should blu-ray player and TV be from same company?

[uglijimus]

My wife and I just bought a Samsung HDTV. We are now looking into a blu-ray player. My wife is insistent on buying a samsung blu-ray player as well in order to
avoid compatibility issues, less chance of breaking down and full use of all features on both the TV/blu-ray.

After researching reviews, there doesn't seem to be a decent samsung blu-ray player out there for less than $250. So I'm leaning towards Panasonic.
Is my wife correct?

thanks

[edDV]

There are standarized Blu-Ray features, some features that only work with the same brand (mostly remote control issues) and proprietary features unique to a particular model (e.g. non-Blu-Ray video formats, streaming options, implementation of HDMI remote features, etc.).

Then there are performance issues within the Blu-Ray and DVD specs. These mostly relate to inverse telecine, deinterlace, upscaling DVD or SD Blu-Ray, etc.).

If you bought a 3D model HDTV, I'd definately stick to the same manufacturer.

[festmaster]

As edDV says, there will be good remote control compatibility with the same brand TV and Blu-Ray, which is nothing to ignore. As for Samsung pricing, I picked up a Samsung Blu-Ray last week (I don't remember the model and am travelling) for $139. It has Netflix and Pandora compatibility, so I am not sure what feature set you need that takes the price to $250.

[16mmJunkie]

We own a Samsung 42 inch Plasma HDTV and purchased a BD-P1600 which ran around 150.00 US. We are quite happy with it as the remote works with both(or any of the ANYNET items). Excellent image quality on Blu-ray movies; Netflix, Youtube,Pandora streaming; onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio; Wi-Fi compatible. Plays AVCHD, MPEG2, H.264,BD / DVD / CD . ran all of it through my surround sound system and works very well.





If the Light ain't Bright, it ain't Right!!

[INFRATOM]

The compatibility problem would mostly be from your audio equipment. In these days any Bluray player can play HD and most TV and monitor can display it but not many people have new audio equipment that can input HDMI and decode DTS-HD or Dolby HD so they end up connecting the Bluray to TV and output TV to Audio and enjoy 1080 HD picture with Dolby 2.1 audio.
Bluray disc comes with HD sound plus 2.1 so to get HD audio 7.1 audio must go either to audio through HDMI or 7.1 analog to the audio, not many Bluray players have analog output. Fiber optic is for 5.1 max. The other important thing to consider is you would be playing more dvd than bluray because of availability and existing dvd's so it worth to have a Bluray player that displays normal dvd's as good as bluray. If only picture is important buy the cheapest bluray you can buy because picture wise blurays are all the same.

[computeguy]

There is nothing wrong with purchasing a different BD player... I actually use all
Panasonic BD players in my home with various different model LCD tv's

I find no technical or quality issues to stick to one brand player/tv (and if its only
for the remote )... ITS A NON ISSUE FOR ME...

BTW.. I have over 50g's invested in Audio/Video equipment... So I am not a
noobie in this field.

[16mmJunkie]

I find no technical or quality issues to stick to one brand player/tv (and if its only
for the remote )... ITS A NON ISSUE FOR ME...

.

But my wife and kids sure were happy!! I'm not the only one in the household using our main television and not everyone is technically inclined.




If the Light ain't Bright, it ain't Right!

[jman98]

This may not be of any interest to uglijimus, but I'm going to say it on the off chance that he does care. One reason you might want to avoid Samsung BluRay players is that Samsung DVD and BluRay players are among the most difficult in the world to make region free. If you care nothing about making a player region free, then it's a non-issue for you and not worth worrying about. But we do get a ton of posts here from people who buy various BluRay or DVD players and then come crying to us after the purchase when they can't make them region free and we have no solution for them either, so I wanted to mention it.

[uglijimus]

the vote seems to be split. I guess if it were just a issue of using 2 remotes vs. 1 I wouldn't mind, but I think I would mind losing some features by using a
different brand. @16mmjunkie, I put a $250 price tag because the majority of reviews for samsung players less than that were horrendous. From the reviews I read
many players stopped playing discs after a few months.
@jman98, actually I am very interested in regions as I have a few Japanese DVDS. However, my wife won't allow me to buy one of those "input the code and make it
region free" players because we had one that broke down after I did that with a normal DVD player years back. Incidentally, my cable installation guy told me to get a
playstation 3 even if I am not a gamer. He said that they are very reliable dvd/blu ray players.

I'm still curious as to the quality of upscaling in blu ray players. some say that all blu-ray players upscale with the same PQ. Others disagree? Have the camps always been this divided?

[computeguy]

YOUR WIFE WON'T ALLOW IT....

MAN.... GROW A PAIR WILL YOU>>>>>

My Wife doesn't and will never dictate what I buy for electronics...

[bbanderic]

the vote seems to be split. I guess if it were just a issue of using 2 remotes vs. 1 I wouldn't mind, but I think I would mind losing some features by using a
different brand. @16mmjunkie, I put a $250 price tag because the majority of reviews for samsung players less than that were horrendous. From the reviews I read
many players stopped playing discs after a few months.
@jman98, actually I am very interested in regions as I have a few Japanese DVDS. However, my wife won't allow me to buy one of those "input the code and make it
region free" players because we had one that broke down after I did that with a normal DVD player years back. Incidentally, my cable installation guy told me to get a
playstation 3 even if I am not a gamer. He said that they are very reliable dvd/blu ray players.

I'm still curious as to the quality of upscaling in blu ray players. some say that all blu-ray players upscale with the same PQ. Others disagree? Have the camps always been this divided?

You're not going to lose any features that are worth mentioning by buying a Blu-ray player other than Samsung. Samsung make good Blu-ray players but I think you'll find that the PS3 and Panasonics are rated higher among consumers. I think you'll be better off checking out the AVS forums for advice on which player to get. All the info you need to know about the various players can be found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=149

IMO, you can't go wrong with the PS3, still the most reliable Blu-ray player out there. For standalone players, I would definitely recommend looking into the newest Panasonic models. Both the PS3 and the Panasonics upconvert standard DVD very well...and to answer your question...all Blu-ray players do not upconvert DVD equally.

One feature that I would definitely make sure the player that you decide on has is Netflix streaming, this is something that my wife uses A LOT. If you have a Netflix subscription, the streaming capabilities come standard so you won't have to pay more for it.

Good luck.

[uglijimus]

thanks, i'm leaning more and more towards a PS3.