Need help choosing stand alone Blu-Ray player

By D!ABOL!C
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D!ABOL!C

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Hello.

I was wondering if you guys could give me a hand selecting a standalone Blu Ray player. I'm just in the early stages of considering one, but I just wanted to be a bit informed.

I do own a PS3, however the main reason I want to get a separate player is because I don't want to over use the ROM on my PS3 but also I want to stream Netflix movies to my TV instead of my PC. I have looked at the list Netflix provided for the few players that supported it and on Best Buy's site and they list 5 players that support Netflix streaming. Another option which would be nice, but not a necessity is if the player could play divx files. No biggie if it can't, but would be cool if it could.

I was primarily looking at the $299 range but if you guys have a compelling reason to grab one of the higher models at $399 I would consider it as well.

Also I should mention that my TV only has 1 HDMI input so i'm going to have to get a switch box. Are there any in particular I should look for? If I go for an inexpensive one will I have issues with HDCP and will the image quality suffer a bit?

That's all I can think of for questions right now. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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veritas310

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Two solid options:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=2356

AND

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=2356

Of course the Sony is more expensive, that's how it goes :). I think the Sharp would be the ideal option, with the $180 instant savings, making your total: $219.99, I don't know how you can't do it.

I personally have a Phillips Blu-Ray that I combo'd with my 52" LCD, works great.

Good luck!

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D!ABOL!C

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Two solid options:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=2356

AND

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=2356

Of course the Sony is more expensive, that's how it goes :). I think the Sharp would be the ideal option, with the $180 instant savings, making your total: $219.99, I don't know how you can't do it.

I personally have a Phillips Blu-Ray that I combo'd with my 52" LCD, works great.

Good luck!

I didn't see if those two can do Netflix. I just did a quick skim of the tech specs. That's probably the #1 feature I want to have, which unfortunately limits my player options.

But thanks Jerz and Veritas for the recommendations, i'll read up on some reviews.

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veritas310

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I didn't see if those two can do Netflix. I just did a quick skim of the tech specs. That's probably the #1 feature I want to have, which unfortunately limits my player options.

But thanks Jerz and Veritas for the recommendations, i'll read up on some reviews.

http://www.electronicexpress.com/product?p..._source=froogle

$249.50, supports Netflix streaming. The link is to a store that requires in-store purchase, but a simple google search should find other places to get this player. Seems like a slightly less expensive option than Sony and they're a reputable company.

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D!ABOL!C

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Cool, thanks again.

As for the second part of the question about an HDMI switch box does it matter if I get an expensive one or a low cost one? My local computer store has a manual 4 port HDMI switch for $20 and I was just gonna get that, would that be acceptable?

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GenBlood

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The BD-1600 is nice, but if you can wait for the holidays ... the price will

must likely drop under $200 to get people shopping this holiday season ...

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D!ABOL!C

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I was wanting to get one now since it is summer and the TV Series' that I watch are all done I can now catch up on my DVD/Blu-ray back log. I have tons of unopened TV Series' on dvd that I need to watch and I wanted to get a good stand alone player. Plus the upconversion for the dvd's would be nice too. And with the Netflix streaming, I can watch more movies during the wait for when my dvd's come in the mail.

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D!ABOL!C

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Oppo's machine will be $499 when released. Too high?

Yea, a little bit, but do you have a link to it? I'll take a look at it and check the specs.

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Grand Master

bdsams Veteran

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+1 for the samsung BD-P1600, i have it, love it and use pandora more than i thought i would...a solid player for the price IMHO

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DaDude

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+1 for the samsung BD-P1600, i have it, love it and use pandora more than i thought i would...a solid player for the price IMHO

That player is $250 at Amazon, which is a lot of money. So, it better be good. :D

Seriously, there's like no decent player out there that's less than $200. Even the BDP-1500 went up to $216. Geez, you'd think these players would go down in price as time goes by, not up.

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+StevoFC MVC

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That player is $250 at Amazon, which is a lot of money. So, it better be good. :D

Seriously, there's like no decent player out there that's less than $200. Even the BDP-1500 went up to $216. Geez, you'd think these players would go down in price as time goes by, not up.

They do go down for the most part. On Amazon, if it becomes popular they raise the price slightly. When people stop buying it some the price will drop.

The bdp 1600 is great. It allows Netflix and Pandora streaming also. I wish my 1500 could be updated to do those things but it lacks the hardware to do so.

