Best quality player to be had for $200 or less?

[Ray Jackson]

My Sony has started making weird noises.

...might be time for a new one.

[drmdvl]

What features are important to you?

4K?
3D?
UHD?
Streaming services?

I have the sony S6500

Pros -
Price, can find them now for under $100 new!
3D, 4K upscaling
Tons of streaming services and maintains solid wifi connections
Easy user interface
Playback of multiple formats are usually flawless with good picture
Disable power saver feature and boot up time is really fast
Supports all the audio formats

Cons -
No UHD
Box looks cheaply designed (not really a con just subjective and the internals are great)

Good luck!

[moviesforlife]

drmdvl,

I had a PS3 which absolutely loved for all my blu-ray movies. I also have a Samsung 55-inch LED 1080P television, no 4K, no 3D.

Would the S6500 be overkill?

How would you compare your Sony S6500 to the PS3 in terms of audio/video rendering?

[drmdvl]

Originally Posted by moviesforlife

drmdvl,

I had a PS3 which absolutely loved for all my blu-ray movies. I also have a Samsung 55-inch LED 1080P television, no 4K, no 3D.

Would the S6500 be overkill?

How would you compare your Sony S6500 to the PS3 in terms of audio/video rendering?

I dont think there is a ton of a quality difference in picture. I think it does a little bit better of a job upscaling DVDs to BD quailty. 4K.3D dont matter to you so thats not a benefit.
Do you have the slim PS3? The original cannot bitstream lossless TrueHD or DTS HDMA. If you do not have an AVR setup with surround sound then this probably doesnt matter to you so much.
Some other perks - loads fast, easier to integrate with universal remotes - like harmony.

This was their top of the line model in 2015 for couple hundred bucks, can be had for 75-90 now and is good bang for the buck. If youre just playing DVDs/BD on the tv speakers or even in 2.1 - dont change.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by drmdvl

What features are important to you?

4K?
3D?
UHD?
Streaming services?

I have the sony S6500

Pros -
Price, can find them now for under $100 new!
3D, 4K upscaling
Tons of streaming services and maintains solid wifi connections
Easy user interface
Playback of multiple formats are usually flawless with good picture
Disable power saver feature and boot up time is really fast
Supports all the audio formats

Cons -
No UHD
Box looks cheaply designed (not really a con just subjective and the internals are great)

Good luck!

Great stuff man!

Really appreciate it.

Good PQ, fast Wi-Fi and durability are problem my top priorities.

I only have a 32 inch 720p TV, so even the 4k stuff probably isn't all that important.

My main thing is how long will it last and does it make any kind of noise?

My current player has always been somewhat noisy.

...would love a machine that is almost completely silent.

Wouldn't mind having one with a running-time display screen on the player.

[slimdude]

To be honest, considering your current TV is only 720p max, I would concentrate on upgrading your HDTV to at least a 1080p, before buying a new Blu-ray Player. Blu-ray movies are 1080p resolution, and right now you're not seeing the full video quality of Blu-ray.

[HDTV1080P]

Low cost cheap Blu-ray players for $50-$100 can sometimes last over 10 years. Family members I know have several 7 year old 2010 Panasonic Blu-ray players that are working flawlessly.

The best Sony Blu-ray player to purchase is the Sony UBP-X800 (There is more expensive model coming out later that has 2 analog audio outputs and RS-232).

If your Blu-ray player is still working, then I would wait for the Sony UBP-X800 to be released for under $300. By late 2017 it should be under $200. It plays 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs on standard 720P and 1080P TV’s and it plays SACD’s and DVD-Audio discs.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1317680-REG/sony_ubp_x800_4k_ultra_hsd_blu_ray.html

[BLMN]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Low cost cheap Blu-ray players for $50-$100 can sometimes last over 10 years. Family members I know have several 7 year old 2010 Panasonic Blu-ray players that are working flawlessly.

The best Sony Blu-ray player to purchase is the Sony UBP-X800 (There is more expensive model coming out later that has 2 analog audio outputs and RS-232).

