Really stuck here

[nouou]

I've been reading around online on which is a good brand of blu ray player to buy. Here are my questions:

1. I will be buying a 720p or 1080i tv. Do I still want a 1080p output player?
2. I'll also be buying a blu ray burner. I've only seen one player that can playback this format which is BD-R and BD-RE, which is the Sharp BD-HP20U. Does anyone know of a high quality players other than this one that can play these formats? What about the PS3, can it read/play this format?

Thanks in advance

[arush5268d]

Are you looking for a player for your computer, or one for your tv? Or both?

[nouou]

Player for the TV, burner for the PC.

[arush5268d]

Okay, we can help you out.


What kind of setup do you have at home for your TV? Do you have a receiver / audio system?

Does your PC have enough horsepower under the hood to handle Blu-ray?

[crackinhedz]

1. I will be buying a 720p or 1080i tv. Do I still want a 1080p output player?

all bluray players output 1080p. But they will also play just fine at 720p/1080i.

[nouou]

Originally Posted by arush5268d

Okay, we can help you out.


What kind of setup do you have at home for your TV? Do you have a receiver / audio system?

Does your PC have enough horsepower under the hood to handle Blu-ray?

Thank you. I'm not going to buy a receiver (at first), or even speakers. All I'm buying is the 720p TV and use it's built in speakers for now, the blu ray player, and the burner. As for my PC, yes it does have enough horsepower. Briefly, it's built from a Q6600 @ 2.40ghz, 8800GT 512 Superclocked SLI, and Corsair 2GB Ram.

For future replies on this thread be aware I know nothing about proper home tv setups, or any fancy terms. This is one reason why I'm holding off on buying speakers for the tv.

[arush5268d]

Nice PC setup there

And worry not - we aren't here to make fun of you for a lack of knowledge. We all start somewhere!

So many people here will tell you to get a PS3. It's a good, solid Profile 2.0 player...but it does have it's drawbacks. But if you like gaming - it's the way to go.

Personally I prefer a stand-alone player. I'm partial to the Panasonic players first, followed by the Sony players. If you check out the link at the top of the page for "Players" there's a wealth of information that you should go through....and then come back here and ask whatever questions you have.

I think that the best thing for someone starting out in this is to be an educated consumer!

[CptGreedle]

Well that is good cause with the new HD set up, the traditional set up doesn't fully apply.

Without the receiver or speakers, you will be lacking the HD audio and surround sound, but you should at least see the HD image.
If your HDTV has HDMI (it should be listed in the manual or on the back of the TV) then all you need is 1, count that 1, HDMI cable. Buy a PS3, it is the best priced and most capable and future-proof Blu-ray player out there. Buy an HDMI cable. Hook the HDMI cable from the back of the PS3 to the back of the TV. That is it.
If it does not support HDMI, then you can use "Component" cables. This looks like 5 cables hooked together, 1 green, 1 blue, 2 red, 1 white. Buy the PS3 and a PS3 component cable. Now plug the Multi AV Out on the back of the PS3 to the Multi side of the cable (it is easier than it sounds, it only its one way), and then the red green and blue video cables to the red green and blue video input on the TV. Make sure you do not confuse the red audio with the red video. Then hook up the red and white audio.
That is it.

If a PS3 is not in your idea of a BD player, you should look at the home page and look at the top menu bar for "Players". it lists them all and where to get them.

[nouou]

Ok thanks everyone. The PS3 isn't my flavor, I have no interest in playing games on it, but will buy one if it deems to be the best. Thanks.

[arush5268d]

Just see what looks good to you. Many here don't want to admit it, but there's a lot of drawbacks to the PS3 - especially if it already isn't your flavor!

What kind of budget do you have for this player?

[nouou]

No more than $450 total on the player. I've been trying to see if the Panasonic BD30 or Sony S500 can play BD-R/BD-RE formats but cannot find this information anywhere.

[arush5268d]

I do believe the Panny can. Hang on - I'm gonna dig up some documentation to confirm.

[arush5268d]

Here.....pasted from the Panasonic website...

BD-ROM Playback BD-Video (Final Standard Profile)
BD-RE SL/DL BD-MV (BD-RE Version 3), JPEG
BD-R SL/DL BD-MV (BD-R Version 2)
DVD Playback DVD-Video
DVD-RAM Playback DVD-VR, JPEG, AVCHD(H.264)
DVD-R/-RW/-R(DL) 1 Playback DVD-Video, DVD-VR, AVCHD(H.264)
+R/+R(DL)/+RW Playback Video, AVCHD
CD, CD-R/-RW 2 Playback CD-DA, MP3 3(CD-R/-RW only), JPEG(CD-R/-RW only)
SD Memory Card AVCHD, JPEG

[nouou]

Wow ok thanks. Do you think that's a good player?