Help- Blu Ray Player

[MPM]

My son is coming for a holiday from NYC next month and asked if I wanted him to bring a Blu Ray player from there.
Could someone help me decide whether I should ask him to bring one for me?
Which one? Will it work here in India? Are they cheaper there? Warranty? Any other issues I should keep in mind?
Thanks

 

[unleash_me]

The question is, does one have enough BluRay discs to play. If you are one of those lucky ones, then there are some really good players out there.

Not sure about the availability right now, but many swear by this one! Will cost your son 500USD though.

OPPO Digital BDP-83 User Review
OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player

Other main players are:

Best Blu-ray players - CNET Reviews
Blu-ray player reviews and Blu-ray player Best Buys - from the experts at whathifi.com

Cheers.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

My son is coming for a holiday from NYC next month and asked if I wanted him to bring a Blu Ray player from there.
Could someone help me decide whether I should ask him to bring one for me?
Which one? Will it work here in India? Are they cheaper there? Warranty? Any other issues I should keep in mind?
Thanks

You could defenitely buy a Blu Ray player from US but there would be few issues with them:
Disadvantages:
1: Voltage Issue - 110V & 220 V.
2: Blu Ray Region Code i.e A and 1 where A is the region coding for BLU Ray Disk and 1 is the region coding for DVD, here in India we have Region C for Blu Ray and Region 5 For DVD. For most Blue Ray players its easier to hack the DVD Playback Region but it requires a cosly ICOS chip to be fitted to a player for making it multi region for Blu Ray Disk.
3. NO Warranty.

Advantages:
Price Advantage, every model their is almost half priced as compared with their Indian Versions. say for eg The Panasonic's BDP-BD60 is avialiable here for Rs.25000 officially whereas in US its sells for around 200 US$.

One thing which I can suggest you to do is look at ebay.com in the US and look for Panasonics Player Model Nos. BDP BD 60/80 with multi region modification and then buy 110 to 220 convertor and then use it in India. This might save some money and would solve your purpose.

 

[venkatcr]

I would avoid buying any Blu-Ray player from the US other than the Oppo today. As it is a new medium, the software title holders will ensure that region code is adhered to strictly. Though players from Pioneer and Panasonic are good, I have not seen any way of making them region free as yet.

Oppo is selling it's BD 83 only to early adaptors as a way of testing its features. So we have to wait for the early adaptors period to be over. Even if you order online, Oppo will not deliver one to you.

Cheers

 

[spirovious]

I would avoid buying any Blu-Ray player from the US other than the Oppo today. As it is a new medium, the software title holders will ensure that region code is adhered to strictly. Though players from Pioneer and Panasonic are good, I have not seen any way of making them region free as yet.

Oppo is selling it's BD 83 only to early adaptors as a way of testing its features. So we have to wait for the early adaptors period to be over. Even if you order online, Oppo will not deliver one to you.

Cheers

Is this the way to make BDP reg free?

Multi region Blu-ray dvd player FAQs, buying guide and information on Multi region code free bluray dvd players bluray disc players for multi system multi region

http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/

 

[ashishkesarwani]

Though players from Pioneer and Panasonic are good, I have not seen any way of making them region free as yet.

Cheers

There are chip based modifications avialiable from www.blueraymods.com for Panasonic and Pioneer Players starting from 69 Euro which is shipped worldwide with detailed instructions of applying that mod is also provided. Modded players are also avaliable around the net with worldwide shipping options.

 

[venkatcr]

There are chip based modifications avialiable from www.blueraymods.com for Panasonic and Pioneer Players starting from 69 Euro which is shipped worldwide with detailed instructions of applying that mod is also provided. Modded players are also avaliable around the net with worldwide shipping options.

None of these are as simple as a remote control code entry as we have in DVD Players now. I expect the same technology to come in Blu-Ray players by end of this year. I plan to wait till then.

Cheers

 

[mandeep]

You should get region free bluray player like the one(panasonic BD55) available at hkflix,USA.

HKFlix.com: Region-Free Hardware! Panasonic DMP-BD55/DMPBD55.

OR

Buy the Momitsu 899(Japanese)

HKFlix.com: Region-Free Hardware! Momitsu BDP-899/BDP899

its also becoming quite popular these days. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16114623.

Review of momitsu 899 Momitsu BDP-899 Region-Free Blu-ray Player Review | Blu-rayDefinition.com Infinitely Superior



you will require voltage converter(easily available in India) for the pana BD55.
Momitsu have a universal supply.(120-240V)

 

[Kamal]

I would also advise you to wait.
Let Oppo launch their BDP-83 commercialy & let the hackers sink their teeth into the player to develop a region free hack.
The Oppo is such a feature packed player that its worth while to wait for it.
Besides, there are hardly any titles available & such as there are, are pretty expensive.
Let the medium settle down a bit-there's no merit in grabbing whatever is available now.

 

[moserw]

Let Oppo launch their BDP-83 commercialy & let the hackers sink their teeth into the player to develop a region free hack.

