Panasonic DMP-BD30K or wait

[Scooby1966]

Hi all,

I'm currently using my PS3 for watching Blu-Rays, but I'd really rather have a Standalone. The Panasonic DMP-BD30K gets released here in Germany in March and will cost €449 including Cars and Ratatoulie on BR. The Player is said to decode all Audio Tracks and also passthrough over Bitstream, but is only Profile 1.1 (BD Live and Online Content don't really matter to me at all). The BD50K will be relased in July and is Profile 2.0, although the Price has not been mentioned (but I expect it to be over €600).

What would you guys suggest?

TIA

Scooby

[Cambrian]

I would wait for the BD50. You already have the PS3, which is a profile 1.1 player. It would be a waste to buy a BD30 right now unless you really need DTS-HD MA that bad!

[ManUtd]

If you really want a standalone and don't care about 2.0 features, sell your ps3 and go for the BD30.

[ryoohki]

Btw... BD30 don't Decode anything but DD and DTS (normal one).. but it bitstream everything.

Second, ask youreself, will you go online with you're player?

Mine was, never... so i bought the BD30..

[nyworker3]

if you want a great player that can bitstream dts ma and true hd this is the one for you, i love my player

[mightypen]

another vote for the bd30. Great little machine.

[Arkadin]

I have the bd-30 and it is indeed a great player.
That said, the bd-50 is not too far off. If you can wait a little bit more I would probably get the bd-50 since it is so close to being released. Tough call.

[jpthomas27]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Btw... BD30 don't Decode anything but DD and DTS (normal one).. but it bitstream everything.

Second, ask youreself, will you go online with you're player?

Mine was, never... so i bought the BD30..

I definately agree here!

I'd rather my reciever decode the audio, so what the player decodes wasn't a big deal for me. Also as mentioned above, my answer to going on-line with my player was NO. So I bought the BD-30 and I love it. Everything I need, great up-scaling and cheaper than the BD-50 when it comes out. Buy what you need and want, no need to buy the newest player on the market and pay a high price and then not use the features you paid for.

If your not planing on using the on-line features then buy the BD-30.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Btw... BD30 don't Decode anything but DD and DTS (normal one).. but it bitstream everything.

Pay particular attention to this ^^^ If your receiver does not decode the hi-def audio bitstreams (only some very recent ones do), then the BD30 will be pretty useless, as you will just get regular DVD player sound.

[krisjan]

Originally Posted by fdm

Pay particular attention to this ^^^ If your receiver does not decode the hi-def audio bitstreams (only some very recent ones do), then the BD30 will be pretty useless, as you will just get regular DVD player sound.

That's not entirely true. You can get hi-rez LPCM from the 5.1 analog outputs of the BD30 when the BD has such an audio track (lot's of them have LPCM). However, if the disc doesn't have a LPCM track, then all you will get is standard Dolby/DTS 5.1.

[WickyWoo]

I'd just get the BD50