Blu Ray Disc Players

LG group is the largest South Korean company that manufactures a wide range of products such as mobile phones and petrochemical products. When it comes to the field of the high definition players, LG was the first company to bring a smart solution to the hi-def format war by introducing their LG BH100 Blu-Ray/HD DVD player which could play both the formats. Though there were a few drawbacks with that player, it was one of the most welcome products in the UK markets. LG’s next product in the high definition discs is the LG BD300 Blu-Ray DVD Player. This player is one of the most anticipated one, which supports the “winner” format of the hi-def disc war, the “Blu-Ray” format.

This time too, LG has come up with another “first” for the most increasingly popular format as, LG BD300 Blu-Ray Player will be the first to be able to stream the Netflix on-line watch show of a range of movies. LG BD300 Blu-ray dvd Player has also come up with a number of other additional useful network features.

Design:

LG BD 300 Blu-ray disc Player looks slim and has a glossy piano-black finish for its face and matte black finish for its sides. It comes with the dimension (H x W x D) 58 x 430 x 280mm which is comparatively compact. The player has the four main buttons, that is, the play, stop, forward and reverse buttons towards its right and the disc tray is present towards its left. The buttons glow blue when the player is on, which might give the player a gorgeous look but might end up irritating if you are watching the movie in a dark room. The player has the FLD (Ferro Liquid Display) display. This display allows you to have high density displays in smaller areas. LG has given the player a good build quality as always.

As with the previous version, BD100 comes with the universal remote control which looks big but not bulky and can be held comfortably in hand. The buttons are placed in logical places and back light illumination is available for the menu direction pad. This remote control can be used to control all the LG TV products.
The rear panel of BD100 sports the Audio L/R, Coaxial, Optical, HDMI and Multi ch. Audio out. The HDMI used is of version1.3 (deep colour).

Picture and sound quality:

LG BD-300 Blu Ray Player produces the best possible picture quality as it supports the 1080p Full HD picture quality. It plays back high definition movies on to a compatible TV with a resolution of up to 1080p, which is the best quality that you can ever get.

LG BD 300 High Definition player comes with a storage space of 50GB which aids in producing better quality of both picture and sound. As the sound does not need to be compressed, there is no loss in the quality of the sound and the details are presented as they are. This Blu-ray disc player supports both the formats of the high definition audio such as the Dobly TrueHD and DTS-HD Audio.

Supported formats:

The playable disc formats of the player are, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD(NTSC), DVD(PAL), DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, Audio CD, CD-R and CD-RW. LG BD300 Player plays the existing DVDs and upscales them to 1080p picture quality.

The supported video formats includes DivX, MPEG2, MPEG AVC (H.264), SMPTE VC1 (VC-9) and the supported audio formats are, LPCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD MA, MPEG1/2 L2 (PCM only), MP3 (PCM only), and WMA (PCM only). The image formats supported includes PNG, JPEG and GIF.

Features and performance:

This player comes with the super fast loading time of just 25seconds and booting time of 20 seconds. This time period is comparatively very good. The time bar displayed is very handy and this player does have the instant tray open.

BD100 is of profile 2.0 along with the Ethernet connection for online access from the interactive blu-ray discs. With this, you will be able to pre-view new title, subtitle and audio stream from server.

This player does come with the USB port for MP3 music or movie playback from an USB stick or an external hard drive. You will not be having any concerns about any complicated connections as SIMPLINK will allow you to have automatic AV input search on your screen.

Verdict:
This LG blu-ray disc player has a lot of advantages but its major competitor is Sony’s playstation3. But since PS3 has Wi-Fi, LG BD300 will have to face some serious competition. Since it has been recently released, we will have to wait to see how it performs.

LG BD300 Blu-Ray DVD Player - Technical Specification Details

The Sony BDP-S500 Blu-ray disc player is Sony’s latest Blu-ray disc player. This player’s predecessor Sony BDP-300 impressed its consumers with a great picture quality and low cost by sacrificing a few important features. BDP-S500 has become a prominent remedy by including a lot of these missing features such as DTS HD decoding and Dolby True HD.

Design:

Sony BDP-S500 Blu-ray DVD player has an eye- catchy design, much better than that of Sony BDP-300 Blu-Ray Disc Player. Though it is not as svelte as the other blu-ray DVD players, this unit has a bulky presence with a supreme build quality. The blue coloured glass fascia with a brushed metal finish is the perfect finishing touch that can be given to this impressive build quality. Sony has included a motorised front panel which glides down elegantly when the open/close toggle is being pressed. The device looks a little bigger and has a very classy looks which is evident in the following picture. The player’s height reaches around 100mm. This extra height makes it look very old fashioned. The motorised front tray might be one of the reasons why the player looks big.

Features:

As BDP-S500 is Sony’s current top-end blu-ray player, this model offers some important features over BDP-S300. The component, composites sockets, HDMI version3 and S-video take care of the video outputs. The player sports 5.1channel analog outputs and optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. These features allow you to enjoy Dolby digital, DTS and decoded HD audio sound tracks if you do not have a HDMI equipped receiver. You can transfer True HD, DTS HD bit streams and Dolby digital plus up to 8 channels of linear PCM through the players HDMI output if you already have a receiver with HDMI input and decoding capabilities. Yet, the player does not support DTS HD master audio so those you want to try out some of the high resolution tracks will be definitely disappointed. This player does not come with a HDMI cable which is unacceptable for a player that is expensive.

Upscaling:
Sony BDP-S500 video player can output videos in the resolutions of 720p, 1080i and1080p and hence, the player can also upscale the DVDs to any of these formats. The player will output the video in the native frame rate while playing blu-ray discs encoded in 1080p/24. If you have televisions with the relevant processing mode, then you can view your videos in the way they were actually shot, else the player also provides you the 1080p/60 output.

