Most important BDP features.

[rogalik]

What are the most important features when you choose BDP?

[ScarredLungs]

One important feature is load times. You want to get a player that has fast load times.

[Sonny]

Depending on the gear you have...? Yeah load times, internal decoding of lossless audio, bit streaming of lossless audio, 7.1 through HDMI, 7.1 through analog, profile 2.0 for easy update's, lots of picture controls (the new Pioneers will have 13 & auto calibrate when connected to a 9G Kuro & soon to be compatible with "all?" displays) easy navigation, & so on...These are just some of the things that are important, & these features will make it easier to sell when the time comes because of the internal decoding, bit streaming & 7.1 analog covers all senerios for future owners & it broadens the potential buyer 'pool'.

[rogalik]

You mentioned loading time. I saw in some test that there are two loading times distinguished. HDMV and BDJ. Which one is more important? Are there many disc with java? If yes what about its performance?

[ryoohki]

HDMV is basic menu. Most players load those in a brease because they are using limitation and very basic options. Most warner release prior to Batman Dark Knight are like that.

BD-J is waht is currently used by Disney, Sony, Universal, FOX etc. All big studio use it. It's a version of Java for Blu-ray. So those company can do whatever they want with the interface.

I'd say that any Blu-ray player from the last generation got fairly good load time. Like the S350, BD35 (from Panasonic) etc. I know that the new models are out right now (like samsung BDP1600 and BD60 from Panasonic) and i don't know the speed but it won't be slower for sure.

The fastest one is still the PS3, but it's also the noisiest one (no matter what people say, Standalone Blu-ray player makes no noise)

[rogalik]

I have been thinking about BDP for some time. As I can see manufacturers release new firmware from time to time. Is it important? I know that the BD specification is still changing. And since I am Java developer I know that programmers like to make bugs Are there many problems with the movies and players? Does the fimrware fix problems regarding only player or also sometimes fix the problems with movies? Which manufacturer is handling such problems the best?

Btw. I have PS3 but for my new house I want to design pure home theater in the living room. PS3 has the separte room. I play PS3 on my own but watch movies with my wife

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by rogalik

I have been thinking about BDP for some time. As I can see manufacturers release new firmware from time to time. Is it important? I know that the BD specification is still changing. And since I am Java developer I know that programmers like to make bugs Are there many problems with the movies and players? Does the fimrware fix problems regarding only player or also sometimes fix the problems with movies? Which manufacturer is handling such problems the best?

Btw. I have PS3 but for my new house I want to design pure home theater in the living room. PS3 has the separte room.

You can't go wrong with either Sony or Panasonic. I owned a BD30 and i own a S350 now and i never had any single issue. My S350 is hooked to the internet via a Wireless Bridge (the new 560 will have WIFI) and alert me automatically when a new FW is available and i update.

The most update they do is because of the BD+ protection and AACS Keys that studio change to piss off 'THAT SOFTWARE' but it always takes them 2 sec to crack it so i don't see the point of it but anyway..

[bongzilla]

One of the features I used to make my decision, I wanted only players
with ethernet port on back. I do not want to be burning firmware images
on cd,s. My modum and router are right with the players, and there is another important firmware update for the PS3 coming around 4-18-2009.

[brettallica]

As ryoohki said, you really can't go wrong with Sony. Blu-ray is Sony's baby (for the most part), so you know any player that comes out with Sony's nametag is going to give you good/great quality in Blu-ray playback and experience overall.

I love my Sony BDP-S550, as it is network-compatible and does its updates automatically. It is also Profile 2.0 compliant, which as far as what I know is going to be the one that sticks around for a while. Even if it doesn't, I'm sure it'll be upgradeable to an extent when the next one comes out.

I haven't done much comparing in this area, but its load times do leave a little something to be desired. I don't know how well other models do with this, but for me it's mostly a moot point. The way I see it, if I'm going to watch a 90-minute movie, 30 seconds of extra load time don't really matter too much. It's all in how you look at it. My wife despises the long load times, so perhaps that will be a factor for your application. It really isn't a factor for me, but every once in a while I do have to hear about it from my wife. Blus simply take a long time to load, and it's something that doesn't bother me.

Upscaling is another feature that might be worth your research time. My player does a great job of that. We have a few animated films on DVD that look great.