Cheapest Region A Blu-ray player with Optical Audio Output?

[bob saget]

Hi there. I'm looking for a regular region A Blu-ray player for under $50 with an outlet for my optical audio. Have had no such luck finding a cheap player with such options. Any suggestions on where else to look?

[bob saget]

Can anyone help me out?

[HDTV1080P]

Digital Optical output and digital coaxial output only offers lossy bitstream sound quality. For the best sound quality you would want to use a HDMI connection to a A/V receiver to experience lossless sound quality that is bit for bit exactly the same as the studio master.

I am guessing that you want optical audio output to support a legacy A/V receiver that does not have HDMI input.

You will have a hard time finding a Blu-ray player under $50 with optical output. The reason is, manufactories are trying to keep prices low and even on some high end models they have eliminated the optical audio output. Most under $50 Blu-ray players just have HDMI output which offers lossless audio.

I normal only recommend OPPO, Sony, and Panasonic Blu-ray players since they offer reliable firmware updates and offer a better level of quality compared to some other brands. If you’re A/V receiver supports digital coaxial then you could go with a low cost Sony Blu-ray player for under $60. Even the top of the line 2014 Sony Blu-ray players for over $150 does not offer optical output anymore. According to the spec sheet the new Panasonic Blu-ray players like the DMP-BD91 does not even have any coaxial or optical output.

Recommendation

If you’re A/V receiver does not support HDMI lossless audio, then I would recommend purchasing a Sony Blu-ray player like the BDP-S1200 for $59.99 or less (requires wired internet connection for BD-LIVE and streaming. Other Sony models have WI-FI).

If your A/V receiver or sound bar does not have a digital coaxial input then you will need to purchase a coaxial RCA to optical audio converter for around $12.00.Therefore any Blu-ray player on the market that has a digital coaxial audio output can be converted to optical audio output with a low cost adapter for around $12.

[Sifox211]

I'm also looking for a region A player with coax output and this Sony BDP-S1200 looks the business (especially as it has an external power supply that will handle UK 240V supply); this would be in use alongside my region B player, which is also a Sony, a BDP-S350.

I have one potential problem though - will the remote codes for these two devices be the same? My ancient Panasonic DVD player has the ability to be switched to one of three different protocols to avoid messing with other players but there is no such ability with either of these Sonys.

Does anyone know if their codes are the same or different?

[HDTV1080P]

OPPO Blu-ray players have 3 different remote codes that allow consumers to have up to 3 OPPO Blu-ray players in the same room. However most other brands of Blu-ray players including Sony use the same remote code since most consumers will only have one Blu-ray player in the same room. Therefore, if you have two Sony Blu-ray players in the same room that are different model numbers then most likely they will interfere with each other since most likely they will use the exact same remote code. Your best solution if you need two Blu-ray players in the same room is to have one brand be a Sony and the other brand be a Panasonic, or purchase two OPPO Blu-ray players.

Instead of owning a region B Blu-ray player and a region A imported Blu-ray player (and third region C Blu-ray player for some consumers), a popular solution with consumers is to purchase third party modified Blu-ray players that are region selectable for all regions. Studios do not like third party companies selling region selectable players, however they are legal to own for consumers. It is better than having to purchase a Blu-ray player for every region that one wants to watch a movie. I could not imagine one owning 6 different DVD players in the same room in order to watch movies from all 6 regions. This is why consumers purchase hacked region selectable Blu-ray players or kits from 3rd party companies.

[Sifox211]

Thanks for your reply HDTV1080P.

I actually already have a Toshiba BDX-1200 which has the region selectable Australian firmware - its a nice player but unfortunately suffers from the sound drop out problem on about 50% of the disks I play on it (mostly RA Criterions). There appears to be no solution and since I only have A and B disks it seems an RA only player is a solution.

I'd love to go for a Panasonic but they don't do the coax anymore (thanks to this thread, otherwise I might have overlooked that issue!), so the next choice is probably a Samsung.

(Actually, I have another multiregion player, a Foehn & Hirsch, a noisy and erratic unit that nevertheless works OK, so I'll still be able to play a RC BD if I ever get one!)

Also in my living room: multi region Panny A-360, fifteen years old and still going strong; a Toshiba EP-35 HD-DVD; and my Sony 350 is also MR for DVDs, so I'm well covered

Long term, I reckon an OPPO is the way to go, or perhaps one of those universal players from Arcam. But I need to figure out which way I'm going re integrating my 2-channel hifi (with SACD) and a home theatre solution...