NEW Philips BDP3000 Blu Ray Player

vestanpance

TheGobb wrote: »

Thinking of buying one of these. How do you do the firmware update? Download to PC and copy to USB and install?

It can be done that way or you can connect it to a modem via an ethernet cable and update it that way.

TheGobb

vestanpance wrote: »

It can be done that way or you can connect it to a modem via an ethernet cable and update it that way.

Thanks. I was just thinking about the problems with some BR disk and wondered what is the point of buying a BR player if some disks are badly made. Think Slumdog Millionaire was mentioned. Is the sound much better in the higher frequencies?

Richersounds.ie: John

TheGobb wrote: »

Thanks. I was just thinking about the problems with some BR disk and wondered what is the point of buying a BR player if some disks are badly made. Think Slumdog Millionaire was mentioned. Is the sound much better in the higher frequencies?

The Gobb,

Thanks for the posts - (and thanks Vestan) Slumdog really is an exception - the quality is pretty variable on the Slumdog disc (we gave away a good few of them on Boards and we took some stick as the picture quality was pretty grainy) but in essence the BR copy will be as good as the original master allows in most cases - ie if it is well shot and mastered the quality should be good - most decent (and many low) budget movies from recent years look superb on BR and again as you ask - the BR Audio quality is mostly excellent.

On the upgrade issue - yep the BDP3000 is a doddle to upgrade - most people just download the firmware on a regular basis on their PC from the Philips Consumer site www.p4c.philips.com and then just pop a USB stick into the BDP and you are away - Here is an update from early March which is on the site and which should probably be loaded onto most BDP3000's as this will probably not have been loaded at factory level.

Thanks again for the post and keep us posted if we can assist in any way,

ATB,

John Mc & Crew

TheGobb

Richersounds.ie (John) wrote: »

The Gobb,

Thanks for the posts - (and thanks Vestan) Slumdog really is an exception - the quality is pretty variable on the Slumdog disc (we gave away a good few of them on Boards and we took some stick as the picture quality was pretty grainy) but in essence the BR copy will be as good as the original master allows in most cases - ie if it is well shot and mastered the quality should be good - most decent (and many low) budget movies from recent years look superb on BR and again as you ask - the BR Audio quality is mostly excellent.

On the upgrade issue - yep the BDP3000 is a doddle to upgrade - most people just download the firmware on a regular basis on their PC from the Philips Consumer site www.p4c.philips.com and then just pop a USB stick into the BDP and you are away - Here is an update from early March which is on the site and which should probably be loaded onto most BDP3000's as this will probably not have been loaded at factory level.

Thanks again for the post and keep us posted if we can assist in any way,

ATB,

John Mc & Crew

Thanks John
Are upscaled dvds better than ordinary DVD but not as good as bluray. Would that be a fair summation. I also know someone who has difficulty hearing. Would ordinary dvds be better heard on this especially the high frequencies.

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

Hi TheGobb

One thing to remember is that Blu-Ray is by far the BEST way of enjoying a movie at home and in pretty much all cases will look much better than the same film on DVD - there are exceptions of course, 28 Days Later doesnt offer much in the way of improved image over the DVD version (I'm pretty sure this was shot on SD DV camcorders to start with) but it does sound so much better thanks to the uncompressed soundtrack.

As John mentioned Slumdog was varible in parts IQ wise, but its still much better than the DVD version.

My favourite "reference grade" Blu-Ray still is BARAKA - this is truly a stunning transfer and really lets the BR format strut it stuff.
DISTRICT 9 is another excellent looking BR disc.

UPSCALED DVD's
If you have a Full HD 1080p TV it will always upscale any SD source to its native resolution (in the case of a FULL HD TV that will be 1920x1080)
A full HD source, say Blu Ray, will require no scaling by either the player or TV.
So even if your DVD player isnt upscaling your DVD's your Full HD TV certainly will.
Its always worth checking to see which does the better job - set your DVD player to 1080p upscale and play a clip and check out the image - the TV wont upscale this image
Now set the DVD player to 576i (DVD's native resolution) and repeat the clip - the TV will do the upscaling in this situation

Just opt for which ever you feel looks best, dont worry if you cant see much of a difference! they can be very slight....

And NO upscalled DVD's don't compare at all to Blu Rays, they dont contain anywhere near as much picture info to start with!

SOUND

Films on Blu-Ray tend to use either Dolby Digital True-HD or DTS Master Audio, both are types of uncompressed/lossless Audio. DVD uses either Dolby Digital or DTS, both are compressed/lossy audio formats.

The regular Dolby and DTS formats found on DVd tend to roll off the upper frequencies, where as the Uncompressed True-HD and Master Audio tend to extend beyond our hearing range.

So played back through a capable AV amp the uncompressed audio from Blu-Ray should sound cleaner, more dynamic, have better detailing and sound staging/steering.
This should be of benefit to those with hearing issues.

If you are just using your TV's built in speakers there will not be much to choose between DVD and BR audio wise as TV's (TV's wont handle uncompressed audio from BR - they BR player will donw convert it)

Hope this helps a little!

Cheers
Ash

Basq

Richersounds.ie (Ashley) wrote: »

One thing to remember is that Blu-Ray is by far the BEST way of enjoying a movie at home and in pretty much all cases will look much better than the same film on DVD - there are exceptions of course, 28 Days Later doesnt offer much in the way of improved image over the DVD version (I'm pretty sure this was shot on SD DV camcorders to start with) but it does sound so much better thanks to the uncompressed soundtrack.

Oh.. I know too well!

I've too many Blu-ray's still in plastic (District 9, Toy Story 1, Toy Story 2, Pan's Labyrinth, Wall-E etc.)!

Cloverfield is an absolute bench-mark disc for sound though.. the sound of monster stomping over the pre-credits sequence is jaw-dropping!

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

I kind of knew not to expect to much image wise from the BR of 28 Days Later but was pleased with the improvement to the sound.

Must give CLOVERFIELD another spin on BR, forgot about that one:)

Basquille, sounds like you need to sit down one evening and have a mega BR viewing night to get through all those films...

Ash

spongerobinson

Hi Ashley,

What price do ye have the BDP3000 for at the moment? all the previous posts that mention prices seem to be from some time ago!

Thanks,

Kevin

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

Hi There

A bargain price of €99.99!

I'll have more stock these next week - keep running out.

At this price there is no reason to buy a DVD player especially as this makes a fine upscaling DVD deck as well.

Shall I add you name to the list for one?

Cheers
Ash

spongerobinson

is there still a free blu-ray with it? i'll have to think about it before being added to the list for definite, but i'll let ya know!

thanks again

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

Hi Spongerobinson

The Free Film offer was only available on the first batch we received in and is no longer included.

Of course the BDP3000 are a lot cheaper now than they were with the BR film:)

cheers
Ash