Need Recommendations on Blu-ray Player that handles AVI, MKV etc

[dukestravels07]

Hi.

I need a Bluray player almost exclusively for playing compressed digital video in various formats. Mainly MKV, MP4, AVC, XVID etc.

I bought a Samsung BD-C5500 and it has turned out to be pretty crap. It has audio sync issues and the video stutters and thus its going back to the store.

I have about $150 to spend, but can go a few dollars higher if need be.

I am looking for a solid player that someone has tested thoroughly and can verify that for the most part has had no issues with lip sync with AVI's, MKV's etc.

I also need it to be able to handle a 1.5 TB USB Hard Drive...although I'm pretty sure most players do.

If anyone can recommend something that I can buy from a high street store (walmart, costco, best buy etc) all the better.

Costco has the Sony BDP-BX57 at $189 which looks interesting. It has something called "A/V Sync" built in. I'm assuming this might fix my lip sync issues? Anyone tried this player.

Any feedback much appreciated.

[Ai Haibara]

If you don't actually need disc playback (BD, DVD, etc.), you might also look into players like the WDTV, which will play multiple formats from an attached drive. I don't know what the exact price of the WDTV models are at the moment, but I believe they're roughly around $100.

Not sure I'd recommend a Samsung Blu-Ray player right now, anyway. I never could get ours to even recognize a disc with MKVs on it, much less play them... and it stopped working immediately after cycling power for a firmware update.

[yoda313]

you might also look into players like the WDTV, which will play multiple formats from an attached drive

My thoughts exactly.

If you aren't absolutely gaga over bluray and just mainly want to play all your video files without a computer you can't go wrong with wdtv or one of its competitors.

Really small footprint and can play virtually anything off a ntfs drive - ie no file size limit.

I know the plus model has online ability (limited) and can do netflix - you have to verify which precise model does netflix before buying if its important to you, not all wdtvs are able to do netflix.

If you don't absolutely have to have a bluray player the wdtv is perfect for your needs. It won't play any disc media obviously but its great at file playback.

[lowellriggsiam]

The magic word is DLNA. You'd need to do a search for DLNA blu-ray players. I would have to agree with the others about the Western Digital Media Player, the compatible DLNA DVD/Bluray players usually only support fat32.

[jman98]

The one brand I would NEVER recommend for this purpose is Sony. Other than the PS3, does Sony even make one BluRay player capable of playing even Dixv/Xvid files? Sony BluRay players are notorious for their lack of support for anything but BluRay, DVD, MP3 and JPG. That's it.

Lip synch issues are caused by things such as VBR audio, unsupported video encoding settings, and so on. They aren't common, but if your videos continually exhibit this, either the player is pretty poor in what it supports or the files were not properly made. BluRay and DVD players always support a more restrictive set of files for playback than dedicated media players. This is just the nature of the beast. The only plus about using BluRay players for playback is that they may support playback of BluRay audio formats such as Dolby Lossless and DTS-HD and media players do not usually support those formats.

Do note that in North America you cannot buy an BluRay players from the major manufacturers and make them region free. The original poster may care nothing about this, but should be aware of it if it is a concern.

[Phil7]

I have just bought BD-C5500 to go with Samsung LCD TV and particularly for YouTube playing.
I have also just bought DVD by Ben Stein called "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed".
I am playing through old Cambridge Audio 540R. All other DVD's play ok except this one which has a lip sinc problem of up to 1 sec delay in the video. The new DVD plays ok on Computer, old Toshiba player and old Dick Smiths player.
Is it the DVD encoding that is causing this or the BD-C5500 at fault.
Also, if you fast forward or jump chapters it can put the lip sync out by seconds! Only way to fix is to stop and start again. This also happens on other DVDs.
Any ideas please?

[lowellriggsiam]

jman Sony has a few DLNA certified Blu_Ray players now on the market.