I just bought my first blu ray player

[redsoxfan26]

I paid $122.50 for a brand new Sharp BD-HP20U plus $20 for shipping on Ebay. $142.50 total

Did I get a good deal?

[tcusta00]

Cool! Enjoy.

I'm seriously contemplating my first...

[davring]

At that price I am really starting to think Netflix and drop some premium channels.

[Steve615]

Congrats on the purchase and enjoy.
According to Sharp's website,retail price for this particular BD player is $399.99.

http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelDetailedSpecs/0,1161,1932-,00.html

Based on that info,you got a good deal indeed. :)

[redsoxfan26]

:grin:Great! I can't wait the 5-7 days it takes for shipping.

[dave29]

Cool! Enjoy.

I'm seriously contemplating my first...

wait a couple months, there have ben rumors of $200 blu ray players with netflix capability

[hdtvfan0001]

wait a couple months, there have ben rumors of $200 blu ray players with netflix capability

Summer to fall 2009...likely $299 and $399...if the info at the CES was accurate...

[dave29]

Summer to fall 2009...likely $299 and $399...if the info at the CES was accurate...

thats MSRP though, they will be cheaper(hopefully)

[davring]

I'm actually thinking of a PS3, aren't they capable of Netflix streaming? I need to read up on them.

[Michael D'Angelo]

I'm actually thinking of a PS3, aren't they capable of Netflix streaming? I need to read up on them.

No the PS3 is not Netflix capable. The Xbox 360 is.

[davring]

Thanks Mike.

[dave29]

I'm actually thinking of a PS3, aren't they capable of Netflix streaming? I need to read up on them.

nope, i have one and i would love it if they had netflix. i havent even heard any rumors.

[kokishin]

Check out http://www.themediamall.com/playon


I'm actually thinking of a PS3, aren't they capable of Netflix streaming? I need to read up on them.

[dave29]

Check out http://www.themediamall.com/playon

oh yeah, i never even thought about installing that on my PS3:)

[Hutchinshouse]

I'm actually thinking of a PS3, aren't they capable of Netflix streaming? I need to read up on them.

Checkout the Samsung BD-P2500 or the BD-P2550. Both support Netflix streaming.

[tcusta00]

Checkout the Samsung BD-P2500 or the BD-P2550. Both support Netflix streaming.

Anyone know if these support HD streaming from Netflix yet?

[dave29]

Anyone know if these support HD streaming from Netflix yet?

yep

[dave29]

the LG 300 supports netflix as well

[tcusta00]

yep

Do you have one?

[dave29]

no, i have a sony 300 and 350, and a PS3. the 2500 got the netflix upgrade right after i bought my sony 350. i havent decided if i am going to pick up a samsung 2500 or wait on the new players. i will definately pick up a 2500, if i can get it in the $250 range. from all of the research i have done, the 2500 or 2550 is better than the lg 300

[tcusta00]

no, i have a sony 300 and 350, and a PS3. the 2500 got the netflix upgrade right after i bought my sony 350. i havent decided if i am going to pick up a samsung 2500 or wait on the new players. i will definately pick up a 2500, if i can get it in the $250 range

Curious if anyone can comment on the PQ of Netflix HD streaming...

[dave29]

Curious if anyone can comment on the PQ of Netflix HD streaming...

im pretty sure larry flowers has one.

[davring]

no, i have a sony 300 and 350, and a PS3. the 2500 got the netflix upgrade right after i bought my sony 350. i havent decided if i am going to pick up a samsung 2500 or wait on the new players. i will definately pick up a 2500, if i can get it in the $250 range

You commented that you have heard no rumors of the PS3 ever being able to handle Netflix, is the hardware capable with a future software upgrade?

[dave29]

You commented that you have heard no rumors of the PS3 ever being able to handle Netflix, is the hardware capable with a future software upgrade?

i would think that the PS3 is more than capable of streaming Netflix. it is probably a Sony/Microsoft thing, since tha Xbox360 has it. pure speculation though, i may be way off base.

[tcusta00]

Just got a link PMd to me that has a good Netflix streaming explanation:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1089285&highlight=netflix

Thanks for it! :D

[dave29]

Just got a link PMd to me that has a good Netflix streaming explanation:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1089285&highlight=netflix

Thanks for it! :D

avsforum is full of good BD player info. i check it out almost everyday.

[Hutchinshouse]

Here's a link to the Netflix shootout:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/

Sweet info and cool videos. Ya get to see it in action.

[hdtvfan0001]

The next generation of units supporting both Netflix and Amazon HD content are the units (Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Sharp) that were shown at the CES show and referenced in my earlier post - they have some new chipsets and other "innards" that supposedly are better designed for the download aspect of the HD playback, in addition to Profile 2.0 support for BD disks as well.

It was actually a pleasant surprise to hear the $299 and $399 (yes retail) pricing, as previous new generation units were much higher at first.

