Recommendations on Blu-ray player - older Mid-Fi or TOTL

[myu701]

From all I'm seeing, Blu-ray players have pretty much topped out on technology, with 4K support being the latest. But given how little media is being created for 4K, it will be a while before it's really desirable.

What do you get with 4K? I think 1080p with 120Hz refresh will look about as good as the eye can perceive. There is a certain "problem" with detail being too sharp... hard on the eyes. Saw that with 240Hz. At least that's my experience. I think the true advantage with 4K will be the color support. Supposedly extremely accurate. But to what end? I have to say, I've probably taken notice of incorrect colors maybe a handful of times over the last 10 years. It was only something that stood out for a moment, nothing lingering enough to bother me. Otherwise... who the hell really cares? Our visual processing brain centers do an amazing job of interpreting visual input.

I know back some years, TOTL meant super quality. Heavy chassis. Top notch switches. Brushed metal vs. plastic. Today? Hard to know. So is it worth going after older mid-fi or TOTL Blu-ray players from a few years ago, or is it better to go with more recent lower to mid-fi players? If older higher end models are still desirable over current mid-fi and lower, what models are worth going for?

 

[onwardjames]

My mother, a 69 year old Goodwill fan, finds me blu ray and cd players all the time. She found an older Pioneer Blu Ray that has Wolfson DAC's that are out of this world.

I know that my 44 year old eyes actually prefer a cathode ray tv. People think I'm crazy, until they watch my 2001 Sony Trinitron that isn't even HD. It's just....pleasant.

Lightning stole my 2007 WEGA 16x9 300 lb monster. It WAS HD, and looked staggeringly good. OLED promises to really turn thing up a notch.

But for me, 4k is a bridge too far. It actually hurts my eyes.

Why doesn't Hollywood make better movies, instead of this constant graphic-heavy, superhero schlock? So tired of someone in a suit doing action flips and such.

I want a "Forrest Gump" or "Pulp Fiction" for 2016.

Sorry, my reply was all over the place.

 

[charles 1973]

Well my recent Sony 4K/3D smart Blu-Ray player with USB can be had today for about $150. So far I'm happy with it. Sometimes we think too much. Just buy a decent model player from a brand name you trust after checking reviews and be done with it.

As far as technology goes, 90% of the time I'm either watching DVD's or listening to CD's. But the added processing power needed for 4K/3D playback makes it a very fast machine for DVD's and regular Blu-Ray disc's. The smart function is handy for those of us with dumb TV's, and the USB is great for playing music and viewing photo's.

 

[bluehills5]

I'm a fan of older DVD's as the re-sale drops like a stone after a couple of years but they are very well built and the audio section is usually way better than modern stuff. You can't beat quality. Personally I have a Pioneer DV-59avi which cost just $70 but was a $1000+ back in the day and as I only run an old projector and the audio to a vintage Pioneer amp, I don't need bells and whistles. It replaced a terrible Samsung Blue-ray player which was slow and hard to use and I'd never used a blueray disc anyway.
Some of the better brands of DACs in dvd players are from Wolfson, Burr brown and Cirrus Logic so do a seach of "dvd dac" or "blueray dac" and each of these names and you'll turn up multiple models which were pretty top stuff in their day. And if you don't need HDMI output to a TV, the resale drops even more as their use as a video device with modern TVs is almost zero but you need to decide what features are important to you. Best brands are probably Pioneer (Elite), Marantz, Denon and Oppo.

 

[matteos]

My mother, a 69 year old Goodwill fan, finds me blu ray and cd players all the time. She found an older Pioneer Blu Ray that has Wolfson DAC's that are out of this world.

I know that my 44 year old eyes actually prefer a cathode ray tv. People think I'm crazy, until they watch my 2001 Sony Trinitron that isn't even HD. It's just....pleasant.

Lightning stole my 2007 WEGA 16x9 300 lb monster. It WAS HD, and looked staggeringly good. OLED promises to really turn thing up a notch.

But for me, 4k is a bridge too far. It actually hurts my eyes.

Why doesn't Hollywood make better movies, instead of this constant graphic-heavy, superhero schlock? So tired of someone in a suit doing action flips and such.

I want a "Forrest Gump" or "Pulp Fiction" for 2016.

Sorry, my reply was all over the place.

Movies have been getting very story shy and effects heavy. I hear you. did watch Tarantino's hateful eight the other day. Really a return to form for him. Back to dialogue and plot. best thing from him since pulp fiction IMO

 

[the skipper]

While ultra HD TV's are flooding the market, i think currently there are only two or three "true" ultra HD players available. There are many that upconvert TO 4k but not very many that actually play UHD discs.

As for pure blu-ray plaers, I'm quite impresses with the little Sony's . Their features and I/O can be limited but if you can live with that, you can get a pretty nice blu-ray player with internet apps and wi-fi for > $100

 

[Ohighway]

Why doesn't Hollywood make better movies, instead of this constant graphic-heavy, superhero schlock? So tired of someone in a suit doing action flips and such.
.

Yeah, tired of movies merely being vehicles to try and demonstrate cgi proficiency. It gets old.

On topic, I have a blu-ray player and some discs and a nice Panasonic plasma to watch them on. Honestly, I cannot tell enough difference between them and regular DVDs for me to even care.