Playable formats:
BDP-S500 disc player can play recordable BD-R, BD-RE discs, DVDs, CDs and discs laden with JPEG and MP3 files. The player also has the ability to play AVCHD camcorder recordings on an 8 or 12cm DVD discs. In case they are recorded using xvYCC, then it can playback them with their extended colour palette on a HDMI 3.1 input TV.

Disappointing Profile1.0:
All these features are fascinating but it is disappointing that the player is of the profile 1.0 and not 1.1. As a result, the player can not play some of the interactive features that are found in the other blu-ray displayers. If you are a kind of person who wants to enjoy all the bonus features that are available in the disk, this player would prove to be very frustrating. In this case, you can opt for Sony’s PS3, which is the only player with profile1.1, currently available in the market.

Attractive interface:
This video player has a very easy interface that was attractive and intuitive. The menus are stylishly designed and presented in hi-def. This attractive interface is achieved with the use of XrossMediaBar.

The remote control:
BDP-S500’s remote control looks unique when compared to its counterparts. Its buttons have been carefully designed and logically arranged. It has a blue directional pad in the middle of the unit and the player responds swiftly to the commands of the remote. This player meets with the expectations of the BD-J menu well. The set-up can be accessed only in the stop mode but you can stop the disk without exiting the menu system hence that will not be a trouble for you.

BD-Live:
Sony BD-S500 Blu-Ray DVD Player comes with a Built in BD-Live (Profile 2.0) to immediately access studio-specific online content including trailers, interviews and other extras and enjoy them through your Blu-ray Disc™ Player. You can use the 1GB of exchangeable storage to save downloaded BD-Live content from the internet.

BRAVIA Sync technology:
BRAVIA Sync technology makes connecting the players to BRAVIA televisions and Home Theatre systems from Sony a piece of cake. You can enjoy this facility by connecting Sony components that are compatible with HDMI control function with HDMI cable.

Excellent audio and video performance:

The Sony BDP-S500 excels in one of the most important area, the picture and audio. One of the player’s major complaints was that, it takes a while to load. But once it gets loaded, it is definitely worth the wait. The disc player’s video quality is nothing less than phenomenal with its pure 1080/24p images. It had vivid colour reproduction, represented the deep black, and the ultra-sharp detail handling gave the images an irresistible three dimensionality. The player does not show any of the gamut faults, that we had witnessed in the other hi-def players. This spectacular video performance is complimented by an equally good audio performance. The down-mix from 7.1 to 5.1 surround sound to two-channel stereo is handled well. The HD formats yielded some spectacular sound quality and DVD also sounded great. No fault could be found with the CD playback too.

Sony BDP-S500 Blu-ray disc player has its point of attraction as its video and audio playback. Thought the fact that it lacks SACD playback and DTS HD Master Audio Support is disappointing, the feature list is very good. As the player is with profile 1.0, there is no question on the fact that the player will be outdated in a few months with its inability to cope with the interactive features that will be by then available in the other profile 1.1 complaint blu-ray DVD players.

Technical Specification Details of Sony BDP-S500 Blu-Ray DVD Player

Sony has been in the side of Blu-ray players since the origin of the Blu-ray format and as the format war of the hi-definition players was going on, Sony’s PlayStation3 was the talk of the world and still remains to be one. Sony also manufactured the stand-alone players which were frequently criticised for their bulky look and high prices when compared to other standard players. With the recent release of Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray disc player, we can understand that Sony has attended to both these issues. Sony BDP-S350 has also filled in a great deal of other missing functionalities in its previous model like the DTS-HD master audio decoding and Profile 2.0.

Sleek design:

Compared to Sony’s previous Blu-ray version Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray Disc Player, this player is almost just half its size. This player is just 22cm deep and weighs only 2.9 kgs. The face of the disc is blue-tinted and has a reflective face plate. The LCD Screen is placed towards the right of the player and at the far end, is a couple of playback controls which lacked the chapter forward and backward button which would have been handy in the absence of a clicker. When BDP-S350 is outputting 24fps, the control panel has an indicating button that glows blue. A fan has also been fitted in order to reduce noise created by the player. The player has not only been built small, but has also been strengthened and embossed. Sony BDP-S350 Video Player is a shrewd looking player but not as shrewd as that of Samsungs BD-P1500 blu-ray DVD player.

Logically well-designed remote control:

The remote control provided with the disc looks good too. The navigational pad is present at the centre with a few frequently used buttons around it such as, home, options and menu. This remote can be used for TV also as the remote has separate cradles for changing the channel and volume control. The logical layout of the buttons was good. Though the remote is not back-lit, the buttons are sufficiently differentiated to feel them and change when you are in dark home theatre.

Undesirable placement of USB port:

One major bolt with the design is that, the deep-set USB port which is used for future BD-live compatibility is present at the rear side of the player. This type of a design is not recommended as it will not be easy with all your home theatre cabinets to get hold of the rear side and plug-in them and the second problem is with the cavity of the port, which will support only certain types of memory sticks that are thin and long. Since the cavity is quite big, the USB will not be peeping out of the player’s back much. But as the unit is already shallow and as the rear side of the player will be sporting a lot of cables already, the USB port at the rear side is always disadvantageous. This port can be used for storage requirement.

The USB port’s only role is to act as an external memory for some of the advanced Blu-ray disc features like BD-live. This can be understood with the “EXT” label on the port. Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray DVD Player also has the Ethernet port that is currently used only for firmware updates but in future it can also be employed to extract the content from internet when Sony upgrades the player to Profile2.0.

