Suggestions on a Blu-ray DVD player?

Are you using a receiver and its DACs? If so, the Oppo should be all you need.

you may not like this answer, but most all of the current bluray players outputing on HDMI 1.3 will give you the same home theater experience. No need to spend over $100 on the player FOR HOME THEATER.

1st thing, I disagree with Ghstudio's assessment. Those $100 players will never give you the picture quality that the Oppo produces from standard-def DVDs - not even close.

Additionally, since it's for HT use only, I wouldn't bother with buying the SE or any of the other hot-rodded versions. Use the HDMI output and you'll be in HT heaven for very reasonable money. Of course, this will also allow you to use room-correction and (real) bass management found on most HT receivers and pre-processors nowadays. You lose that by going to the analog outputs, stick with the HDMI connection.

I currently have the plain-Jane version and decided NOT to upgrade to the SE mainly beacuse I am buying a new pre-processor and will make use of the HDMI connection from the Oppo to the pre-pro. According to Oppo, unless you are going to run the player using the analog outputs, there is no benefit to buying the SE version. Good enough for me!

I can tell you that it delivers a *fantastic* picture regardless of the disc type - DVDs look terrific on my 1080i-capable RPTV. And, actually, with my display, BluRay discs look only marginally better than the upscaled DVDs. This is okay by me, my budget is a bit tight right now and it's nice to get a little more use out of my old and archaic DVD collection.

One other thing, it also *sounds* pretty darn good - DVD-Audio and SACDs sound terrific. CDs sound plenty good, too, and this unit will also decode my collection of HDCDs - very cool! I believe I have found the only digital source I'll be needing for the forseeable future - put a 5.25" shiny disc in the thing and let 'er rip, it will play any disc you can buy today and do a damn good job of it.

Oppo have created a world beater and should be quite proud. This is the best piece of gear I have purchased in quite some time.

Bravo, Oppo!!

-RW-

Sony BDP 760. You should check out the Pioneer BDP-LX 52 and the Sony BDP 360 too.

All of the bluray players play bluray videos outstandingly. The difference is when you play a non bluray disk. Consider, however, that you can do video conversion in the bluray player, the processor, or the TV. You don't have to do the conversion in the player. The Onkyo/Integra's have excellent conversion and some of the TV's also do a very good job of conversion....so it's not necessary to spend a great deal of money on all the components for video conversion, as long as you have one that does a good job.

So, i repeat my statement...all the players will do a good job given decent other gear.

What Ghstudio said. For less than $250 one can get an excellent Blu-Ray player. For Blu-Ray discs the video performance is very, very close for all players, regardless of cost. The more expensive players typically have more settings available to tweak the video. DVD up-conversion can vary, but less expensive models can be had that have very good up-conversion.

No doubt, the Oppo is a great player, but those seeking a less expensive player have plenty of options.

One key area are to look at is software compatibility. Some players need constant firmware updates to play the latest discs. Vendor support may vary. I'm very happy with my JVC XV-BP1. I had a Samsung before this, and it was truly horrible. AVSForum is a good site to take a look at when considering a player.

I'm thinking of going with the OPPO still, but what video processing chips do the Sony's and Pioneer use?

I think they use the Silicon Optix Reon Chip, i dont know if something has changed.

current Samsung under $250 are bargains

I decided to order the Oppo Blu-ray player today. Thanks for all the input guys.