Suggest a 3D Bluray player please

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flarkit

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Hi,

We're currently running a Samsung 46EH6030 LED TV driven by a Marantz NR1402 with an HTPC hooked up to it.

I'm considering buying a Samsung BD-E5900, then found reviews saying it's drive is noisy. I started searching and saw that Sony's BDP-S490 is a bit cheaper (conflicting info about built-in Wifi), but I can't find many reviews of this creature. Is it just Sony's version of Samsung's cheapie E5500?

The main purposes would be Bluray playback, with 3D a must-have. Wifi functionality with Smart features would be a nice-to-have for firmware updates and perhaps Youtube, but not essential. Oh, should I be bothered by things like DivX functionality?

So far the Sony seems cheaper than the E5900 with possibly good IQ. The E5900 may or may not do the trick, but I'm a little wary of the build quality. There are 3D players from Toshiba, Panasonic and Pioneer, but I'm not seeing many stores listing these makes, so it may be risky.

Help appreciated!
 
If you don't want a PS3, definitely get the Sony.
 
The E5900 is a nice player. Not noisy at all, I've never heard mine make any sound. Wish I could say the same for the PS3, now that mofo is a loud BD drive. The nice thing about the Samsung is that it's a smart player, so you can install apps on it, including Plex.
 
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Qwikslver said:
If you don't want a PS3, definitely get the Sony.
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Yeah, we have an Xbox360 which is perfect for our gaming needs. I'm pretty torn between all the features one finds on BDP's these days: Wifi, streaming, DivX playback, not to mention the essentials like quiet operation, image clarity and processing speed.
 
Actually since you already have a PC, just get a Blu-Ray drive for that. Performance will be much better plus you could store a lot mote BD-live content on it.
 
TJ99 said:
Actually since you already have a PC, just get a Blu-Ray drive for that. Performance will be much better plus you could store a lot mote BD-live content on it.
Click to expand...

I thought about this, but getting 3D disks to work would imply installing a dedicated graphics card and possibly replacing Openelec with XBMC and fiddling with settings till the cows come home. I'm not really keen to spending my vacation swearing at the HTPC again :D
 
The "cheap" e5500 is not a bad player at all it was much more expensive when it came out some time ago. I use a Yamaha 3d Blu-Ray player and the Samsung is faster, playes files .mp4 etc and has no problem with 3D and for R 1000 its really not so bad.
 
flarkit said:
I thought about this, but getting 3D disks to work would imply installing a dedicated graphics card and possibly replacing Openelec with XBMC and fiddling with settings till the cows come home. I'm not really keen to spending my vacation swearing at the HTPC again :D
Click to expand...

How can you have an HTPC without a graphics card? Don't you have one already?
 
TJ99 said:
How can you have an HTPC without a graphics card? Don't you have one already?
Click to expand...

I'm using an H67 mini-ITX motherboard with onboard Intel gfx running Openelec, so no 3D :D
 
flarkit said:
I'm using an H67 mini-ITX motherboard with onboard Intel gfx running Openelec, so no 3D :D
Click to expand...

Maybe just confirm that.... I'm pretty sure the H67 chipset supports 3D. What brand and model is it?
 
Zotac H67ITX-C-E

I'm fairly sure that encrypted Bluray playback on Openelec isn't a straight-forward operation, which I'm happy to circumvent by just buying a 3D BR player. The question is: which locally-sold models have good PQ, quiet operation and minimal judder?
 
Pretty much anything should work, since you are only looking for basic functionality it seems. Even the E5500 has 3D playback if I remember correctly. There's little to no difference between them at any sort of reasonable price.
 
Qwikslver said:
You should have got something Zacate based. Would have saved you trouble.
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I would've, if they were locally available and affordable when I built our HTPC 18 months ago :)

Seems I'll give either the Sammy E5900 or ES6000 a go and hope it doesn't irritate me with playback issues or spinning noise...
 
I have 2 Samsung Blu ray players Both Smart 1 3D 1 with a Tuner DVB T2 and a 250Gb hdd and they both are quiet.

As for 3D get a good 1.4 version hdmi cable if not supplied.as for the player your choice...
 
I took the ES6000 for a spin (LOL) this weekend and watched a few DVD's. After updating it right away it refused to see any disks, until I'd restarted it (if only they mentioned this onscreen!).

The disk loading time felt a tad sluggish, but I had nothing to compare it to, as our old Pioneer player was packed away. Picture quality seemed okay, although I haven't tried any bluray disks yet. The player's most impressive feature has to be its size, with a 19x19cm footprint, as opposed to the 36x20cm E5900.
 
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