Xross Media Bar:

Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-Ray Player uses the XMB (Xross Media Bar) which is an attractive and intuitive GUI that makes it easy to see what devices are connected to your BRAVIA – and gives you quick access to them. A lot of tweaks can be done easily and those who like tweaking will enjoy this menu a lot. One of the long desired options is forcing your player to output 24fps is also available. Alongside a Settings option, the horizontal bar displays your connections in easy-to-understand split-ups such as Photos, Digital TV, Analogue TV and Input Devices. Just use your remote to scroll forward and back. When you’ve selected one icon, a vertical bar will automatically appear showing available choices such as TV channels, a Blu-ray Disc player or a Hard Disk Drive DVD Recorder. From there you can click to select a channel or play a disc. As an icing on the cake, you can access the menus and make changes without stopping the disk.

Profile:

Sony BDP-S350 is complaint to profile 1.1 and hence has the features like the Picture-in-Picture and misses out a few features such as BD-live, a feature of profile2.0. Sony is projecting to upgrade the player to profile2.0 through a firmware update.

Audio:

For audio, the player has HDMI output and also both the optical and coaxial digital audio output yet; these cannot handle full resolution of DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD. A stereo RCA-style output is available for analog audio. Sony has made a big omission that does not favour those of you with old receivers as the player lacks analog5.1 outputs, which means you will not be able to take the advantage Dolby TrueHD that is decoded by BDP-S350.

Player’s performance:

Picture performance:
The performance of Sony BDP-S350 as a Blu-ray player is excellent with superior image quality. The player exhibited no moiré (An interference pattern, which looks like waves or ripples and appears in closely spaced lines, which occurs in images that have been scanned or are displayed on computer monitors.) or jaggies which can be seen in many of the cheap players. The overall performance was exceptional and was always a small step ahead of its other competitors.

Quick Start Feature:
Sony BDP-S350 powers and loads more quickly than the other Blu-ray disc players released this year. And in order to enjoy this speed, you have to set the player in the Quick-Start-Mode. When the player is in Quick Start Mode, it will consume power even when the unit is switched off. When in this mode, BDP-S350 powers on in just six seconds and loads the discs in just twenty seven seconds.

Sony BDP-S350 Compact Blu-Ray Disc Player did a good job as a DVD player too. The resolution was good and depicted all the details clearly.

Being an excellent performer as a blu-ray player and having changed its attire, Sony BDP-S350 has certainly pleased a lot of consumers. But it has not managed to come close to its own competitor Play Station 3. As the PS3 comes in the same price, and offers superior Blu-ray playback and features, as well as high-definition gaming and media streaming. However, if you need a standalone player and do not need the additional functionalities available in Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-Ray Player, then Sony BDP-S50 is a good option and a better choice than Samsung BD-P 1500.

Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray disc player - Technical Specification Details

When someone says about Blu-Ray disc player, a few things that initially come to your mind are, its incredible full-HD images, mind blowing sound quality and five times the data capacity than that of the DVD discs. But now you can think of something else too. That is, it provides a whole new movie viewing experience that was made possible by the Final Standard Profile that adds features never seen before such as, Picture-In-Picture modes including the Audio mixing, Enhanced commentary, Peek Behind the Animation and Backstage Pass. With all these exiting features, comes the Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-Ray disc player.

This is the first dedicated Blu-ray player that has been launched in UK with the profile 1.1 features. DBP-BD30 is the successor of Panasonics DBP-BD10 that had superb features but expensive.

Design:

Panasonic DBP-BD30K Blu-Ray Player is a little appetiser in its cost when compared to its predecessor. For this, it had to pay the price of loosing the unbeatable build quality and high end sophism. Yet this cutting-edge kit has a hi-tech look and is stylish too. The disc tray, SD slots and the playback controls of the player are hidden by a couple of drop-down panels that are black on its fascia. The rear side of the player has a fine assortment of connections. The small panel covering the disk tray automatically flips down when you press the open/close toggle. Towards the right of the player’s face is a LCD display that has been designed to have a clear view being at a distance of seven feet.

Featuers:

The rear panel connectivity:
Panasonic’s DMP-BD30 is one of the first Blu-ray players that can output both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks in bitstream format, and this is done with the help of HDMI v1.3 output. This also provides Deep Colour, but your TV has support the pertinent software. This socket can also output 1080p pictures at 24fps, as well as 576p/480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080/60p. HDMI v1.3 supports HDMI CEC technology known as the ‘Viera Link’ by Panasonic. This player also offers upgrading of DVDs to 1080p, which gives your SD discs a new life. The other connections in the rear side includes a set of 5.1-channel analogue outputs, component, S-video and composite video outputs, a pair of analogue phonos and plus optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, are used for transferring regular Dolby Digital and DTS bit streams. This unit does not contain any decoders for Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital Plus or DTS HD, so you can only get decoded Dolby Digital and DTS from these six-channel analogue outputs.

Profile 1.1- The Final Standard Profile:
The main feature included in this profile is the picture-in-picture feature that we discussed earlier. With this feature, the video commentaries appear in a sub screen as the movie is being played in the main screen. This also means that two audio tracks are going on at the same time which is mixed by DBP-BD30 but you can also turn off the secondary video if you want. The player comes with 256MB of local storage, 64kb of onboard non-volatilememory, with both the secondary audio and video decoders.

Compatibility:
Panasonic DMP-BD30K is compatible with a wide range of formats such as, AVCHD, MP3, DivX and JPEG, plus BD-RE, BD-R discs and all types of recordable DVDs and CDs. This unit can also play AVCHD and JPEG files that are stored in a SD card, by sticking it in the front mounted slot. Panasonic also figures out that this can also be used to download the bonus content from a movie site onto the SD card and play it in tandem with a Blu-ray disc.

