What is the best Blu-Ray player on the market?

[Budman]

if you already have a PS3 in one room and you want another blu ray in another room or a stand alone player, whats the best buy

[rockbobmel]

Panny DMP BD55 http://www.provantage.com/panasonic-dmp-bd55~7PSO90J9.htm

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[tommyboy]

for the money, I say the sony I got. It dropped down to 179 on black friday......

[laager]

I can understand the desire for 7.1 analog outs on a BD player. However, I think the question that should be asked is this: what is the DAC being used in the player? If the DAC isn't up to the job of converting the substantially higher bit rate HD formats well you may simply end up with 7.1 channels of sound at a quality level comparable to regular DTS or DD. Hardly worth it, unless it's just number of channels you really need.

[psg]

I can understand the desire for 7.1 analog outs on a BD player. However, I think the question that should be asked is this: what is the DAC being used in the player? If the DAC isn't up to the job of converting the substantially higher bit rate HD formats well you may simply end up with 7.1 channels of sound at a quality level comparable to regular DTS or DD. Hardly worth it, unless it's just number of channels you really need.

Why would they make a player with 7.1 analog outputs that can't keep up with the supported encoding?

You'd think they couldn't get accreditation for the format iif that's the case.

[jacksonbart]

whom ever has advertized in Stereophile/Audio & Vision the most in the past month.

[psg]

Is there a cheap but good player with 7.1 outputs?

I don't really want to spend $150 extra for 7.1 outputs (and lose SACD use which currently uses my 7.1 input), and a $150 HDMI switch to use both my PVR and blue ray, because that is $300 that could go towards a receiver that would eliminate those needs. Decisions...