If your Blu-ray player is still working, then I would wait for the Sony UBP-X800 to be released for under $300. By late 2017 it should be under $200. It plays 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs on standard 720P and 1080P TV’s and it plays SACD’s and DVD-Audio discs.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1317680-REG/sony_ubp_x800_4k_ultra_hsd_blu_ray.html

This new Sony player coming up is intriguing, if it can do SACD and DVD-A over HDMI like the Oppo I will probably jump on this and retire my old Oppo.

[Dwayne]

I agree with you HDTV1080P. If this Sony UBP X8000 player can do what it claims, then this would be a great purchase, however at $300.00, I would wait to see how low in price this model can get.

[drmdvl]

The S6500 will also do stereo or multichannel SACD over HDMI, but not UHD discs like the UBP-X800 (wont matter unless you upgrade your screen).

And it will play most of your own video / file types burned on a CD/DVD/BD or USB drive..
mpg, mpeg, avi, mkv, mp4, mts, mov, wmv, mt2s, m4v, flac, mp3, wav, wma... blah, blah, blah... it does them all well.

Also, the youtube browsing / streaming from Ipad works really well.

It's definitely not a silent player like you want, you hear the mechanical at boot up and its just a flimsy plastic box construction... but I dont hear a thing while playing the movie.

Cheers

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by BLMN

This new Sony player coming up is intriguing, if it can do SACD and DVD-A over HDMI like the Oppo I will probably jump on this and retire my old Oppo.

If you do not mind me asking, why would you want to retire your OPPO player, just curious. I myself am interested in this Sony player.

[Ray Jackson]

The current Sony player that I have makes a really noticeable, and quite obnoxious, noise during every scene change when I play DVDs in it.

I've been told that's not normal.

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

The current Sony player that I have makes a really noticeable, and quite obnoxious, noise during every scene change when I play DVDs in it.

I've been told that's not normal.

Have you tried updating the FW.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by tele1962

Have you tried updating the FW.

Mine updates automatically.

...at least according to the tech people at Sony.

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

The current Sony player that I have makes a really noticeable, and quite obnoxious, noise during every scene change when I play DVDs in it.

I've been told that's not normal.

I have owned a lot of Blu-ray players and played many DVDs in them, and never heard anything like what you are describing. I wished that I knew something that might remedy this, but I have no idea. Hopefully someone here can help. Good Luck.

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Mine updates automatically.

...at least according to the tech people at Sony.

It's connected to the internet and everything?

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by tele1962

It's connected to the internet and everything?

[BLMN]

Originally Posted by drmdvl

The S6500 will also do stereo or multichannel SACD over HDMI, but not UHD discs like the UBP-X800 (wont matter unless you upgrade your screen).

And it will play most of your own video / file types burned on a CD/DVD/BD or USB drive..
mpg, mpeg, avi, mkv, mp4, mts, mov, wmv, mt2s, m4v, flac, mp3, wav, wma... blah, blah, blah... it does them all well.

Also, the youtube browsing / streaming from Ipad works really well.

It's definitely not a silent player like you want, you hear the mechanical at boot up and its just a flimsy plastic box construction... but I dont hear a thing while playing the movie.

Cheers

S6500 don't do DVD-A, that's why was curious about the new Sony UHD player.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by BLMN

S6500 don't do DVD-A, that's why was curious about the new Sony UHD player.

Its my understanding that this will be the very first Sony Blu-ray player that has every supported DVD-AUDIO. Before we just had SACD.

[David M]

Originally Posted by drmdvl

The S6500 will also do stereo or multichannel SACD over HDMI, but not UHD discs like the UBP-X800 (wont matter unless you upgrade your screen).

And it will play most of your own video / file types burned on a CD/DVD/BD or USB drive..
mpg, mpeg, avi, mkv, mp4, mts, mov, wmv, mt2s, m4v, flac, mp3, wav, wma... blah, blah, blah... it does them all well.

Also, the youtube browsing / streaming from Ipad works really well.

It's definitely not a silent player like you want, you hear the mechanical at boot up and its just a flimsy plastic box construction... but I dont hear a thing while playing the movie.

Cheers

Avoid the S6500 - it has a whole bunch of noise reduction processing on the chip, some of it optional, some not. It reduces detail in certain luminance ranges even when the controls are all set to "off".

The cheaper S3700 has better picture quality, albeit less features.