Advanced technologies in use:
The player also has a wide range of advanced processing technologies on board. The UniPhier which is a video processor combines the Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD (P4HD) which boosts the sharpness of the picture with a PHL Reference Chroma Processor that up-samples colour information. At the same time the sound is also boosted using the Audio Re-Master technology. This technology retrieves sonic data lost during the compression process that is made use of in disc authoring. The player provides you with a lot of interesting functionalities such as setting the delay and channel levels for the speakers, a range of picture presets and adjustments and noise reduction settings. This player also has the Virtual Surround and Dialog Enhancer.

Remote control complementing the excellent menu system:
Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-Ray DVD Player has a class operating system. The menu system is designed with high level of simplicity. The main menu and the submenu are designed logically and the player responds swiftly to all the commands of the remote control. The remote control complements the hi-tech features of the player to its best. It has a very clear button layout and labelling. Some of the features of the player are sorted as mini-menus which can be called-up during the playback with the remote. This remote also sports dedicated buttons to control the Picture-In-Picture and secondary audio. The bottom half of the remote has a circular pad. As this player lacks the unwanted flip-down door of its predecessor, Panasonic was able to include the handy open/close button in the clicker. The blue colour of the buttons in the black layout helps you in its readability. The only blot that can be said about the remote is that, the setup button which is used frequently is placed at the bottom.

Performance:

The start-up time is much quicker than the other Blu-ray players. DMP-BD30K had no trouble with the BD-J menus. The only smirch that you would be annoyed when it operates is that the player would not resume the playback after you have pressed stop.

The player outputs the 1080p picture quality is a phenomenal way. The colours are brilliant and the details are also very sharp. The DMP-BD30k properly deinterlaces the signals of 1080i to 1080p without any artifacts or jaggies. Certain interesting clips of the behind the screen happenings are provided to us by the under the umbrella feature of PIP. There was a little problem with the PIP feature of audio mixing as at times during the loud scenes, the main soundtrack drowned out the commentary.

Panasonic DMP-BD30k blu ray disc player comes with a warranty of 12 months.

Panasonic DMP-BD30K DVD player is a phenomenal product with is major upsets being the absence of BD-live and high- resolution decoding. With its profile 1.1, DMP-BD30 rules the world of the current Blu-ray disc players.

Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-Ray Disc Player - Technical specification Details

The Blu-ray player’s triumph in the high-def disc war has unfolded the floodgates for the player manufacturers. Though it has won the battle, it has to still go a long way in order to persuade the users to rely over them. As the Blu-Ray markets are getting more and more crowded, Sharp has also joined the party by releasing its first Blu-ray disc player, BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-ray Disc player. It has attempted to leap out from all the other models by attending to their one of the major complaints which is slow disc load times by providing Quick Start Feature.

Sharp BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-ray DVD player does not support any of the latest Blu-ray disc players features, has sacrificed on the picture quality, is also the most sluggish of all the HD players that we had ever seen and is not complaint to profile1.1.

Design:

Body:
With a moderate size and comparatively a light weight of 8.8lbs, the player can fit in a standard A/V rack. The carefully narrowed edge of the top layer of the player has a shiny-black finish and the other parts are matte black. The front faceplate of the player is black and mirror-reflective; it has a small LED display in the center of the unit. The display can be turned off by either using the options in the set-up menu or by using the light button that is available in the remote. The front-face of the disc has circular indicators which glow depending on the type of disc that is inserted.

Menu:
The menus are stuck to the standard definition and they lack some visual dynamism. Yet there are no issues with navigation.

Remote control:
This Sharp BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-ray Disc player has a rectangular Infra red remote control with curved edges which can be said as an average one for a Blu-ray disc player. This clicker has a finger well in its back which gives us a comfortable, solid grip. The four-way directional pad is logically placed so that, when the remote is held, your thumb directly is placed over this navigational pad. An attached section which when opened reveals the numerical controls have the playback controls. This is not a disadvantage as this flip-down panel hides only some of the non-essential features. The controls are labelled which is very handy, but the remote does not have any back illumination.

Features:

Connections:
The rear side of the player has all the port connections. It has the HD-compatible video outputs such as HDMI and component. The audio ports include the optical and coaxial digital and also the 5.1-channel analogue. It has an USB port for loading firmware updates from an external storage device. This player has omitted the Ethernet port, undesirably which means, future updates must be done by burning a CD.

Media types:
BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-ray DVD player can play the standard CDs and DVDs apart from the Blu-ray discs. This player can not support anything competing HD DVD format. This implies that this player can support BD-ROM, DVD+R, CD, CD-RW, DVD-RW, CD-R, DVD+RW, DVD, BD-R, DVD-R and BD-RE.

Performance:

The forgetful list of a few compulsory formats in BD-HP20U’s specifications includes only Dolby Digital, DTS, and Linear PCM (LPCM) audio formats. LPCM is a very good option for those looking for lossless digital output. This player does not offer a decoder for DTS-HD encoded audio in both the formats. Sharp BD-HP20U’s high-resolution audio support is regretful, offering no ability to listen to the high-resolution DTS soundtracks, which are available on many Blu-ray movies

BD-HP20U’s selection of video formats is that of a typical modern type discs and hence has a solid connectivity package. This player can output up to 1080p/60Hz video with DVD and BD movies over HDMI. With the help of HDMI, this disc player also mechanically switches to 24 Hz with BD movies when it is connected to a HDTV that is capable. As most of the films are originally recorded in 24fps, if your HDTV displays video at this pace, you can enjoy smooth, judder-free (A shaking or wobbling effect in a video image) playback. But the bad news is that, the player can not upscale DVD videos to 1080p24Hz. When 24Hz output is enable, it is not indicated in the screen which can not be appreciated. Output of up to 1080i with BD movies and 480p with DVD videos is supported by the player’s component video ports. When it comes to DVD up-conversion to HD resolution, the BD-HP20U delivered superb detail with authored movies transferred from film of 24-Hz type. The player displayed fewer details and had some distracting artefacts with the 1080i video output.

