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Why Would I Pay $300-Plus for a Blu-ray Player?

Al Griffin  |  Sep 23, 2015

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Q I am looking for a new Blu-ray player and have a question. What’s the difference between inexpensive models and ones that cost $300-plus? It seems to me that inexpensive models have as many features, if not more, than pricey ones. If it’s a question processing power or something else, does that make a huge difference in picture and sound quality? —Edwin Vela

A Good question. You can now buy a Blu-ray 3D player for $100 or less with built-in Wi-Fi to stream Netflix, Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, and other stuff. Some like Sony’s BDP-S5500 also let you stream and play PS3 games via the PlayStation Now service (subscription or per-use rental fees apply). What else could you possibly want—especially when you have to spend loads extra to get it?

A bunch of things, as it turns out. When you step above the entry-level, you find amenities like 4K video upconversion and dual HDMI outputs. While that first feature is only useful if you have a 4K Ultra HDTV (Blu-ray players I’ve tested with this feature generally do a better job upconverting 1080p video on Blu-ray to 4K than the TVs themselves), the second lets you run separate HDMI links to a TV and AV receiver, or to two separate displays. This can come in handy for dual-screen installations incorporating both a TV and a projector. (Check out a walkthrough of Sound & Vision columnist John Sciacca’s dual-screen home setup here).

At the high end of the Blu-ray player price spectrum, feature differentiation comes down to video processor and digital-to-analog audio converter (DAC) performance. Pricey players like the Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD ($2,000) come with high-quality video processing solutions such as Marvell QDEO that provide advanced detail enhancement and noise reduction—adjustments that can have an impact when viewing on a large screen projection system.

Advanced features on pricier Blu-ray players are aimed at audiophiles as well. OPPO’s BDP-105 universal player($1,200) for example, supports SACD/DVD-audio playback and High-res FLAC decoding. Other audiophile extras may include a compartmentalized chassis for power supply isolation from A/V circuits, balanced audio output connections, and a USB asynchronous DAC input. As with video processing, such extras may not make a difference on all systems, but high-end ones can potentially benefit from them.

COMMENTS
kevon27's picture
Submitted by kevon27 on September 24, 2015 - 6:55am

A good AVR/Processor.
Your Bluray player should just be your transport and your avr/processor should handle the video/audio decoding.
Only those people who are super anal about getting every last bit of detail from there audio (whatever that means) would by something like the Oppo 105.
Or, they'll invest in an outboard dac like something from Benchmark.
If you're not an audiophile, your using hdmi to a AVR, don't need dvd-a/sacd playback, a decent $150 player would do.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 24, 2015 - 10:41am

your source is the most important device in the chain. NO amount of processing is going to replace data that is "missing" (read incorrectly)...and the $99-$150 players are built to meet a price point, NOT to offer any kind of quality or durability.

If picture and/or sound quality is important to you, spend appropriately. If you don't care if the unit breaks after a year or so of use, or you just don't care, sure, buy the cheap units.

S Crowley's picture
Submitted by S Crowley on September 27, 2015 - 7:00am

Explain how a 1 or 0 is missing without error correction. If not for it, then you will not see or hear an exact duplication. If a program is missing data you will have a checksum error. That is computer programming 101.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 28, 2015 - 7:52am

Transport read errors. "Error correction" is nothing more or less than an "educated guess" by the computer. Sometimes it gets it right, sometimes it gets it wrong. Get it wrong enough times, and you have a visible picture difference or an audible difference in sound quality.

This is why you would spend more money on a player with a better transport, better lasers, and vibration damping in the chassis.

S Crowley's picture
Submitted by S Crowley on September 28, 2015 - 8:27am

Uh no it is not. You have comparetors in computing that constantly analyze the checksum of each and every register. That is a fact. If that data does not match you get an error. Fact. Check out BP Microsystems and download the software for programming said integrated circuits. We program billions of chips every year through our sales, engineering and development. We work with device manufacturers with an emphasis on the integrity after programming. A D-A converter that has more bits, can more closely reproduce an analog signal. No one ever mentions the clocking that is responsible for the complete digital chain. Most of the clocks are very cheap and are used in every digital circuit. You can believe what you think, but integrated circuits have been around a long time. Multi-layer boards where timing is critical, have critical signal paths that must not pass over voltage rails internally or you will have signal degradation. Hole theory of electronic components is a practical use in the design of IC's. And let's not forget about black pad on BGA devices where leaded solder is not used anymore. Check out the SMT.net where IC's are discussed in a manufacturing environment.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 28, 2015 - 8:29am

In theory, theory should be the same as in practice...but in practice it is not.