Don't believe this is going to happen long term. All Blu-Ray devices are built to get on the internet and update themselves, content, firmware, etc. Such updates will nullify any hack or workaround unless its done at the chip level in which case updates will not work and the device will not be recognized or will be termed as hacked and as such out of warranty. This live updating feature was incorporated into Blu-Ray for such measures. Just as hacked s/w on the PC will be termed illegal and locked from further usage the same might happen with Blu-Ray too. My PS3 updates/checks itself on a regular basis.

The only solution to this is to prevent internet access altogether but that will hardly make sense since you do want the latest firmware updates, security patches, and so on. Also Blu-Ray discs when inserted in the player will update with the latest subtitles, commentary, behind the scenes action, footage, etc. making the entire medium of Blu-Ray a more interactive one so not getting online defeats the entire purpose.

 

[venkatcr]

........ Also Blu-Ray discs when inserted in the player will update with the latest subtitles, commentary, behind the scenes action, footage, etc. making the entire medium of Blu-Ray a more interactive one so not getting online defeats the entire purpose.

That may well be true, but I strongly believe in market forces. If Blu-Ray has to succeed in Asia, both the manufacturers and software title holders have to make it easily usable. I am quite sure that Oppo's standard region free code will work with their BD-83 though they will not accept it officially and publicly.

In any case, spending over a 1500 Rupees for each media is pointless unless you have money that you don't know what to do with. I have seen a couple of people pick up over 40 to 50 Blu-Ray discs from Landmark, but these are people who basically are the 'keep up with the Jones' type. When I spoke to them, I realised they have no idea what they are doing.

There is no use in having a player for which you cannot buy the media. When the media prices drop to something like 200 to 250 a piece - that is the time to seriously start looking for a Blu-Ray player. By that time the technology would have also matured and you will have a large choices of players available in the market. I expect Pioneer and Panasonic to do with Blu-Ray what they have done with standard DVD - bring out players that are superb in quality and pricing.

Cheers

 

[manu4panjab]

hey why not download brrips from katzforum like this Katz Forums - View Single Post - BRRip / HDRip Movie Collection (UPDATED FREQUENTLY)

i have always doenload brrip movies and burn them to dvd

check the quality for yourself

 

[frnd08]

Don't believe this is going to happen long term. All Blu-Ray devices are built to get on the internet and update themselves, content, firmware, etc. Such updates will nullify any hack or workaround unless its done at the chip level in which case updates will not work and the device will not be recognized or will be termed as hacked and as such out of warranty. This live updating feature was incorporated into Blu-Ray for such measures. Just as hacked s/w on the PC will be termed illegal and locked from further usage the same might happen with Blu-Ray too. My PS3 updates/checks itself on a regular basis.

The only solution to this is to prevent internet access altogether but that will hardly make sense since you do want the latest firmware updates, security patches, and so on. Also Blu-Ray discs when inserted in the player will update with the latest subtitles, commentary, behind the scenes action, footage, etc. making the entire medium of Blu-Ray a more interactive one so not getting online defeats the entire purpose.

i think the quest for a blu ray player will end the moment divx 7 hardware is released.simply bcoz it would allow people to play HD stuff in formats which arent compatible with the mainstream dvd players.

 

[moserw]

I strongly believe in market forces.

Hmmm. Well sir the days are long gone when consumer is king. We no longer even get to choose technology. If it were so then we would still have a choice between CRT, LCD, Plasma among TVs but instead its the companies who are deciding. Yeah maybe prices come down after a while but that's because the companies start selling more so they are able to offer at a lesser price because of increased production. The companies sell more because the customer has only that to buy and others like CRT are not produced/manufactured anymore. The same will happen with Blu-Ray and DVD too. DVDs will slowly be stopped and only Blu-Ray will remain. The customer left with no other option will end up going for Blu-Ray and then the prices will start coming down because Blu-Ray gets sold more. The same happened with VHS/VCR to DVD/DVDP and Tapes/Tape players to CD/CDP. We all ended up going in for "forced upgrades" even when CDPs & DVDPs were expensive and the CD/DVD media too was expensive. A DVDP now is available for 4K or even less. I remember paying 3-4 times more for DVDPs that would only play DVDs and not do anything else. A DVD Writer for the PC costs Rs. 1000-1200 now. A friend bought it for Rs. 95,000 a long time ago when it came out. I myself paid around Rs. 14,000 for a DVD Writer a few years ago. Those who can afford will buy and those who cannot afford will not. Most of all those who really need it and cannot do without it will pay through their noses. At least this is what I've seen happen with technology over the years.

 

[moserw]

i think the quest for a blu ray player will end the moment divx 7 hardware is released.simply bcoz it would allow people to play HD stuff in formats which arent compatible with the mainstream dvd players.

If the DVDP with Divx 7 is cheap then great, but I don't think it will be cheap initially. Might be a while before they are available/affordable to all. Also, there is no guarantee Divx 7 will be incorporated into just DVDP. They might be incorporated into Blu-Ray players for all we know since Divx 7 plays HD rips.

