Best Blu-ray player for non HDMI 5.1 A/V receiver

[miester]

Now that there is a winner in the format war, Blu-ray players have sparked my interest. This is strange because my son has Sony PS3 an over a year ago I bought Black Hawk Down on an I was extremely impressed with the picture quality of the movie. The problem lies with my a/v receiver it a older 5.1 non HDMI receiver an I cannot receive the new audio formats that Blu-ray offers. I was wondering if someone or anyone could steer me in the best direction on a Blu-ray player. I really don't want to at this time or in the foreseeable future buy a new receiver if I can avoid it. I'm sure there a lot of people who have faced the same dilemma and if this question has already been asked I apologize because I 'm new to this site. If anyone could give a hand I appreciate it.

[Beta Man]

Just buy the PS3 and run optical to your receiver...... They output HDMI, but Optical, or Coaxial..... all your choice.

You say your son has a PS3.... so I'm assuming you're not looking into the gaming aspects of a PS3, but after a lot of searching, I decided on the PS3, and I never play games on the thing, it's just my Blu player, and it does a great job at it. (my father, of course, would consider the implications of what his friends would think if they saw a gaming console in his home!!)

[Rustmonsteru]

Check the players section on this site. Any player that can decode the new codecs onboard and pass the signal to your receiver by analogue outs would work.

[Doobiewah]

I have an older Sony DD5.1/DTS5.1 receiver that still sounds great. I bought a Panny BD30 and connect the audio via optical to the Sony and have HDMI going to my 46" LCD with audio off. The picture is great and the sound is excellent. I have no desire to buy a new receiver at this time and am quite happy with the 'older' surround formats which, by the way, sound spectacular on the Sony. Reading several forums, it sounds like the new 7.1 formats are excellent and I may make that plunge someday; however, my family and I were happy to invest in the better 1080p LCD and the Blu-ray player and stick with our older, but still quite formidable, Sony Receiver.

HTH

The Doob

PS: I have to say that the PS3 is an interesting Blu-ray option; however, I found the fan noisy and the remote capabilities annoying enough that I did not wish to use it as a primary home entertainment Blu-ray player. The picture quality and SD upconversion on the PS3 are quite nice, tho; so, if those things don't bother you, it is an option.

[MikeFL52]

Originally Posted by miester

Now that there is a winner in the format war, Blu-ray players have sparked my interest. This is strange because my son has Sony PS3 an over a year ago I bought Black Hawk Down on an I was extremely impressed with the picture quality of the movie. The problem lies with my a/v receiver it a older 5.1 non HDMI receiver an I cannot receive the new audio formats that Blu-ray offers. I was wondering if someone or anyone could steer me in the best direction on a Blu-ray player. I really don't want to at this time or in the foreseeable future buy a new receiver if I can avoid it. I'm sure there a lot of people who have faced the same dilemma and if this question has already been asked I apologize because I 'm new to this site. If anyone could give a hand I appreciate it.

If you want all the codecs (including TrueHD and DTS-MA) there isn't a player available right now. The first will probably be the Denon DVD-3800BDCI in a couple of weeks to a month. IMHO this will be the best analog out (non HDMI) player as it appears to have very high end audio processing including advanced bass management. It is however $1999!! The next after that will probably be the Panasonic BD50 which will be significantly cheaper (probably about $600 -$700 at a guess), but I do not think the audio side of it will be as good as the Denon, to some extent you get what you pay for. In the June timeframe the Pioneer DBP-05FD will be available at a price probably somewhere around the $900 mark. Now non of these players are 2.0, for that you will have to wait till about October for the Sony S550, price is supposed to be around $500, but thinking about all the problems there have been with bluray players (and software) to date, to me it seems that profile 2.0 just adds the opportunity for more issues and firmware upgrades and to do exactly what, I am still not clear.

[mr peepers]

Originally Posted by MikeFL52

If you want all the codecs (including TrueHD and DTS-MA) there isn't a player available right now. The first will probably be the Denon DVD-3800BDCI in a couple of weeks to a month. IMHO this will be the best analog out (non HDMI) player as it appears to have very high end audio processing including advanced bass management. It is however $1999!! The next after that will probably be the Panasonic BD50 which will be significantly cheaper (probably about $600 -$700 at a guess), but I do not think the audio side of it will be as good as the Denon, to some extent you get what you pay for. In the June timeframe the Pioneer DBP-05FD will be available at a price probably somewhere around the $900 mark. Now non of these players are 2.0, for that you will have to wait till about October for the Sony S550, price is supposed to be around $500, but thinking about all the problems there have been with bluray players (and software) to date, to me it seems that profile 2.0 just adds the opportunity for more issues and firmware upgrades and to do exactly what, I am still not clear.

the panny bd50 is profile 2.0

[Seastrand]

The Samsung 1400 will decode/output all codecs except DTS-HD MA via the 5.1 analog out.

