3D display attached.

It knows the size of the screen as well, which is very important for actually rendering 3D correctly and giving you the right sense of depth.