Best Option for upcoming BluRay/ existing SD-DVD collection

[Jay5150]

Hi All!
I have been lurking around for a few months quietly researching for my upcoming HT setup and here is my situation:
I am in Coimbatore now with sizeable collection of regular DVDs which are of multiple regions; some region 1 (Amazon US), region 2 (Amazon UK/brother who works in UK) and many purchased here in India which are as u know variable from 2-5. I also have an ext 500 GB HDD with many movies in .avi and few of my fav anime in .mkv format.

My present setup is a Philips 32" LCD connected via HDMI to a Sony DAV-DZ555k HTiB which is adequate for my small hall in a rented flat.

I will be moving back home to Trivandrum in a few months and am planning to setup a decent HT. I have a nice hall maybe about 15' x 30' (I think) I am planning to buy a 47" LCD and have more or less settled on the Denon 1910 (or maybe even 2310 if the wallet allows). I am still in a quandary about the speakers, though my budget allowed Polk Audio, my ears just could not accept them (TSi) and they could not demo the RTi for me. I loved the KEF iQ90 but they might a bit too expensive. Anyway that is for another time and another post.

My confusion is regarding the bluray player. Initially my plan was to buy a PS3 as it was the cheapest available player.
My Sony DZ555 was region free from the shop and I did not have any issues playing any of my DVDs so far.

Now I see that the PS3 is quite strictly region locked even for SD-DVDs so most of my DVDs will be unplayable. I am planning gradually build a collection of BluRay dvds mainly thru Amazon US and UK(via bhai). I think many of the BD titles are still region free so I might not have a problem. But I am worried about the SD DVDs. Now the Sony BDP S370 is very tempting but again what is the general user experience? Is it region free for SD DVD or can it be made so? I checked online and the hack involved an additional universal remote.

So guys what is the best way for me to go? PS3 or 370? or some other?

BTW how good are the Indian release Blu Ray discs especially from Reliance BIG or Excel? Are they the original discs with just Indian packaging or some cut rate licensed copy with poor transfer quality?

Thanks
Jay

 

[venkatcr]

Since you want to play Blu-Rays, DVD and media files, the best option would be a media player that can have a Blu-Ray drive. Possible options are Dune and Popcorn Hour.

Cheers

 

[Jay5150]

But how much would a media streamer with an inbuilt bluray drive cost? I think the WDTV Live itself is about 10k isn't it? Is the Popcorn hour officially available? and i don't think it would be region free anyway. And using my PC's dvd drive i know its very difficult to hack it. I would be happy with Region A BD and Multi region SD DVD. What about 20north and what is the region coding of hamara bharathiya PS3?

 

[Tsiju]

Indian Blu-ray cover Art and case is usually not up to the US-UK standards, The Discs are as good as from anywhere in the world! BDP-S370 will be region locked for sd dvds also just like the ps3, Like venkatCr said, A dune , pch or Oppo Bdp-80 or 83 ( dune and Oppo I know can be modded yourself as region free) would be ideal for you.

 

[KDM]

BDP-S370 will be region locked for sd dvds also just like the ps3

No, the BDP-S370 is not region locked for DVDs. Unlike the PS3 it can play DVDs from any region without a problem.

But how much would a media streamer with an inbuilt bluray drive cost? I think the WDTV Live itself is about 10k isn't it? Is the Popcorn hour officially available? and i don't think it would be region free anyway. And using my PC's dvd drive i know its very difficult to hack it. I would be happy with Region A BD and Multi region SD DVD. What about 20north and what is the region coding of hamara bharathiya PS3?

Region 5/C - with NO chance to crack it for either BD or DVD.

I think that a BDP-S370 would be your best bet if you have many Region ABC BDs. The Indian BDP-S370 is Region C. The DVD portion is multi-region, so it will play ALL your DVDs without a hitch.