Sharp BD-HP205 Blu-ray Player

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Pirate

And the Panny is almost a $100 more. And at that price, I'd just get the PS3--because it's even faster.

Got my Panasonic for $425 + 10 free movies at Best Buy after haggling - 5 of those movies were $34.99 new releases of my choice from BB's stock . Even at Amazon prices that is $140 worth of movies (not counting the 5 mail aways). That isn't $100 more equivalent than what you paid, was it? Fry's also has it w/ 5 movies for $369 and Amazon fluctuates between $369 and $409.

PS3 may be even faster, but its still an ugly console and not a simple standalone which I prefer. I'll wait the extra 10 seconds in exchange for the standalone functionality.

Remember, the Panasonic BD30 doesn't have to be a "quick fix." Odds are its going to be a good year before we see any titles with useful support of BD2.0 (took that long for HD DVD). With the BD30 supporting 1.1 and all the features with the exception of BD-Live, you could easily use the BD30 for the next year while the studios get their shit together with BD-Live. Then if BD-Live looks attractive you can upgrade to a 2nd gen BD-Live player.

[Pirate]

Amazon has the BD30 for $419. If I buy from Best Buy, it's $499 + tax which I think would come out to $534. That's nearly $200 more than I paid for Sharp. So . . . yeah.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Amazon has the BD30 for $419. If I buy from Best Buy, it's $499 + tax which I think would come out to $534. That's nearly $200 more than I paid for Sharp. So . . . yeah.

Like I said above, though, in addition to the 5 mail aways I got 5 free movies in store from Best Buy, and I haggled them down to $75 off the list price (armed with printouts from Fry's, Amazon, and Electronic Expo). So for me net price minus the value of the five $34.99 in-store new release movies of my choice (using Amazon's $27.99 pricing for calculations) & after tax was ~$315 from Best Buy. Not a bad deal, and that is why I pulled the trigger on it.

Amazon's BD30 price fluctuates, on average it was ~$409 when I looked, but it dropped under $400 at times. Fry's was $369 but they are sold out ATM:
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/544...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

However the Best Buy deal was actually better than those two deals, because I was able to pick out expensive new releases that I would have bought anyway (like Simpsons Movie for instance) as my 5-free instore movies. So that is what I went for.

[Monrozombi]

Ruined, how the hell did you haggle BB down in price, please tell me I need to try it.

[Vonner]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Do you have the Quick Start on?

Yep.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Vonner

Yep.

That's probably why you have a faster boot up time.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Ruined

However the Best Buy deal was actually better than those two deals, because I was able to pick out expensive new releases that I would have bought anyway (like Simpsons Movie for instance) as my 5-free instore movies. So that is what I went for.

I'm not going to be able to haggle at Best Buy, so we're still talking about a $200 difference with tax (I pay no shipping from Amazon).

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Monrozombi

Ruined, how the hell did you haggle BB down in price, please tell me I need to try it.

First you need to go in knowing what you want to buy. Let them know you are there to buy a specific machine, and they will in turn know that if they give you the right price you will walk out the door with the machine (and not dick them around saying you have to shop around some more, etc).

Second, don't go to customer service for "price match" unless you have an advertisement/printout from an authorized local retailer. CS desk can't do shit in terms of making a deal.

Assuming you don't have that (I didn't), go find a salesman in the HDTV area that looks like they know their shit. If they are not a n00b salesman (might need a manager) and you are confident, they will wheel and deal with you as they will notice you are not a n00b customer. Then present them with your pseudo-evidence. In my case it was two online printouts ($369 from Frys.com + $409 Amazon) as well as a printout from the non-authorized Electronics Expo for $425. Three printouts that had been rejected by Customer Service 3 minutes earlier. But it was good enough for the floor salesman. I also let them know that I was aware the BD50 (which I called the replacement for the BD30) was announced recently.

Tell them that you want to buy so-and-so player but you saw it cheaper elsewhere. If they give you a fair price, buy it. In my case, I neglected to tell them that all of the above stores were only giving away 5 movies and not 10 So $425 was fair. If they don't give you a fair price, make them a reasonable counteroffer. If its still no good, leave and go to a different Best Buy. Eventually you should find someone "workable." Remember, in the end, if they have a decent stock of something selling an extra unit and making only $50 profit instead of $125 profit is better than selling nothing and making $0 profit.