[golfer]

I joined this forum to ask the same question, so this thread has been helpful. One question re: Seastrand's post. If the player has 7.1 output, and the receiver has 5.1 input, can you simply connect all but the 2 side rear channels and still get decoded hi-def sound or will that make the player revert to something lower in sound rez?

[clyon]

Originally Posted by golfer

I joined this forum to ask the same question, so this thread has been helpful. One question re: Seastrand's post. If the player has 7.1 output, and the receiver has 5.1 input, can you simply connect all but the 2 side rear channels and still get decoded hi-def sound or will that make the player revert to something lower in sound rez?

it will just ignore the 2 speakers.



miester -
does your receiver have 5.1 analogs in the back & can it do PCM????

[miester]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Just buy the PS3 and run optical to your receiver...... They output HDMI, but Optical, or Coaxial..... all your choice.

You say your son has a PS3.... so I'm assuming you're not looking into the gaming aspects of a PS3, but after a lot of searching, I decided on the PS3, and I never play games on the thing, it's just my Blu player, and it does a great job at it. (my father, of course, would consider the implications of what his friends would think if they saw a gaming console in his home!!)

What is the Blu-ray remote that you can buy from Sony separately like? Using the controller leaves something left to be desired if you know what I mean.

[miester]

Originally Posted by Doobiewah

I have an older Sony DD5.1/DTS5.1 receiver that still sounds great. I bought a Panny BD30 and connect the audio via optical to the Sony and have HDMI going to my 46" LCD with audio off. The picture is great and the sound is excellent. I have no desire to buy a new receiver at this time and am quite happy with the 'older' surround formats which, by the way, sound spectacular on the Sony. Reading several forums, it sounds like the new 7.1 formats are excellent and I may make that plunge someday; however, my family and I were happy to invest in the better 1080p LCD and the Blu-ray player and stick with our older, but still quite formidable, Sony Receiver.

HTH

The Doob

PS: I have to say that the PS3 is an interesting Blu-ray option; however, I found the fan noisy and the remote capabilities annoying enough that I did not wish to use it as a primary home entertainment Blu-ray player. The picture quality and SD upconversion on the PS3 are quite nice, tho; so, if those things don't bother you, it is an option.

I hear ya, I'm quite happy with my receiver (Harman Kardon AVR210) and only would part with it if I got a good price for a trade in and that a big if. There also the hassle of wiring two more speakers in our living room and I'm lucky my wife tolerates with the wire hanging from the speakers and the wires that are underneath the area rug. Though being the type of person I am I would still like to receive those new audio formats. I was wondering even if the player decodes the new audio formats will your receiver still be able to reproduce it or just play it at Dolby and DTS 5.1 formats?

[miester]

Originally Posted by MikeFL52

If you want all the codecs (including TrueHD and DTS-MA) there isn't a player available right now. The first will probably be the Denon DVD-3800BDCI in a couple of weeks to a month. IMHO this will be the best analog out (non HDMI) player as it appears to have very high end audio processing including advanced bass management. It is however $1999!! The next after that will probably be the Panasonic BD50 which will be significantly cheaper (probably about $600 -$700 at a guess), but I do not think the audio side of it will be as good as the Denon, to some extent you get what you pay for. In the June timeframe the Pioneer DBP-05FD will be available at a price probably somewhere around the $900 mark. Now non of these players are 2.0, for that you will have to wait till about October for the Sony S550, price is supposed to be around $500, but thinking about all the problems there have been with bluray players (and software) to date, to me it seems that profile 2.0 just adds the opportunity for more issues and firmware upgrades and to do exactly what, I am still not clear.

I thought the PS3s did but after reading http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/05/08...or-ps3-owners/ I found out it doesn't. I read this message I saw on DVDtown.com forum and I agree with it "Honestly I'm amazed there isn't a class action lawsuit against Sony. With all its BS since bluray was released it still amazes me they are not being held accountable for everything they've done so far." Then I go back to read an article I saw in Sound & Vision a magazine I read religiously and it says 'The PS3 offers built-in decoding for high-rez Dolby TrueHD soundtracks, which it will convert to a multichannel linear PCM signal for output over HDMI. And since we're talking about an HDMI 1.3 connection here, it can also be used to route Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams to an outboard receiver or processor equipped with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, when those products become available.
' I feel betrayed. Maybe the PS3 isn't as far ahead of the other DVD player as people made them out to be and I guess I wasn't the only fooled. Believe me Sound & Vision is going to hear from me.

[miester]

Originally Posted by clyon

it will just ignore the 2 speakers.



miester -
does your receiver have 5.1 analogs in the back & can it do PCM????

I think I do would this be it? Logic 7 C delivers increased center-channel intelligibility, and more accurate placement of sounds with fades and pans that are much smoother and more realistic than with other decoding techniques. The Logic 7 M or Music mode should be used with analog or PCM stereo sources.