[HDJulie]

I'm going to hijack this thread away from the download aspect to ask about the picture quality on a blu-ray player & a regular DVD. I bought one of the players recommended here -- I forget which one it was but it retailed for $299 & had a firmware update to support the blu-ray extra stuff. Sorry to be so vague -- this was a few weeks ago. I kept the player for a few hours, long enough to watch Iron Man in BD & thought the picture was great. We have a double fireplace between the living room & kitchen & have a 50" 720P Plasma on the living room side & a 42" LCD 1080P on the kitchen side. We took our regular Finding Nemo DVD & put the widescreen version in the BD player & the full screen version in the home theater DVD player that connects through HDMI. We got both players to the same point in the DVD & walked from one side to the other to compare pictures. I saw no difference at all in the PQ. The BD player did not seem to upconvert the DVD. The PQ of a regular DVD in both the BD player & home theater player looked about like a 480P picture. Decent but not fantastic like HD. I thought that the BD player was going to make our regular DVD's look better. Because we have quite a few regular DVD's & don't buy new very often, it was not worth it to keep the player & we brought it back. I was really disappointed. Were my expectations not correct -- was there not supposed to be a great difference in a normal DVD, is my TV already upconverting as much as something can be upconverted, or did I just screw it all up & do something wrong?

[BattleZone]

DVDs are 480 resolution. While upconverting can help a little bit, if you had the expectation that a DVD could look anything like a Blu-Ray, you were mistaken. The difference between standard DVD and upconverted DVD is fairly small. Also, your 720 plasma is going to downconvert anyway, so the difference is even smaller. Finally, animation compresses better than anything else, so you're less likely to notice a difference with animation than with a live-action movie.

[kokishin]

oh yeah, i never even thought about installing that on my PS3:)

Playon is installed on XP or Vista based system that is networked to your PS3. PlayOn lets you watch Netflix, Hulu, and other online content. Playon is supposed to unofficially work with networked HR2x's also.

Check out this thread (you were the 3rd post :)) http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=146003&highlight=playon

[HDJulie]

DVDs are 480 resolution. While upconverting can help a little bit, if you had the expectation that a DVD could look anything like a Blu-Ray, you were mistaken. The difference between standard DVD and upconverted DVD is fairly small. Also, your 720 plasma is going to downconvert anyway, so the difference is even smaller. Finally, animation compresses better than anything else, so you're less likely to notice a difference with animation than with a live-action movie.

Thanks. I thought I had read people extolling the virtues of upconverting. I mean, why even bother with an upconverting DVD player if the difference isn't going to be something other than slightly noticeable? No, I didn't expect Blu-Ray quality but I did expect a bigger difference. If I have a chance to try a player again, I'll be sure to use a regular movie for the test.

[wilbur_the_goose]

Remember - Netflix only has a small percentage of films that they can stream. It's mostly based on the studio.

Crap legal stuff.

I cancelled Netflix a month after I started and realized that I still needed discs 90% of the time.

[hdtvfan0001]

DVDs are 480 resolution. While upconverting can help a little bit, if you had the expectation that a DVD could look anything like a Blu-Ray, you were mistaken. The difference between standard DVD and upconverted DVD is fairly small.
Correct indeed - this is one of the biggest misconceptions out there.

Folks anticipate seeing SD movies that are nearly in the same league as Blu Ray, only to be disappointed.

My HD DVD unit does a much better job of upconverting that the 10+ Blu ray units I've seen and 2 Blu Ray units I own. Nonetheless...even those aren't near the Blu Ray disks themselves....and to your point...why would they?

You can't make 480p content the same as 1080p source content...you can "massage it" to look better, but not the same.

As for the future of HD downloads...its early in the process and technology...

[dave29]

Playon is installed on XP or Vista based system that is networked to your PS3. PlayOn lets you watch Netflix, Hulu, and other online content. Playon is supposed to unofficially work with networked HR2x's also.

Check out this thread (you were the 3rd post :)) http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=146003&highlight=playon

yeah, i have it working on my hr2x's, just never thought about it on my PS3. i thought you could install it on the PS3, didnt know that you had to stream it.

[dave29]

Correct indeed - this is one of the biggest misconceptions out there.

Folks anticipate seeing SD movies that are nearly in the same league as Blu Ray, only to be disappointed.

My HD DVD unit does a much better job of upconverting that the 10+ Blu ray units I've seen and 2 Blu Ray units I own. Nonetheless...even those aren't near the Blu Ray disks themselves....and to your point...why would they?

You can't make 480p content the same as 1080p source content...you can "massage it" to look better, but not the same.

As for the future of HD downloads...its early in the process and technology...


same here, it seems like my HD DVD players d a better job than my 2 sony standalones.

[HDJulie]

same here, it seems like my HD DVD players d a better job than my 2 sony standalones.