 

[Bodyblue]

Last January I bought an LG BluRay with Netflix etc (we only belong to Netflix) for $50 just so we could watch netflix in the bedroom. In the front room we use (ed) the Playstation for Netflix. But now Comcast Xfinity X1 has apps built in to their cable box including Netflix. Technology moves so fast now that as long as the item is a brand I recognize, I just get one of the cheaper ones figuring in a few years it will be outdated anyway.

And the LG has been just fine.

 

[matteos]

You could get yourself a PS3. Some of the older models also supported SACD. You can get a used one for about $100. It's going to be a lot faster to use than most bluray players. Also it will have a hard drive, support for the apps... And you can even play video games lol.

I picked up a new Sony bluray player for the bedroom for about $60. The thing is just so slow to do anything, barely use it now.

 

[rxonmymind]

But for me, 4k is a bridge too far. It actually hurts my eyes.

This. All this hyper realism and uber razor sharp extremely bladed picture quality just aches my eyes after a few minutes. Nothing in nature looks like what is being shown . It's unreal. When I look at a person on these sets at Costco then look at the actual people walking around the two aren't even remotely close in presentation. Color are super saturated and overly bright.
Perhaps if I saw one properly calibrated at someone's home I'd have a different opinion. But what I see in the stores have a high ouch factor and yes, I too liked the old CRT monitors.

 

[whoaru99]

This. All this hyper realism and uber razor sharp extremely bladed picture quality just aches my eyes after a few minutes. Nothing in nature looks like what is being shown . It's unreal. When I look at a person on these sets at Costco then look at the actual people walking around the two aren't even remotely close in presentation. Color are super saturated and overly bright.
Perhaps if I saw one properly calibrated at someone's home I'd have a different opinion. But what I see in the stores have a high ouch factor and yes, I too liked the old CRT monitors.

It's well known that TVs in the store are typically set to "torch" mode. Of course, it's not really called torch mode in the menu but the settings are intentionally cranked up to try to make a TV stand out.

It's unfortunate the worst possible place to judge the TV is the place where you are most likely to judge it.

 

[Bodyblue]

One problem about looking at the TVs in the store is that one is waaaaay to close to them.

 

[Duane]

It's well known that TVs in the store are typically set to "torch" mode. Of course, it's not really called torch mode in the menu but the settings are intentionally cranked up to try to make a TV stand out.

It's unfortunate the worst possible place to judge the TV is the place where you are most likely to judge it.

Easiest thing to do is grab the remote and look at the video settings. No doubt, the white level (contrast) is set to max. Bring it down to about midpoint for starters.

 

[whoaru99]

Even then, it's still largely a waste because it's such a piss poor viewing environment. Frankly, with TVs, I'd rely more on reviews on a forum that has lots of TV chatter than what you see in the store; it's that bad.

 

[Duane]

I'm just the opposite. Don't care for reviewers opinions. They're all over the place. I prefer to have a personal look and judge for myself.

 

[whoaru99]

I'm just the opposite. Don't care for reviewers opinions. They're all over the place. I prefer to have a personal look and judge for myself.

I'm not talking about staffer reviews nor Amazon reviews. I'm talking hundreds or thousands of enthusiast owners not unlike you or me, or even beyond, are usually not far off base. Spend any time in the TV/Flat Panel forums like over on AVS and you'll discover every kink and quirk known about a given TV.

 

[Duane]

I'm not talking about staffer reviews nor Amazon reviews. I'm talking hundreds or thousands of enthusiast owners not unlike you or me, or even beyond, are usually not far off base. Spend any time in the TV/Flat Panel forums like over on AVS and you'll discover every kink and quirk known about a given TV.

AVS is what I was mostly referring to. Sometimes, the opinions can be all over the place. However, when I belonged to ISF (many years ago) we used AVS, on occasion, for tips on technical data. Very good source.

 

[runnin']

Something I've wondered as i have a Panny bluray player that's about 9 years old now. They need firmware updates, and this helps them handle new release blurays. That might be an issue with old bluray players as past a certain point the company won't support them with firmware updates. Mine still plays whatever I throw in it, though it's a second player now in a seldom used system.

 

[rebellovw]

I love my 4K 65inch Samsung - not hard on the eyes at all - easy actually. I still like our slightly older 1080 LED 40 inch - but the 4K blows us away. Many say it isn't worth it - I'm not in that camp. If you need a new TV - then go for it - if you are happy with your old one - then likely no need to upgrade - in my case - we "needed" a new TV for out TV room and needed a big one.

 

[twiiii]

The more things change the more the basic rules need to be followed. I'll bet of the people complaining not one has had their display calibrated as we did back in the Day When big Plasmas were all the rage. It isn't that units made to day are better, its just as with speakers in different environments that need to be voiced to the acoustics of the room. So do any of the displays. Having the brightness set to high with to much contrast and processing isn't a pleasant practice for the eyes. I'm sure there is away to find out what settings are optimum for your 4K displays just as there were for my Pioneer Ellite and Runco displays, which I am not going to give up and replace until they die. You realize there are charts that tell you for the size of screen and resolution how close you have to sit in order for the eye to resolve 4k. Sitting further away you might have saved money and bought a 1080 P display. And for most folks the 1080 display is really the better choice.