 

[venkatcr]

hey why not download brrips from katzforum like this Katz Forums - View Single Post - BRRip / HDRip Movie Collection (UPDATED FREQUENTLY)

i have always doenload brrip movies and burn them to dvd

check the quality for yourself

Manu look at the specs posted at the site for one of the movies:

RELEASE DATE : 29.10.2008
RUNTIME : 1:38:03
AUDIO LANGUE : English
Video : 1668 kbps XviD
Bits per Pixel : 0.303
Resolution : 720x304
Frame Rate : 25.000 fps
Audio First : 448 K/bps 6 Chnls AC3 English
Video Size : 1.45 GB

Do you understand the compromises that have been made? You take a 25GB movie and compress it to 1.45 GB. Look at the amount of data that is lost. In addition, you take a 1080P film and downgrade it to 720P.

I think you should use a upscaling player and watch a original DVD on a 1080P screen to understand what you are missing with these downloads. I have watched many a movie with the original DVD played by my Oppo 983 and the same movie as a ripped version. In the second case also I have used the 983 as a player so that there is no compromise on the delivery standards. According to me none of the rips can hold a candle to an original movie. In addition, I find the lack of menu, chapter search, subtitles, and a lot of other features extremely irritating.

I am happy with original DVDs and I am currently buying 15 to 20 DVDs every month. I have also stopped renting as I have enough new movies to last me more than a year of daily watching.

Hindi movies, in particular, are available at or less than 75 rupees each. Even the Gangaajal that I use as a reference DVD is now available at 80 Rupees. I see no reason to even consider a ripped version of these movies.

The hassle of keeping a Net on overnight, worrying about download, restarting because of interruption - all that for 75 Rupees? It is not worth it in my opinion.

As I wondered in the other thread - we are all so worried about MP3. Why do we have such double standards when it comes to our eyes?

Cheers

 

[manu4panjab]

Manu look at the specs posted at the site for one of the movies:

RELEASE DATE : 29.10.2008
RUNTIME : 1:38:03
AUDIO LANGUE : English
Video : 1668 kbps XviD
Bits per Pixel : 0.303
Resolution : 720x304
Frame Rate : 25.000 fps
Audio First : 448 K/bps 6 Chnls AC3 English
Video Size : 1.45 GB

Do you understand the compromises that have been made? You take a 25GB movie and compress it to 1.45 GB. Look at the amount of data that is lost. In addition, you take a 1080P film and downgrade it to 720P.

I think you should use a upscaling player and watch a original DVD on a 1080P screen to understand what you are missing with these downloads. I have watched many a movie with the original DVD played by my Oppo 983 and the same movie as a ripped version. In the second case also I have used the 983 as a player so that there is no compromise on the delivery standards. According to me none of the rips can hold a candle to an original movie. In addition, I find the lack of menu, chapter search, subtitles, and a lot of other features extremely irritating.

I am happy with original DVDs and I am currently buying 15 to 20 DVDs every month. I have also stopped renting as I have enough new movies to last me more than a year of daily watching.

Hindi movies, in particular, are available at or less than 75 rupees each. Even the Gangaajal that I use as a reference DVD is now available at 80 Rupees. I see no reason to even consider a ripped version of these movies.

The hassle of keeping a Net on overnight, worrying about download, restarting because of interruption - all that for 75 Rupees? It is not worth it in my opinion.

As I wondered in the other thread - we are all so worried about MP3. Why do we have such double standards when it comes to our eyes?

Cheers

i know brother but its just me

 

[frnd08]

Manu look at the specs posted at the site for one of the movies:

Do you understand the compromises that have been made? You take a 25GB movie and compress it to 1.45 GB. Look at the amount of data that is lost. In addition, you take a 1080P film and downgrade it to 720P.

I think you should use a upscaling player and watch a original DVD on a 1080P screen to understand what you are missing with these downloads. I have watched many a movie with the original DVD played by my Oppo 983 and the same movie as a ripped version. In the second case also I have used the 983 as a player so that there is no compromise on the delivery standards. According to me none of the rips can hold a candle to an original movie. In addition, I find the lack of menu, chapter search, subtitles, and a lot of other features extremely irritating.

Cheers

hi! just wanted to know if upscaling to 1080p or 720p is equal in terms of quality to say an original 720p or 1080p stuff.

 

[moserw]

hi! just wanted to know if upscaling to 1080p or 720p is equal in terms of quality to say an original 720p or 1080p stuff.

The thing is if its a rip of an 1080P or 720P content then upscaling is not required. The rips themselves will be at 720P or 1080i/1080P.

Upscaling is required for SD content and this will never be the same quality as 720P/1080P content though an Oppo will do a very good job at upscaling.

 

[venkatcr]

Well Moser you have yourself answered and proved my point. Prices of electronic product in the initial stages of their evolution is always high, and they start coming down as the market catches on. In the initial stages, most general customers are hesitant to buy, and it is the early adaptors who spend money to get a new technology. By the time the technology enters mass market, the initial kinks are all removed and the product matures. There are some companies (such as Oppo, Pioneer, etc) who tale a giant step and bring the product to the mass market.

These are market forces at work, not only for electronic products, but for all products.

None of the manufacturer are forcing you to buy anything. If you don't like a product, you can always skip it. And since we know prices will fall, we can always wait till the time we feel the prices are reasonable. That is the beauty of a free market.

Cheers