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DaDude

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They do go down for the most part. On Amazon, if it becomes popular they raise the price slightly. When people stop buying it some the price will drop.

You're right. It's now currently $180 at Amazon. I went to Best Buy and PC Richards today and was looking for the BD-P1500. If I found it for $180, I would grab it right away, but they didn't have that model at all. I asked the employees at both stores and they all claimed that the 1500 is discontinued and that 1600 is the cheapest they have. Both stores had the 1600 for $250. Sigh. Looks like I'm back to square one. No cheap blu-ray player for me.

And yes, I know I could've bought the 1500 at Amazon, but I'm not going to for two reasons: I hate waiting for electronics to arrive in the mail and I don't want the post office to mishandle the package (like dropping it, etc).

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+StevoFC MVC

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And yes, I know I could've bought the 1500 at Amazon, but I'm not going to for two reasons: I hate waiting for electronics to arrive in the mail and I don't want the post office to mishandle the package (like dropping it, etc).

So you won't get it because you don't want to wait for it? That makes absolutely no sense.

They would send that UPS most likely. And I have never had a problem buying from Amazon. Almost all of my electronics are from there and I have never had a problem with them. I have Amazon Prime too so I get everything in 2 days. Even without it, you would get something like that in 3 days max most likely after it is shipped.

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Barney T. Administrators

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I have the Samsung BD-P1500 x3 and I really love all of them. I also downloaded the firmware updates and that increased the types of formats that this great piece of equipment can play. I am sure that the 1600 is equally as great! :yes:

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DaDude

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So you won't get it because you don't want to wait for it? That makes absolutely no sense.

They would send that UPS most likely. And I have never had a problem buying from Amazon. Almost all of my electronics are from there and I have never had a problem with them. I have Amazon Prime too so I get everything in 2 days. Even without it, you would get something like that in 3 days max most likely after it is shipped.

Well you'd think they'd have it in the store. Surely Amazon can't be the only place that has this player for $180. I'll look around for another week and see if I can find it. I would much rather buy this at the store.

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Grand Master

+StevoFC MVC

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Well you'd think they'd have it in the store. Surely Amazon can't be the only place that has this player for $180. I'll look around for another week and see if I can find it. I would much rather buy this at the store.

It's discontinued... Once stores sell out of them they won't get it in stock any more. A place like Amazon has huge warehouses full of these things. Once they are gone you are out of luck. That was a very popular model, so I highly doubt you are going to see any of them left in stores.

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DaDude

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It's discontinued... Once stores sell out of them they won't get it in stock any more.

Yeah, that's what the employees at Best Buy and PC Richards said. I didn't believe them at first because those employees always make up stories just to get you to buy the more expensive models. Since this is discontinued, I'll probably wait for the 1600 to go down in price. From reviews, it seems like that one is a little better.

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DaDude

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So you won't get it because you don't want to wait for it? That makes absolutely no sense.

It's been 3 days since I ordered the BD-P1600 and Amazon still hasn't shipped it yet nor is the order "shipping soon." I guess Amazon is sticking to their shipping estimate, which is June 4th. Ugh, this wait is killing me. This is why I wanted to get this in the store. But where else can I get this player and four movies for less than $200. Amazon is the only one that has that great deal! But they make me wait like crazy here.

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jerzdawg

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It's been 3 days since I ordered the BD-P1600 and Amazon still hasn't shipped it yet nor is the order "shipping soon." I guess Amazon is sticking to their shipping estimate, which is June 4th. Ugh, this wait is killing me. This is why I wanted to get this in the store. But where else can I get this player and four movies for less than $200. Amazon is the only one that has that great deal! But they make me wait like crazy here.

yea.. I really wanted to jump on that deal... but i didnt think it was a huge upgrade for me as i already have a ps3... enjoy!

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Grand Master

+StevoFC MVC

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It's been 3 days since I ordered the BD-P1600 and Amazon still hasn't shipped it yet nor is the order "shipping soon." I guess Amazon is sticking to their shipping estimate, which is June 4th. Ugh, this wait is killing me. This is why I wanted to get this in the store. But where else can I get this player and four movies for less than $200. Amazon is the only one that has that great deal! But they make me wait like crazy here.

It's because you did free super saver shipping... there's a reason why it's free ;)

If you do that, they take days to ship it out. if you pick any of the paid options they send it out the next day.

I have Amazon Prime and just about everything I buy is at my house within 2-3 days of me placing the order.

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