Need advice for buying a blu ray player

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Louis Winthorpe III
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Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by Louis Winthorpe III »

I've got an old Panasonic blue ray player that is getting a little buggy. I assumed it would be easy to replace, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the choices. What I care most about is just being able to pop in a disc and watch a movie, but if I'm going to buy something new, maybe it would be wise to get something with wifi and apps that can stream videos? My wife and I don't stream videos today, but maybe if I had something that made it easy to do we would. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
anonenigma
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by anonenigma »

I bought a Sony BDP-S3100 (2013 model) with wi-fi, and it does exactly what you want - play discs well and stream. I'm not sure what the newer version is, but I'm really happy with mine.
mhalley
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by mhalley »

How about getting an xbox one or a ps4? Now you have a blu ray player, internet player for netflix etc, plus a game console.
Otherwise i would check out avs forums.
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/149-blu-ray-players/
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sunny_socal
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by sunny_socal »

I'd also recommend a PS3 (cheaper) or PS4. These work very well as an "entertainment hub" and can stream via all the popular services.

And here you go, $149 w/ free shipping from Wally world:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/PS3-12GB-Cons ... e/38456902
killjoy2012
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by killjoy2012 »

Don't forget that the firmware in BR players periodically need to be updated in order for them to be able to decrypt (AACS) the latest titles. Therefore, wifi (or wired Ethernet) serves a purpose beyond just the apps. But no, I wouldn't buy a BR Player based on the apps it supports since i already have a Roku, WDTV Live, etc.

You may also consider forgoing the dedicated HT BR player and just rip your BRs to files and stream them. You can buy a BR-ROM drive for $40-45. But that assumes you have some streaming capabilities. Just depends on what you want, I guess. My dedicated BR player probably hasn't been power up in a year.
fsrph
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by fsrph »

anonenigma wrote:I bought a Sony BDP-S3100 (2013 model) with wi-fi, and it does exactly what you want - play discs well and stream. I'm not sure what the newer version is, but I'm really happy with mine.
Exactly what I bought too. Happy with it. Mostly use Netflix, YouTube and Crackle and has many other apps as well. Plays Dvd's great. I'd recommend it.

Francis
"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." | Dale Carnegie
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HardKnocker
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by HardKnocker »

I recently bought a Fuji Blu-Ray player at WalMart for $35.

It works well.

I have a refurbished PC connected to my TV too so I can access the web.

The refurb PC was about $100.
“Gold gets dug out of the ground, then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility.”--Warren Buffett
texasdiver
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by texasdiver »

They are getting pretty commoditized these days.

I bought a second one at Costco a month ago for I think $79. Some random Samsung model. Works perfectly well and loads faster than the much older Sony I have in the other room. If you want internet connectivity then WiFi is a must unless you want to be stringing ethernet wires.

I did notice that the new one only had HDMI and digital audio outputs. They aren't even bothering to put any other kind of cable connections on them anymore. If you have an older TV with limited HDMI inputs and are using the other ones for other purposes like a cable box or game console then that could be an issue.

I think this sort of product is getting pretty mature and it doesn't really matter what you get as long as it is by some reputable brand and not some weird off-brand thing that Wally World is trying to offload for suspiciously cheap.
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GerryL
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by GerryL »

I've been using a Blu-ray player with built-in wifi for years to play disks and stream Netflix. Back when I got my box you had to pay a little extra to get built-in wifi instead of "wifi-ready," which required a dongle. Easy way to get two functions (streaming and disk-playing) in a single device.
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LAlearning
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by LAlearning »

I know nothing!
killjoy2012
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by killjoy2012 »

texasdiver wrote: I did notice that the new one only had HDMI and digital audio outputs. They aren't even bothering to put any other kind of cable connections on them anymore. If you have an older TV with limited HDMI inputs and are using the other ones for other purposes like a cable box or game console then that could be an issue.
FYI - You will never find a BR player that has coax output. The BR spec requires copy protection between the player and TV which is only (practically) supported by HDMI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandw ... Protection
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heartwood
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by heartwood »

I agree that they are all a commodity purchase today so check out the options they have. We got a #1 best seller Samsung wireless from Amazon for about $60. It works fine for Netflix, Hulu Plus and some others, but it did not note that it does not get Amazon. Also unless you have a Samsung TV/monitor you will need to use two controllers, one for the BR and one for the TV. Samsung has a TV button on the BR remote but it only works for a Samsung TV and is not programmable for others. Its very annoying to use one for volume and another to start/stop the play.
FreemanB
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by FreemanB »

Personally, I'd stick with a cheaper, non-streaming BD player if you don't have any specific need for streaming. Later on, if you feel the need to stream something, there are plenty of options(Chromecast, Amazon TV, Roku, etc.) that in my experience are much better at streaming than the built-in apps in TVs and BD players.
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by Doom&Gloom »

FreemanB wrote:Personally, I'd stick with a cheaper, non-streaming BD player if you don't have any specific need for streaming. Later on, if you feel the need to stream something, there are plenty of options(Chromecast, Amazon TV, Roku, etc.) that in my experience are much better at streaming than the built-in apps in TVs and BD players.
+1

I have a couple of older Panasonic BDP's that are capable of streaming, but I haven't even considered using them for that since I got my Roku players.
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cheese_breath
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Re: Need advice for buying a blu ray player

Post by cheese_breath »

Look at LG if you have any PAL DVDs you might still want to play. Does everything you want and was the only reasonable priced blu ray player that also played PAL when I bought mine 2 years ago.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
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