Best BD Player for Analogue Output & Use With Scaler

[rowlandhills]

A slightly different question to the usual "which is the best BluRay player?".

I'll be using mine with an external scaler (Lumagen HDP feeding Panny PHD8) and external analogue audio (Linn Exotik - which has 5.1 channel input but no decoder).

Happy to spend up to about £500, but would like the combination of best picture when linked through the Lumagen and best sound using internal decoding.

The obvious candidates appear to be the Panasonic DMP-BD55 and the Sony BDPS550. Are there any others I should be considering?

Which of the possible players is likely to give me the best results?

My collection is mostly SD DVD (as this is my first HD player) but I've been using SkyHD and downloaded HD content streamed through a Snazio player for some years.

Many thanks for any opinions.

 

[kingfats]

Happy to spend up to about £500, but would like the combination of best picture when linked through the Lumagen and best sound using internal decoding.

The obvious candidates appear to be the Panasonic DMP-BD55 and the Sony BDPS550. Are there any others I should be considering?

.

Hi rowlandhills.
The 55 is 576p only over HDMI,Sony 480i/576i and the Pioneer has a Source Direct feature.
All the best.

 

[rowlandhills]

Thanks kingfats. Which Pioneer did you mean? Also, what does "source direct" mean in this context?

Thanks again.

 

[Avi]

Also, what does "source direct" mean in this context?

It means the player has an option to auto select output resolution based on the native disc i.e. 576i/480i DVD, 1080i/60 Blu-ray video or 1080p/24 Blu-ray film. The alternative usually involves having to go into menus etc to change the output res (assuming the player even supports SD interlaced over HDMI) when you play different disc types or letting the player deinterlace/upscale.

AVI

 

[kingfats]

Thanks kingfats. Which Pioneer did you mean?

Thanks again.

51? would fit under your budget nicely.
All the best.

 

[rowlandhills]

Thanks - So, I'll add the Pioneer BDP51FD into the mix too!

Any comments on sound quality folks?

 

[rowlandhills]

BUMP - Any views on audio performance?

 

[alpha10]

Thanks - So, I'll add the Pioneer BDP51FD into the mix too!

Any comments on sound quality folks?

Really pleased with the HD-audio via HDMI, cannot comment on the analogue 5.1 output, but I'm sure somebody else can.

The 2Ch audio both via HDMI and analogue is very good, I was comparing it to my old Arcam Alpha 8 CD player into the Onkyo 905 and prefered the 51's output, so that isn't too shabby


Hey, just seen you are in Baldock that's where I work most days...

 

[Nic Rhodes]

SQ is likely to change significantly in the big firmware update (bass management) and it's effectiveness is dependent on what your kit does currently. It is not known when this will come, my money is on may. You will also get DTS HD MA then as well which is an important codec for audio now.

 

[brichards]

Hi.

Have just installed new firmware 1.25A in my BDP-51FD and it has improved the players response times IE :- fast forward ,reverse, chapter skip, etc
So in my opinion it has imroved the player no end>
Picture quality is superb and is superior to any that i have seen so far.
The upscaling is superb also.
And it looks good really well built.Fair enough it isn.t profile 2 but who needs it??

Regards

Brian

 

[rowlandhills]

Well, I picked up a Pioner DBP51FD for £319 in Richer Sounds this weekend...will let you know how I get on