The Quick Start Feature:
Sharp claims that the player can deliver BD video in around ten seconds which has been technically proven to be accurate but there was a catch as the player took 20 times longer than the other similarly priced Blu-ray players to begin the playback of the main feature.

When you enable the players Quick Start Feature, the player’s start-up time can be reduced highly from around 36 seconds to an immediate start or just say, zero seconds. In order to get the video on-screen at a lightning speed requires the disc to be preloaded. After this process of preloading, all which is required for you to do is, just press the play button. Some of the latest BD movies contain some extra advanced menu features that require some extra processing and for this BD-HP20U ate up a full one minute whereas, this job was done by Samsung BD-UP5000 Blu-Ray Player in just around 20 seconds and Sony’s play station3 completed the job in a blasting 5 seconds. This Quick Start feature also makes the unit consume more power in the stand-by mode. This is because this feature essentially works by leaving the player on for most of the times.

The Sharp BD-HP20U Blu-ray Disc player is not so appealing and is outdated. The player’s seller point which is the Quick Start feature is itself very weak as its competitors can bring the main movie onscreen at a faster rate. As Sharp is trying to stuff many features into the player, it is sad that the player does not handle any of the newest BD players features like PIP and BD-live. And this product comes with one year warranty.

Sharp BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-ray Disc player Technical Specification Details

Sony is one of the leading electronic products producers in UK. They have proved their stand in producing quality products by winning accolades from the European commission and EISA in the 2007 alone. Sony’s current target is to reduce the impact of its products on the environment. Sony has released BDP-S300 Blu-ray disc player that has gained a fair amount of interest among those who have so far been in the sidelines of the high definition disc battle. Though the Blu-ray DVD players provide us with spectacular quality of image, its pricing has been a matter of issue every time there is a release. The HD DVD players costing just around half the price of the Blu-ray players offer identical performance. In this case, Sony BDP-S300 has taken a step forward in the terms of pricing though a few sacrifices had to be made.

Design:

Body design:
Sony, which is known for providing gorgeous outlooks, has not lived up to its expectations with its design of BDP-S300 Blu-ray DVD player. BDP-S300 is a little slimmer than Sony’s BDP-S1, its predecessor. It has the LED screen display in the lower part its facade. The function buttons are placed on the top of the player. The player’s “eject” and “power” button are placed in the right and left top edge of the player, which you would feel inconvenient. The upper right part has a few basic handy playback controls such as the chapter backward and forward buttons.

The Infra-red universal remote control:
The remote control coming with Sony BDP-S300 Blu Ray Disc player has a good look but the buttons are very small and lacks the back illumination. This slick-looking remote has the reflective directional pad at its center. The buttons are not only small, but all are designed in the same way and as they are placed adjacently, you may find it difficult to navigate through them when in a dark room.

Features:

When we are talking about the networking and interactivity features we must keep in our mind it is not just what is possible and what is not possible now that we have to consider, but also the can and can not of it in the future.

No Ethernet:
Similar to the other entry level Blu-ray players, Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray DVD Player also lacks the interface for Ethernet connectivity. A fully functional Ethernet connectivity will be mandated only to players conforming to profile 2.0 aka BD-live. There is no doubt that Sony BDP-S300 will be receiving firmware updates in future which we can burn in a CDR or wait until you get it mailed by Sony.

Other Connectivity:
The rear side of the unit has the assortment of component, composite, legacy standard def S-video and HDMI connections. The HDMI can support high resolution audio and 1080p high definition video analog. Video output of high definition can be got with the help of component video. The analog audio is supported by a 5.1 Multi-channel output. For digital audio, there is HDMI output with the coaxial and optical digital audio outputs.

Playable formats:
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray disc player can play the standard audio CDs and also MP3 and JPEG files burnt on CDs or DVDs.

Sony BDP-S300 has included the 24p output capability as some studios have started encoding hi-def video content such as Blu-ray disc in 24p. This produces more natural looking and smoother images.

Supported media types:
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray disc player can support the following media types, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD, CD, BD-R, BD-RE and BD-ROM.

Performance:

Set-up:
On turning the on player for the first time, the player defaults to the language and resolution settings. The player recognises your displays native resolution and adjusts its output accordingly. The load time was 18 seconds which is not bad at all when compared with the current BD/HD players.

Menus:
While talking about the menus, Sony BDP-S300 features an artful high-def graphics inherited from the PSP. Though it is not loaded with a lot of involved settings, its looks can be pleasing and appreciable.

Picture quality:
The quality of the image was very good. The BD playback did not take much time to start. The pictures were sharp and the details were presented neatly. The crystalline clarity of 1080p BD movies1 and DVD upscaling2 can be believed once you see it. Sony BDP-S300 produces output at a resolution of 1080p/24. This high definition makes it possible for you to enjoy home entertainment with stunning picture quality and audio. This unit supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 audio formats.

This player supports High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and also x.v.colour. The videos lacked macro-blocking thus adding to its quality. But the Java sluggishness is evident at certain areas. The player did a great job in delivering the deep blacks and saturated colours. There were a few jaggies spoiling the picture.

This player has BRAVIA Theatre sync using which you can control BRAVIA TV and AV systems3 using a single remote. This “one-touch play” remote control feature takes you beyond the simple audio and video functions. It has adopted the newly approved international colour standard called xvYCC. With this feature, the colour space has been greatly expanded. It can produce 1.8 times as many natural colours as the current HDTV signals will be producing.

Audio quality:
The player has a satisfactory audio performance. Unlike Sony’s PS3 and BDP-S1, it does not have the SACD playback and lacks decoding facility for high resolution sound track formats like Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio. The play station 3 which is currently available in the market essentially does everything that the BDP-S300 does with a lot more additional functionalities. This product costs around the same of that of BDP-S300 and is a product of Sony too. BDP S300 does have support for the Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound tracks and also the Dolby Digital plus, which is a slightly higher quality format.

