Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Cheap simple bluray?

Looking to replace crummy old Philips DVD player with something �150 or less.

Priorities are

- picture and sound quality
- upscaling DVDs
- good playback on layer changing
- build quality
- quiet operation
- fast loading
- ethernet and HDMI connection

That's it. I don't want apps, streaming or iPlayer etc., but realise that almost every player has that bloatware built in.

Any thoughts?

Sony S5100 or Panasonic BDT230 would fit the bill I think.

How times move on, just look at the list of requirements (all perfectly reasonable) and think what that would have cost 10 years ago when everyone was putting SDI boards into Meridian DVD players.
Just a thought, Chris

If only Meridian did a Bluray player for �150 ....

The Sony recommendation may be a very good one. I looked into the reviews and the cheapest Sony seems to get just as good reviews on quality etc as the slightly more expensive ones.

This one is only �50 for John Lewis with the 2 year guarantee!

Sony bdp s1100

I bought a Sony BDP S470 from Richer Sounds a few years back. With multi region DVD playback it was I think �120 - multi region added �20 to the price.

We don't use it much, but it does what it is suppose to do, integrates nicely with our Sony TV, is reasonably snappy and has no annoying habits. But it's not one to leave on show as it may blow away in the breeze.

I think major difference with Sony models are simply down to feature set. I went with S470 as it was cheapest of the 3D models at the time.

I'm not saying that quality cannot be bettered, but I've not noticed anything wrong with the picture, but I've only got a 'small' 40" TV and never closely scrutinised the image.

At �50, the S1100 is nearly disposable.

How about a used Oppo BDP83? Great machines, well built and fast in operation. Superb picture quality and the upsampling of DVDs for HD screens is really good too. The used price of these must be down around the figure you're looking at now (they were �500 new). AV Forums classifieds is a good place to look for one... or indeed any of a number of players, unless you want to buy new.

Cheers

George

Good idea, but the last one on there didn't sell at �300 and offers were in at �220 and above. Not sure I'll be getting an Oppo.

I'm a fan of Sony digital products in general (for rather sentimental reasons: Sony F1 anyone?). I bought a GF a cheap Sony Bluray and it was wonderful except in one regard: build quality.

Sony S5100 has a cracking picture, and seems snappy enough. or at least it is on my dad's home system. Be aware that a lot of these budget machines (S5100 included) only have a digital o/p, not analogue, if that's an issue to you.

Panasonic, Pioneer, and definitely Oppo are also great if budget allows. Personally I'm not a huge Samsung fan, having had a couple of machines in the past which weren't great.

That's good intel. Thanks.

Think I will wait till just after Chrimbo for price drops.

Yes, I am a thrifty Scrooge.

Amazon prices

Sony

S5100 �110

S4100 �70

S3100 �90

S1100 �50

I wonder if the S5100 is that much better than the S1100?

Better in what way? In these kind of series the number difference often means different features rather than "better quality". Sometimes the case is identical for all the models in a series.

Have you found any useful reviews online?