Video Asylum

Posted by Bambi B (A) on November 06, 2010 at 12:18:43

In Reply to: RE: Bambi B - I think your idea about a Blu Ray / DVD player. . . posted by Chris from Lafayette on November 06, 2010 at 11:25:46

Chris from Lafayette,

About 4 months ago, I decided to cut most of my movie channels- containing only most atrocious junk- in favour of Netflix. I bought a Samsung BDP-1600 Blu-ray player off Ebay ($299 retail, new, open box $90) that is Netflix streaming capable ans plays every format except 3D. This required additionally a $50 USB Wi-Fi dongle. I'm having some issues with the Wi-fi quality, but it's a marvelous convenience - and amazingly inexpensive. Checking, I watched 55 movies last month- and all for $8.99. I watched (streaming) "32 Short Films about Glenn Gould" last evening- I had only seen it in the cinema when new- and recently, "The Making of Steinway L1037", which I'd recommend to all keyboard fans. There's a pile of operas too. I'm also gradually watching- 1/2 through- every Monty Python episode too -there's 45 and I only need to click them off my streaming queue one by one.

One of The best features of Netflix for me is the movies have no logos in the corner nor advertisements for other programmes!

The DVD playback is far superior to my 6 year-old Sony $100 DVD/VHS combination player. A CD-R of some organ playing was likewise impressive for such a multi-format device. DVD's on the old player now resemble worn VHS comparatively.

As for audio quality, when I first had the Samsung, I tried a CD (Mahler 5 by Solti/CSO) through my main system- Audio Research SP10 > D115 > Vandersteen 2C, and it rivaled the Cambridge Audio 640C. In fact, the Samsung was slightly liquid and consequently seemed less dry than the 640C! The detail and even imaging was just fine. In short, I was very impressed by the audio quality.

Yes, as I've been shopping around, I've noticed a number of comments about Sony Blu-ray player quality and that their designs are only now "catching up" to Panasonic, Samsung, and even LG. I noticed one fairly expensive Sony Blu ray player- over $400 retail- that did not have an eject button on the remote. I was also interested to learn in passing that Sony LCD panels are actually made by Samsung.

Interesting, but I can barely keep up with media technologies- I've never really even looked at an iPod and Bluetooth to me must be a serious gum disease,..


Cheers,

Bambi B