Verdict:

Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray DVD Player has an excellent picture quality on Blu-ray and DVD. The DVD upscaleing up to 1080p and HDMI output are its major pros and its undesirable cons include the absence of onboard Dolby True HD decoding, slow loading on certain discs and a few performance issues. If you are looking for a cheap, standard design Blu-ray player, then BDP-S300 is a decent choice. But if you are looking forward for a better performance, you can look for alternatives like Sony’s Play Station3 or Samsung BD-P1200 or even Panasonic DMP-BD10A.

Technical Specification Details of Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player

Samsung was the first company to market the Blu-ray disc players and hence, it also had to feel the heat when its own product does not live up to the expectations of its consumers. Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player was its first model and let us have a look at how this first ever Blu-ray player works. Since this is the only Blu-ray player in the market at that time (2006), BD-P1000 was lucky enough that it was not criticized by comparing it with any other Blu-ray player in the market at least for a few weeks after its release. After this model, Samsung had released BD-P1200, BD-P1400 and BD-P1500 models which are far superior to this model.

Design:

Body design:
The player looks sleek and beautiful in a glossy piano black finish. But because of the glossiness, beware of smudges. The player has a black top and an angled silver bottom. The face of the player has a LED display that is hard to notice until you switch on the player. The front mounted controls are blue back-lit, making this hi-def player look even more lustrous. Though there are options to dim the LED display, there are no options to switch off the blue lights which may turn to be annoying at times.

Remote control:
This Samsung BD-P1000 DVD player comes with a universal remote control. The remote is thin and can be held comfortably. A few centimeters below the centre of the remote, is a circular navigational pad and surrounding it are the player or the set-up menu functions. The menu control buttons are oddly sited. Four colour buttons are placed right below the navigational pad. They are the red/A, green/B, yellow/C and blue/D in which the red/A button can switch between the memory cards and disk buttons while the rest of the buttons come to action when you want to use the audio CDs and memory cards. It would have been better if there were more than five glow-in-dark buttons for such a high priced player.

For Samsung, its introduction of the BD-P1000 is a major milestone in its history but it was extremely puzzling and disappointing to see that it has made only a few changes to its existing display remote control. The claim that it is a universal remote control is not justified as it is not the brain of anyone’s A/V system.

Connectivity:

When we turn to the rear side of the player, we can see that the Samsung has made provisions for HDMI component video outputs, composite and S-video, both optical and coaxial S/PDIF outputs and a multichannel audio output in addition to a mixed L/R analogue out.

At that period, since the studios were releasing the formats in uncompressed PCM formats enabling them to be played through the HDMI and 5.1 outputs, that was good for that time alone, but this player surely cannot survive with this alone in the current second generation players.

Memory card slot:

The BD-P1000 also has a ten-in-two multi-format memory card slot for playing video clips, digital stills and digital audio files from just about any Flash card. This memory card reader is hidden behind the hatch in the silver panel.

Media types:
The player supports the following media types: BD-ROM, DVD+R, CD, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, DVD and DVD-R.

Performance:

A slow starter:
The player takes about 50 seconds to start and after you stop it, the player takes around 12 seconds to resume playback. In order to restart the play from where it left playing the last, the player takes just 2 seconds.

Good upscaling:
The video scaling and up-conversion capability of the player is fantastic. When played, the output was phenomenal and was in par with the other successful DVD players.

When you place the disk over the tray and hit the play button, the player occasionally did not respond and was expecting you to press the open/close toggle again which seems to be very childish. The BD-P1000 will occasionally reject a Blu-ray disc, requiring you to reload the disc or turn the player off and start the warm-up process from scratch. On the plus side, Samsung has released a firmware update to rectify some imaging flaws found on early-delivered units, as well as reduce the disc loading time.

Menus:
Skipping the chapters is done at a good pace but the navigation of menus is not so easy and it time consuming too. In this Blu-ray player too you will have to stop the player before you can access the “player menu” which is unacceptable even in this format. Though, one of the coolest features of a blu-ray disk player is that the menus can be overlaid on the movies and select options. These menus have their own sound effects. But these sound effects were disabled when the S/PDIF coax output which does not support the uncompressed audio format. These menus have automatic timeout options that vanish when the menus are not accessed for 15 seconds.

Audio and image:
This Samsung blu-ray player does a good job as a CD audio player. The basic functions that are available in an audio player are also available in BD-P1000. When the player is displaying images from a memory card reader, it cannot playback audio from a CD. The speed of the image slideshows can be set as slow, medium or fast. The images were displayed in proper aspect ratio and the clarity was also good. You will need a state-of-the-art hardware in order it appreciate audio enhancement.

Picture performance:
One of the greatest reasons on why you must invest in this Blu-ray player can be its picture quality as you can see all the Hollywood movies in the highest possible resolution. Once you get the pictures on to the screen you will realize why the Blu-ray players have such a massive potential. With a spectacular resolution, the colours were striking and vibrant without any slightest signs of saturation.

One of the clever features of the player is that it automatically works-out the maximum resolution of a TV and then tailors its performance to suite. As a stand alone DVD player, BD-P1000 does a great job.

Verdict:
A few pros of the player are the Blu-ray discs that are in true high definition, sleek design, upscaling capabilities and the 1080p output through HDMI. When it comes to the cons, they are the slow load times and the remote control.

Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-Ray Player being the first Blu-ray player has performed well at that time but now you have a lot of other models to choose from Samsung itself.