You can break down whatever engineering you want, but having sold high end transport systems from Linn, Classe, Mark Levinson, and others, I can definitely say there is a SIGNIFICANT performance difference with better engineered transport systems that DO affect playback. You can take your error correcting $99 Blu-Ray and enjoy it, but that doesn't mean that there aren't significantly better performing players out there!

S Crowley's picture
Submitted by S Crowley on September 28, 2015 - 9:07am

Back in the mid 70's I bought a Thorens TD145Mkll to replace my Garrard. There was a noticeable lowering of rumble, especially played through my AR2ax. I am sure these manufacturers of high end equipment follow good engineering specs. In amplifiers a better slew rate is always desirable. Along with low THD. If a speaker has a low sensitivity you need more power to achieve louder passages than a higher sensitivity speaker. Test equipment I use do not have uber expensive power cords because the power supplies filter out the unwanted garbage from power delivery circuits. And that is some old ULF generators developed by Hewlett-Packard and oscilloscopes that measure into the GHZ band. These OEM drives are not that special. If there is something revolutionary about these drives then they would be mass produced.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 28, 2015 - 9:09am

There is nothing revolutionary about them...they are just manufactured with tighter tolerances, and with better quality control. You can't mass produce something like that.

S Crowley's picture
Submitted by S Crowley on September 28, 2015 - 9:36am

Medical equipment and test equipment is mass produced to higher tolerances than any high-end stereo equipment. Not to mention IC manufacturers in dedicated clean rooms. These high-end manufacturers send their boards to be built at such companies as Foxxcon. The SMT machines such as Universal Instruments build these boards for OEM manufacturers. You can read on tolerances at www.uic.com .

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 28, 2015 - 9:45am

But the prices that quality engineering and production require to produce said items puts it out of the price point of most consumers. How are you going to convince someone who buys TVs at Costco or Walmart to buy anything more than a $99 blu-ray player?

Grodzman's picture
Submitted by Grodzman on September 25, 2015 - 6:59am

What's the purpose of a DAC in a Blu-ray player? Isn't that the purpose of the AVR?

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on September 25, 2015 - 12:13pm

The DAC in the Oppo players is probably better than the DACs in your run of the mill AVR. It really depends on the quality of the AVR in question as to which is better.

pw's picture
Submitted by pw on September 25, 2015 - 5:48pm

Apparently even a Very Good BR player will age out quickly.. I replaced it with a new $60 Panasonic BR player and it all works fine now. The software on the Sony would not update,, go figure..

mikem's picture
Submitted by mikem on September 26, 2015 - 12:56am

I've gone through plenty of BD players but the best one, above all others, is the OPPO 103D. It was about $600.00 and worth every penny. I have a 55" Panasonic plasma and there have been times when I'm playing a BD movie I find myself just staring at the picture. North By Northwest is one that comes to mind. The old adage is still true - you get what you pay for.

Rob1956's picture
Submitted by Rob1956 on September 26, 2015 - 6:53pm

I bought a Sony 2nd generation Blu-ray player in 2008 and she's still running fine. Yes, takes a while to load a disc and start playing, but I haven't updated it since 2013 and it plays the latest discs with no problem. Just watched "Jupiter Ascending", bad film but great visuals, with no problem at all.

haloless1's picture
Submitted by haloless1 on December 29, 2015 - 10:12am

I just bought the Sony BDP-S6500 because it does 4K upscale and it looks phenomenal on my Sony XBR-55X900A. It is priced relatively cheap at Best Buy, probably because they are trying to move as many units as they can before UHD Blu-Ray comes out.

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