Do you get what you pay for?

Sarbouy

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OK, having just bought a new TV and sound base, I'm looking to add a blu ray dvd player to finish my set up off. All I want it to do is play movies, I don't need smart, 3D, 4k or any other fancy gizmos, I just want it to play Hi Def movies!

As with my other buys, I've a budget in mind, and didn't want to spend more than £100, but on looking it seems that you can get what I need for about £60 (eg. the Sony S1200), and as you go up in price you just start to add the features I don't need.

My question is, does a more expensive player give a better picture, or does the extra £££ only pay for the added features?
 
I don't know if it makes any difference, but I've got a 40" Sony W605 with a Cambridge Audio TV2 sound base.
 
Judging by some reviews I've been reading the picture quality and sound quality will improve. The gadgets are just a part of it but you don't need to use them. I wouldn't either. Just decent pics/sound are all I am looking for. Sony's top of the range effort is supposed to be very good and is cheap compared to some other manufacturers.
 
So would you say it's worth paying the extra £20 to get a Sony S5200 rather than a S1200, even though I don't anticipate using the smart features and don't have 3D TV?
 
it's not just fancy gizmos but quality of built and using. my sony s5100 was so noisy it
was annoying to use, less than 2x price (when new) Panasonic BDT700 is dead silent and loads quicker too. it also has many useful features that i thought i don't need (sub position and brightness for example).

AND i say BDT700 has better picture (don't know why), less clouding around objects and better motion control. could be sony bd/pana tv vs pana bd/pana tv thing

just my 2c...
 
I appreciate that, but I've got a budget and really cannot justify £170 on the Sony S7200, let alone nearly £400 on the Panasonic!

If you only had £100 to play with, what would you go for, bearing in mind I don't need lots of smart features, just want it to produce a good output to my TV? I'm not brand concious, but mentioned the Sony as I thought it might match the TV remote as well.
 
2nd hand unit? My Pioneer BDP-320 player has excellent picture and sound quality. I'm selling it for £40.
Have you read reviews on the Sony products you are looking at? Go for the best you can afford.
 
Ok, so can anyone give me an idea or recommend a 2nd hand player within a £100 budget?
 
Well, I would say mine but that may appear biased. That said, although it's simplistic in it's gadgetry, it offers superb picture/sound quality. I've just upgraded to a Pioneer BDP 450 to go with my Pioneer AV AMP and Kuro Plasma TV. It's spot on so far!
 
FWIW regarding the 'better picture' suggestions, I went from a basic Sony player to a £500 Oppo player and I can confirm that for BluRays there was no picture quality difference apparent on my near 10' wide projector screen (fully calibrated).

Granted the DVD upscaling was better on the Oppo (but then I use an external Lumagen video processor for upscaling, etc anyway) and I wanted certain features that the basic Sony didn't give me, but 'better picture quality' was neither expected nor received. I didn't regret buying the Oppo though, but it was for the other reasons (source direct, subtitle shift, on board HD sound decoding and being a universal player).

If you are using it with a soundbar and a modest sized TV then I would just buy the model that has enough features for your requirements (and check reviews regarding noise and/or speed).
 
I got a S5200 and very happy with it. I don't need 3D either but the smart stuff might be useful in the future. There will be no difference regards to blu ray between the S1200 and S5200.

If I did have £100, I would go for the new S4500 or S5500 player with the flat top.
 
The Sony 4500 is £85 at Richer Sounds (with free delivery), and the older 4200 is around £50, both of which would give you the same PQ for BluRay as any other player that does not add any unwanted processing to the HDMI signal.
 

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