Technical Specification Details of Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player

After all the battle between the Blu-ray players, all their forth coming releases have raised a lot of expectations. Now let us have a look at the design, features and performance of Pioneer’s BDP-LX70 Blu-ray disc player which has also created some expectation.

Beautiful Design:

Pioneer BDP-LX70 Blu-ray DVD player is attractively built and has a gorgeous look. The player’s double layered chassis gives an incredible mechanical stability. It has a minimalist design with its princely and racy finish makes you feel a promising product in front of you. This player does not have any fancy neon lights as the other DVD players. Its remote control is a little heavy comparatively.

Features:

Good connectivity:
Pioneer BDP-LX70 Blu-ray disc player also has a good connectivity. For video, it has the component and HDMI video outputs. Pioneer also provides the optical and coaxial audio outputs, a 5.1-channel audio line out which delivers Dolby TrueHD to an AV receiver, a LAN jack and IR-out jacks and control-in in order to have system integration. Hence providing a wide range of audio and picture formats from a computer that is connected and Home Media Gallery Software of pioneer provides total assurance.

Major set-backs:
BDP-LX70 player uses the HDMI version1.2 and not the latest upgraded version1.3. This drawback was unexpected as Pioneer’s latest plasmas had HDMI version1.3 inputs. With the absence of this version, automatic lip syncing, ‘Deep Colour’ extended colour palette and digital distribution of HD audio formats is not possible. Another disappointing news is that LX70 does not support any way of outputting ‘next gen’ HD audio formats. It can not take CD-R/CD –RW as input and another disgusting fact is that, it is incompatible to BD Profile1.1. Hence BDP-LX70 will have to face serious set backs as it will not be able to try out the extra features in the latest disks.

Some consolation:
The provided HDMI is compatible with the company’s CEC standard which allows controlling the multiple HDMI-connected CEC devices with a single remote. This format also supports 1080 / 24p HD picture format in which most of the films are encoded while being mastered for Blu-ray devices. This makes the player produce pictures that are very effective. The player has a long list of picture tweaks for you unceasing fiddlers, which includes chrome level, white level, black level and hue adjustments. Pioneer’s BDP-LX70 Blu-ray disc player can upscale SD discs up to 1080p and can play CDs too. Upscaling is a process by which the output of the DVD signal is being matched to the physical pixel count on a HDTV which is typically, 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1920 x 1080 (1080i).

This Pioneer BDP-LX70 video player plays DVD-R/R DL, DVD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, Blu-ray disk DVD-video, streamed digital video’s, photos and compressed audio files from your PC. It also has its support for BDP-LX70 audio system. BDP-LX70 also sports a built in Dolby decoder of 5.1 channel, built in Dolby decoder of 5.1 channel, dynamic range control and bass management.

Performance:

Long waits:
Pioneer BDP-LX70’s onscreen menus are gorgeously designed and logically organised and is supported by the CEC’s system that complements it well. The player takes around 35 seconds to start playing once the disc is inserted. This gives you an inevitable long-wait feel. The player takes more than a minute while turning on the player from the stand-by mode.

Spectacular picture quality:
Once the video starts playing, you will be dumb-struck by its mind blowing picture quality and is nothing less than spectacular. The player produces terrifically vivid colours and perfect black levels. The picture look very sharp and the details are presented in a very fine way. The image is remarkably free of noise and the movements are smooth and natural. You can hardly hear any loading noise. It uses the HD digital film direct technology that ensures you, what you see is exactly at the same speed as it uses 24 frames per second, the similar speed in which the film was shot and screened. All these quality performances can be enjoyed to its fullest when the player is connected to a pioneer television. Pioneer BDP-LX70’s audio is also immensely clear.

Verdict:

Pioneer’s BDP-LX70 Blu-ray DVD player is a very stylish player with a commendable build quality and no cheap bits being attached to it. BDP LX 70 is well worth the cost you have to pay for it. But its incompatibility with the 1.1 specification will make your dreams of Java-based picture-in-picture video playback and future enhancements questionable.

Technical Features & Specification Details of Pioneer BDP-LX70 Blu-Ray Player

Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray DVD player has made its entry in CES (Consumer Electronics Show). It has been set to hit the markets of UK, around this year’s mid-October (2008). This will be the debut Philips Blu-ray player to arrive Britain. Philip’s BDP7200 boasts its additional interactive functionalities.

Design:

The player’s body design:
The player has a simple but an attractive look. Philips BDP7200 Blu-Ray Disc player has a unique look and differs from the other players. It is of the table-top form factor and weighs around 9.1pounds. It has a brushed-black chassis and gloss-black front panel with its edges rounded. The front panel has a one-line LCD screen and the buttons are petite that are for play, stop, power, open/close, forward, reverse and a resolution toggle. The disk tray is placed towards the left side of the player.

The Infra Red remote control:
Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray player has an Infra Red remote control that is a long and slender one. The buttons are black and placed in a black background without any backlight illumination, and hence you can hardly see any keys when you are in a dark room. The directional keypad is at the near centre with the transport controls just below it. The keys are placed in a visceral manner but the forward and reverse controls are an exception as they are placed no where near the other transport controls. Separate rocker buttons were provided for volume control and channels. The remote does not have an output resolution button. The backside of the remote has a glossy finish.

Features:

Philips’s first Blu-ray player which crawled into the market in 2006 was lacking a lot of features with a bulky cost. But BDP7200 supports 1080p/24 playback and passes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD bit stream over HIDI. BDP7200 Blu-ray video player is profile 1.1 compliant.

Audio and video features:
The player has the A/V connectors and HDMI, component and composite outputs for video purpose. For audio, it has HDMI, optical and coaxial connectors and both 5.1 and two-channel analog audio outputs. The dual-multimedia card readers and USB port are absent. Automatic firmware updates cannot be done in the unit itself as it contains no Ethernet port. Hence the firmware updates that are released by Philips must be downloaded from its website.

