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Post by John Wall on Mar 29, 2021 20:20:59 GMT
I’m thinkin’ - yes, I know it’s bad for me... - about getting a Blu Ray player. It’ll mean that I can get the complete season DW sets we’ve been discussing elsewhere 👍
However, I’d appreciate any advice please? Are there particular things I should look for? Are there any particularly good, or bad, models?
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Post by mattg on Mar 29, 2021 21:23:50 GMT
It depends entirely on your budget John. At the top end of the ever dwindling physical media player market (sometimes referred to as ‘Universal Media Transport’ and similar) that’s still commonly available is the Panasonic DP-UP 9000 - a player I invested in, currently use and recommend. It costs £850 though...
I’ve also previously owned the Sony X800 M2 that goes for a far more reasonable £280’ish these days. If I’m being brutally honest though the considerable disparity in price between these two players is not represented in playback quality - the X800 being far closer to the 9000 than one might presume. That said the Panasonic has a bewildering array of A/V settings, tweaks and options compared to the simpler, more intuitive Sony.
The cheapest players, again by the likes of Sony and Panasonic are pretty good as well of course, though obviously no match for the above in build quality and playback. I should add that the higher end metal-framed machines are also ‘whisper quiet’ compared to the cheaper, plastic models so if space is at a premium and you have to sit close to your setup you may not want a player with a noisy fan spoiling your viewing experience!
Most players are 4K these days but if you just want Blu Ray then, again, the higher end players do a better job at upscaling making the already upscaled Classic Who Blu Rays look just that little bit better!
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Post by John Wall on Mar 29, 2021 21:43:14 GMT
Wow, that’s a good intro Matt 👍 I was looking to spend tens of pounds on something that would squirt it out into a hdmi lead that I could plug into the back of my 32” Hitachi TV.
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 30, 2021 7:38:20 GMT
It all depends what you want to do John & your budget. A couple of years ago, using a certain well known auction site, I found a company selling Blu-ray players that have been re-coded to be completely region free. I bought a Sony from them & it will play & upscale literally every possible type of computer file on disc, any region DVD and any region BluRay. I bought a Sony & it’s brilliant and will play and upscale anything I could possibly want.
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 30, 2021 7:39:42 GMT
This solution would fit a tighter budget too. From memory, I spent about £70
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Post by John Wall on Mar 30, 2021 9:25:43 GMT
This solution would fit a tighter budget too. From memory, I spent about £70 That’s not unreasonable 👍 Can you give any more info please?
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 30, 2021 10:00:26 GMT
Bear with me John, will have to dig back through my eBay listings tonight. Will DM you the info.
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Post by mattg on Mar 30, 2021 10:39:32 GMT
Ok, so with benefit of hindsight (and budget clarification) my initial purchasing advice was a little ‘optimistic’!
On a hopefully more constructive note though I’ve previously also owned prior models of Blu Ray players from Sony and Panasonic (arguably the last two major companies still supporting/releasing physical media players) within the £70 to £100 price range. In my experience Sony players seem to be of superior quality/construction overall. I also found the menus on Sony models to be generally more intuitive than their Panasonic counterparts as well.
As ever though these things are ultimately subject to personal tastes of course!
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 30, 2021 17:20:35 GMT
Should be a PM in your inbox John.
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Post by John Wall on Mar 30, 2021 17:36:24 GMT
Should be a PM in your inbox John. You’re a star, Rich 👍
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Post by John Wall on Apr 5, 2021 10:17:32 GMT
Well,I’ve now got a Sony BDP-S1500 👍 It works very well, just had to connect it and plug it in 👍 I’ve tried it with DVDs and they play excellently - and the box itself is as near to silent as makes no difference👍
I’ve ordered some Blu Ray box sets - some old guy who swans around the universe in a blue box - but they’re yet to arrive. Incidentally I’ve paid more for them than for the player but I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s been done with Season Eight - Pertwee fan comes out of the closet 👍
Many thanks to all those who offered advice 👍 Cheers 🍷🥂🍻🍾
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Post by richardwoods on Apr 5, 2021 11:31:46 GMT
Good choice John, you won’t go far wrong there!
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Post by John Wall on Apr 5, 2021 12:20:46 GMT
Good choice John, you won’t go far wrong there! Is that the player, the discs - or both 😇?
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Post by timmunton on Apr 5, 2021 23:35:03 GMT
It all depends what you want to do John & your budget. A couple of years ago, using a certain well known auction site, I found a company selling Blu-ray players that have been re-coded to be completely region free. I bought a Sony from them & it will play & upscale literally every possible type of computer file on disc, any region DVD and any region BluRay. I bought a Sony & it’s brilliant and will play and upscale anything I could possibly want. Hi Richard, I'm looking to buy a cheap-ish blu ray player that will play every region of blu ray discs & dvd discs, like the one you mention. A while back a friend recommended a more expensive one of this type, that at the time I hoped to buy, but in the end (or so far) I didn't have enough available money for. In another post you say the one I've quoted you talking about here was about £70, at the time of your purchase, which sounds great! I was just wondering if you might please pm me the info on this that you sent to John? - so I can look into probably buying the same version of the machine you were talking about, from that well-known auction site (if the machine is reasonably user-friendly when blu ray discs from different regions are played one after the other). I have a cheap blu ray player already which plays well but doesn't play non-Region B discs, so it would be nice to get another player which plays all regions for both blu rays & dvds. If you're happy to send the info that'd be brilliant, but no problem if not. Thanks for considering this. Best wishes, Tim Munton
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Post by John Wall on Apr 6, 2021 10:57:16 GMT
My Sony BDP-S1500 cost a little under £40 including p&p. I searched on “Sony Blu Ray player”, looked at the advice given here, and also Googled the models that came up for reviews.
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