[Derb]

Quick Start..

Geez..

Time for PS3 to boot-up - 8 seconds.
Disc in slot to read - 3 seconds.
Time from hit play to picture - 6 seconds.

Yayyyyyy

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Pirate

• DTS-HD (Internal Decoding)

I'm pretty sure only decodes DTS up to 1.5Mbps, so it only decodes DTS, not DTS-HD.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Sehnzeleid

I'm pretty sure only decodes DTS up to 1.5Mbps, so it only decodes DTS, not DTS-HD.

DTS renamed "DTS" to "DTS-HD Core".

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Ruined

DTS renamed "DTS" to "DTS-HD Core".

No, they didn't...

[Pirate]

Ruined, did you send a curse or hex my way? My player glitched out last night and I damn near had to evoke the power of Christ to calm it down.

[Mr. Furious]

THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!

[sub780lime]

Originally Posted by Pirate

What do you mean?

This was more for Iggy, but simple put, your primary concern when ratings a player like this is probably going to be Video and Sound Quality. The remote and design play second fiddle and the SD upconversion probably isnt the primary reason you purchase it. While your average comes out to 6.4 or whatever it was, when looking at the things i would really care about video and sound performance, it does fairly well.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Ruined, did you send a curse or hex my way? My player glitched out last night and I damn near had to evoke the power of Christ to calm it down.

Sounds more like a Samsung player than a Sharp to me.

Maybe these standalones require constant firmware updates where as the PS3 only needed 1 & that was only if you wanted Pro 1.1.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Derb

Sounds more like a Samsung player than a Sharp to me.

Maybe these standalones require constant firmware updates where as the PS3 only needed 1 & that was only if you wanted Pro 1.1.

I've had 0 issues with my Panasonic BD30.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Ruined

I've had 0 issues with my Panasonic BD30.

Of course, its a Panasonic.

The best DVD player I ever owned was the DMR-E30. I never recorded much on it but I'd say I watched around 5-600 DVDs before deciding to got the upcon route.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Derb

Of course, its a Panasonic.

The best DVD player I ever owned was the DMR-E30. I never recorded much on it but I'd say I watched around 5-600 DVDs before deciding to got the upcon route.

I agree that Panasonic made the best standard DVD players, part of the reason going with the BD30 wasn't so hard.

[Pirate]

I reinstalled the firmware and all the glitches seem to have stopped. And I was able to skip to the main menu on a Disney disc.

I must have chosen some good titles, because I’ve been having a Blu-ray love fest this weekend. I’m still waiting to be underwhelmed.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by Pirate

I must have chosen some good titles, because I’ve been having a Blu-ray love fest this weekend. I’m still waiting to be underwhelmed.

Please share with us the titles you have chosen thus far.

[Vonner]

I'm going to have to play with my uncompressed audio setting because I watched Black Hawk Down last night and the PCM track was very underwhelming compared to the DD.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Vonner

I'm going to have to play with my uncompressed audio setting because I watched Black Hawk Down last night and the PCM track was very underwhelming compared to the DD.

Some older AV receivers do not process bass management, speaker configuration, delay times, etc, when used with PCM 5.1 input. Also, some older ones fail to amplify the LFE by 10db as should be the case with PCM5.1. One of these might be your case, because although PCM should sound a bit better than DD, it shouldn't sound radically different (better or worse).

[Vonner]

Originally Posted by Ruined

...although PCM should sound a bit better than DD, it shouldn't sound radically different (better or worse).

I'm finding that out. I guess I went in with very high expectations after reading ganthc spew the greatness of Blu-Ray's LPCM like it was Gods gift to the ears and how HD-DVD was inferior because it lacked it.

I'll do some tweaking and test it again at some point, but for now...

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Vonner

I'm finding that out. I guess I went in with very high expectations after reading ganthc spew the greatness of Blu-Ray's LPCM like it was Gods gift to the ears and how HD-DVD was inferior because it lacked it.

I'll do some tweaking and test it again at some point, but for now...

Yes, that is why I argued with him so much about it. Mostly placebo effect, especially when the lossy track is ~1.5mbps.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

Please share with us the titles you have chosen thus far.

I've watched these so far:

Casino Royale

The Day After Tomorrow

Spider-Man 2

Closer

Volver

Black Book