So why do people buy upconverting players? For those of you that either upconvert or play regular DVD's in a BD player, from 0% (no change) to 100% (incredible BD quality picture!), what percentage does your player increase the PQ on your DVD's. For me, it was 0% but apparently I should have tried a non-animated movie. Sorry to belabor the point. I just see so many people talk about how great it is to upconvert & feel I must be missing out on something, unless my TV already upconverts it for me. I thought I had read that some TV's already do an upconversion so an upconverting player would not be needed. I've researched online & read posts here but I'm just not grasping how it all works.

[houskamp]

So why do people buy upconverting players?
For me it was just so it would plug into my HDMI switch..

[hdtvfan0001]

For me it was just so it would plug into my HDMI switch..
Which I suspect is the #1 reason.

As for the % of improvement for upconverting...it depends on the player, and is also somewhat subjective depending on the viewer and the display.

[BattleZone]

When you play a DVD on an HDTV, an upconversion has to happen somewhere. If you have a non-upconverting DVD player, then your TV does the up-converting. If you have an up-converting DVD player, then the conversion happens inside the player. Why does it matter? Well, many early HDTVs had terrible internal up-converter chips, PLUS many people had DVD players that didn't have widescreen-capable outputs (Component or HDMI), so DVDs looked bad. An up-converting player solves the widescreen issue, and may improve upconversion, depending on how bad the TV's up-converter is vs. how good the up-converter in the player is. Toshiba spent money to put relatively high-end upconverter chips into HD-DVD players, so they tend to look a little better than the average up-converteing DVD player, but some Blu-Ray players also offer a higher-end upconverter (they aren't the cheap ones, though).

In HDJulie's case, she's likely having the DVD up-converted to 1080 in the player, which is then down-converted to 1366x768 by the plasma TV. In that case, she's not going to get much benefit of player-based upconversion anyway, but it might be more noticable on the 1080p LCD.

In the end, though, DVD is NOT HD, and nothing will ever make DVD HD. That's what Blu-Rays are for, and the sooner everyone stops spending money on DVD and starts buying Blu-Ray, the better off they are. DVD is still popular, but is RAPIDLY dying off, much like, but even faster than, VHS did when DVDs became affordable. The fact that Blu-Ray players can play DVDs means that most manufacturers won't even be selling DVD players this Christmas. Already, most manufacturers are down to 1 or 2 DVD player models at most, and are anxious to phase those out.

[hdtvfan0001]

When you play a DVD on an HDTV.....
Your post is right on and solid in information.

Thanks for sharing.

[HDJulie]

Thanks to all of you for your replies & information. I have a better understanding of the difference now. I was definitely able to see the difference in the Blu-Ray movie but since we buy maybe 2 DVD's a year, we'll probably hold off buying any for now until later this year to see what the prices in the BD players do.

[dave29]

Thanks to all of you for your replies & information. I have a better understanding of the difference now. I was definitely able to see the difference in the Blu-Ray movie but since we buy maybe 2 DVD's a year, we'll probably hold off buying any for now until later this year to see what the prices in the BD players do.

yeah, if you are not in a hurry, then it will be worth it to wait and get a new model player with netflix capabilities.IMHO

[Hutchinshouse]

Checkout the Samsung BD-P2500 or the BD-P2550. Both support Netflix streaming.

Anyone know if these support HD streaming from Netflix yet?

I was finally able to locate one of the BD-P2550 in stock here in California. I had to drive 50 miles each way to get it. :mad: So far the player rocks..!

The video processor (http://www.hqv.com/) does an unbelievable job. The Pandora streaming internet radio interface is topnotch. Very impressed with the sound quality! The Netflix interface is also topnotch. My internet connection (DSL 5,200 Mbps average) was more than fast enough to stream Netlix's HD movies. Blu-ray discs were obviously crystal clear.

The player's menus were also crystal clear. I really wish my HR20's menus were that sharp. As far as Netflix quality is concerned. I was very impressed with the quality. One of the big things I dig so far is correct aspect ratios. The aspect ratio is not tweaked by Netflix. I found many non HD movies that filled my screen without stretch-o-vision. :)

I watched an animated movie (non HD) with my kids last night via Netflix. I could not believe how good it looked. Sure it wasn't HD, however it was 16:9 and it was very close to DVD quality. As for HD movies; they obviously do not approach blu-ray or DIRECTV HD quality. However, I rate them slightly better than DVD, with a little more video artifacts. Perhaps a smaller TV would not see the video artifacts. Also, audio only in stereo. :( Still sounds good!

I've only had this player for a few days. With that said, I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, I just ditched a few of my DIRECTV premiums now that I have Netflix. Much cheaper for me. :D Lastly, the ethernet port is great. I was able to download the latest Samsung firmware without having to burn it to disc or USB flash drive. Such a cool feature!

Check the specs. Not a bad pickup for $300+