I am asking for suggestions on the purchase of a inexpensive Blue ray player for a living room system which serves as a modest 2.1 video and music system. I have two other systems which are music only. I am looking to use HDMI output for video and digital coax out into a DAC for sound. Something that could be purchased under $300. I will explore on Amazon for options. Thanks.
I use the Playstation 3, you can find them cheap. It has HMDI/Optical out and the player itself is great quality, the only issue is the fan is kinda loud, so if your room is small and you will be sitting close to it it may annoying.
I just went through this about a month ago. Read lots of reviews and used my personal experience as well as other videophiles. I would suggest you find new or like new Pioneer Elite, Sony, Marantz, Denon and Yamaha. If you need specific models pm me. I bought mine through eBay and USaudiomart.
p.s. If you need one with a front read-out pay close attention. Many newer models can only be operated when the TV is on! There is no front panel display to show operation. sometimes I may want to pop in a CD or Music DVD and just listen. Without a display you cannot see track, time, replay, elapsed time etc....
The two new players on my list are the Sony UHPH1 and the Yamaha BD-S681. I am also looking at some used machines on Ebay. Several Pioneer Elite models available there.
I second yamaha. The aventage bd 1060 features balanced analalog output and you are buying a lot for the money. I have had the yamaha bd-s677 for the past 3 years, love it for sound and picture, but mostly the sound through the analog outputs...it sounds much better than my msb dac. I recently have tried the sony h1, kept it for three weeks and sent it back because of audio. So compressed, flat, same as the bottom of the line 2008 sony dvd player i still have. To play cds, you have to have the screen on and gracenot because there's no display on the unit to select tracks. No comparison with yamaha on sonics. With that said, it could make a nice transport with its rigid chassis, i think that's what sony intended it to be, and it does offer excellent video.
mesch, the new sony uhp-h1 is really an old 2010 blu-ray player in a more rigid chassis. It is so not "premium" that they just dropped the price to $200. After having tried it continuously for 3 weeks, i would not even get it at $200.
Well, I just purchased a new Yamaha BD-S681 from a certified dealer via Ebay. Paid $270 for it shipped. After receiving and putting it into play I will get back to everyone as to what I think. Thanks for your help!
Super duper. Also, the yamaha has two usbs, one in the back, the other on the front. So if you have very hd files (dsd 5.6, 192/24 or even 384/24), you can play them nicely from a thump drive or hard drive.
i ordered the sony, the other day, had them tell me when it was available for sale. will be here tdy...........will let you know how it sounds, got mind for $299.........
Chrisr, I have not used the Yamaha that much yet. Played one DVD and one BRD. Picture and sound with movies were quite good. I hooked it up using the audio output, based on your experience. Havn't used it for music yet. I will post back once i have had more time with it. Very satisfied with my choice, thanks for your 3/11 post.
Jetter, I misread the above post which referred to the Sony. I am not dissatisfied at my purchase price.
I am very happy with this BDP. I continue to use the analog output straight to a Cambridge Audio 550 amp driving Dali Zensor 1s. Far better than the cheap players, and commensurate with the rest of system. There are few players that bridge the price gap between the sub $100 players and the OPPO class players. This seems to be one of the better value ones that does.
The only thing that yamaha could do is improve the firmware to enable streaming tidal, spotify, netflix and the like. I don’t like having to stream with a roku.
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