Due to some space issues, I have temporarily retired my CD player and have been using my old Toshiba SD330E DVD player for CD's. This is not a bad little tunesmith for a DVD player and is not a million miles from my Marantz for performance.
However, the Grandkids want Bluray so I am hunting for a suitable Bluray player for combined DVD/CD duties. I have been looking at the What Hi Fi awards from the last two or three years with a view to perhaps picking up an older model, (I am not bothered about internet connectivity and smartphone control, or even 3D come to that and I only have a 32" TV).
The two manufacturers that always seem to be up there are Sony and Panasonic, are these likely to be the best bets for what I want? Has anyone any suggestions as to model or other machines worth looking at?
I may consider a separate D to A later so does this make the choice less critical?
I know a DVD player will not beat a dedicated CD for performance but I would just like a reasonable sound from this, hopefully, temporary solution.
However, the Grandkids want Bluray so I am hunting for a suitable Bluray player for combined DVD/CD duties. I have been looking at the What Hi Fi awards from the last two or three years with a view to perhaps picking up an older model, (I am not bothered about internet connectivity and smartphone control, or even 3D come to that and I only have a 32" TV).
The two manufacturers that always seem to be up there are Sony and Panasonic, are these likely to be the best bets for what I want? Has anyone any suggestions as to model or other machines worth looking at?
I may consider a separate D to A later so does this make the choice less critical?
I know a DVD player will not beat a dedicated CD for performance but I would just like a reasonable sound from this, hopefully, temporary solution.
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I was researching a couple of weeks ago as I had moved and left my DVD players behind. The top reviews seem to go to the Oppo's, specially the BDP-105 with beefed up analog audio outputs. It is over 1K dollars though. Since I was looking strictly for my TV setup I went with the Sony BDP-S5100 as it has good reviews on the Video processing side. The unit is very light. I went to Best buy and they all feel very light and cheap. I believe the Oppo BDP-103 is built better and is around $500. There is no dealer near me, so it has to be an online purchase, so I passed.
I went with the BDP-S5100 because it can play flac from my logitech media sever. It has a coax digital output if I wanted to connect a D/A. For now I am going HDMI to the TV and analog out from the TV to a stereo amp (have not setup the surround system yet).
A friend of mine bought one of the Oppos (the 103) and says it is very good.
I went with the BDP-S5100 because it can play flac from my logitech media sever. It has a coax digital output if I wanted to connect a D/A. For now I am going HDMI to the TV and analog out from the TV to a stereo amp (have not setup the surround system yet).
A friend of mine bought one of the Oppos (the 103) and says it is very good.
I must admit, the Oppo's do look well built. However, they are a bit more than I wanted to spend unfortunately. The Sony's look ok and this is probably the route I will go. I have a lot of music on a USB hard drive which currently plays through a digital TV recorder. I only keep it for this function as I now have a new box care of my Broadband provider, however, this does not have a USB input like my previous box.
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