Set-up:
This blu ray disc player is very simple to set-up. Philips provides a lot of Auto modes for the convenience of novice users. The video output choices include HDMI, 1080p, 1080i, 720p and 480p. The video menu includes options for noise reduction, de-interlacing, Deep Colour and Black Level. When the information about the screen is being accessed, the information screen which appears is unnecessarily big and blocks the images in the centre of the screen.

Media supports:
This DVD player is a Divx certified device. Thus it supports Divx VOD content, DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/-RW, MP3, WMA (non-DRM) and JPEG playback. There are options provided for you to customise the JPEG slide-shows. Philips’s EasyLink HDMI-CEC functionality allows you to have a logical control over the other Philips products that are connected via HDMI.

Performance:
This Blu-ray DVD player produces a very clear display with high-quality colour and sharpness. It has a good audio quality too. The picture-in-picture playback feature in certain movie titles can be viewed clearly as Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray DVD player is BonusView-enabled. This BD-J functionality completely optimises the HD experience. Philips BDP7200 is a full 1080p player which includes some major features and a lot of enhancements such as, 24p processing, HDMI, Standard DVD Upscaling, digital audio outs, Deep colour, the BD-J specification, multi-channel audio decoding. But the player lacks the BD-live to access the web content. The player converts the standard-definition DVDs but its processing of high-definition source content is questionable. The player does not support on-board decoding for high-resolution audio tracks, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The device is limited to Blu-ray profile1.1.

Though the player powers-up quickly, it takes around 45 seconds to start playing. This is a poor start-up time for a Blu-ray DVD player. Once the player starts running, it has sluggish response to certain remote control commands such as popping up certain menus and by skipping chapters. The on-screen menu was standard and not very attractive. Though the menus consume most of the on-screen area, they do not provide much of any useful options or information. The menu features high definition menu graphics similar to its predecessor BDP9000. The home menu features three options, first is the disc tray which plays the video for you, the second one is settings which takes you to another menu for you to change the settings and the last one is product info giving you information on the products firmware. The player does provide the “Auto standby” facility.

You will not be having any problem in loading and playing the interactive games. The player exhibited its reliable performance and quickly responded to the remote control commands.

Warranty:
Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray DVD player comes with one year warranty.

Though there are a few minor complaints, the player provides a very impressive quality of video and audio for a reasonable cost.

Technical Specification Details of Philips BDP7200 Blu-Ray Disc Player

The latest announcement of their exclusive support for HD-DVD format by “Dreamworks animation” and “Paramount” has put people in dilemma and has made them start looking forward for players that support both these high definition formats. Next to LG’s BH100, Samsung has taken its chance in supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Thus it can support both the formats interactive features, BD Java and HDi. Samsung BD-UP5000 Hybrid HD DVD & Blu-Ray Disc Player offers the same playback capabilities as that of BD-2400 including the Hollywood video processing (HVP). Samsung has loaded performance and functionality into an attractive package. You can now experience the additional studio content such as behind the scene footage, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and trailers.

Design:
Samsung BD-UP5000 HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc combo player has a glossy black finish with a soft-lit LCD screen display. The rear side of the player includes the ports such as the optical and coaxial audio outputs, the HDMI connection, component video and standard def S-video, composite video outputs and 7.1 analog audio connections.

Features:
Samsung’s BD-UP5000 combo player has an attractive list of features. This duo has the ability to playback all your favourite CDs and DVDs with its exquisite multi-format DVD playback capabilities. It supports HDi for HD DVD and BD-Java for Blu-ray. BD-UP5000 sports an Ethernet connector for interactive content and firmware updates. It has the HDMI1.3 connection which will support the lossless formats DTS-MA and TrueHD, 1.3 Deep Colour and also the HDMI-CEC in order to manipulate the HDMI. Output selections are provided while using the standard definition discs or HD which includes, 1080p, 1080i and 720p. 1080p can be set to either 60Hz or 24Hz. The player is also equipped with Silicon Optix’s Reon Scaler Chip which is used in Samsung’s BD-1200 and is also to be integrated in BD-2400. This chip offers best upscale of standard definition content to HD.

Performance:

Start-up:
Once the player is started, it takes around 35 seconds to flash the initial blue screen of Samsung and when the disc is loaded, the HD format takes around 25 seconds and the standard Definition DVD took just 15 seconds to produce their first image. This time consumption can be said as not bad for a duo player.

Accurate conversions:
This Samsung BD UP5000 Blu Ray and HD DVD player confirmed complete bandwidth output for HD DVD and perfect de-interlacing of 1080i content and 3.2 cadence with the Blu-Ray’s version of Silicon Optix’s Reon Scaler Chip. This feature is a very important one, as the majority of the present HD TVs lack proper conversion of 24fps content to 60fps content. Proper saturation and accurate reproduction were found in the colour bands. The player picture controls are not there and it does not need one too.

Picture performance:
The picture quality is very good. They look sharp and bright. The new Graphical User Interface (GUI) used is clear and has texts in and comfy to read format. Samsung BD UP5000 Video player has quicker entry into the menus and faster chapter changes which is a good improvement from its predecessors. The player also has included a cute new time bar on top of the screen. HD DVD version 300 provided the required interactive features for BD UP-5000.

Memory and connectivity:
By connecting the router through the Ethernet port, you can download the unique web enabled features from the internet with the HD DVD 300 inserted. The player has 256MB internal memory. But the player lacks USB port, a HD DVD feature to blow up the memory of the player with a pen drive.

Samsung BD-UP5000 1080p Blu-ray and HD DVD compo player will surely impress you than LG’s BH200 combo player. Inclusion of HQV video processing and support for high resolution video are its major attractions.

Technical Specification details of Samsung BD-UP500