Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Dead DVD player, time for Blu Ray?

Wolverine or Hugh Jackman?

I think it is a little of both.

The nice thing about the Logitech module is it converts the IR to Bluetooth, rather than USB. The USB remotes are OK, but they can't turn the system on, you still have to do that by inserting a disc, or pressing the manual power button. The drawback of the Bluetooth device is that is requires power. Were as the USB port can provide the power to that type of adaptor--once the machine is on.

You have to pick which trade-off annoys you the least.

I don't mind having one more thing to plug in back there.

Also, any recommendations on the upconversion settings on the ps3 for regular DVD viewing? I think there was a normal, full, and double setting. Then there were a couple of other settings that could be set to 0 thru 3. I believe mosquito noise or something like that was one of the 3.

I put on the Matrix DVD just to play with upconversion a little bit last night.

"Normal" upscaling is usually the best choice. "Full" takes 4:3 video and stretches it to the full width of the screen. I sometimes use that for non-animorphic widescreen DVDs, and combine it with the Zoom feature of my TV to get them to fill the screen. "Double" first scales to 720p and then to 1080p. Some people like the artificial sharpening it adds to the picture--I don't.

There are three different noise reduction settings:
Frame, is over-all temporal noise reduction which averages the color changes of pixels over time. I set this one to 0.
Block, is applied in the video codec to soften macroblock artifacts. I set this to 1.
Mosquito, again is applied in the video codec, it reduces artifacts inverse discrete cosine transform where there's a soft texture next to a hard edge. I set this to 2.

I have a Harmony One & a PS/3 too. When that Logitech PS/3 Bluetooth adapter was released, I bit the bullet and bought one. I have zero regrets about it. None. Yes, it's a bit expensive at $60 (now $49 on Amazon), but it's worth it. At least, IMHO.

Straight out of the box, it "just worked". I value that greatly. And the PS/3 responds just as quickly as if it were actually being controlled by the Harmony directly. There is zero delay between button presses and response.

For me, I hated using the PS/3 controllers for movies. Felt 'clunky'. And I really didn't want to buy a dedicated BT PS/3 remote after consolidating *down* to just the Harmony One. Felt counter-productive. That $60 adapter made my PS/3 feel like it finally belonged as a part of my Home Theater system, rather than just an add-on that required it's own controller/remote.

IMHO, I'd say to keep the PS/3. You're not going to find a better BluRay/DVD/Video Game/Movie Rental/Music Playing device for less money. And since you use a Harmony, and if you intend to watch a fair amount of movies on said PS/3, then that dongle is worth it. Just my $.02.

Fully agree with you Peter. Now I just have to figure out how to justify buying the new slim PS3 - mainly for the noise reduction during movie playback.

Speaking of which, has anybody bought the new PS3? I'm curious how noisy/quiet it is.

In Canada, it still seems to be the best value bluray player, even if you don't game.

I too, am thinking about Blu.... I don't play many games although I have an Xbox 360. I was skimming over at AVS and saw that Consumer Reports had released the latest. Checked out CR's site and their top Blu is the Oppo. Does anyone have an Oppo - or and opinion on Oppo?

There are several of us here who own and really like the Oppo BDP-83. Mine is the 3rd Oppo player I've owned, and I've been satisfied and happy with each and every one. Though it lacks a couple of features found on some other players (no Wi-Fi for BD-Live features; lacks streaming media services like Netflix and Pandora), it is top rated by just about everybody, including CNET.

CNET's best Blu-ray Players

Other than the picture quality, the feature that really impresses me is the (relatively) fast load times. And, so far, I've had no problem playing any Blu-ray disc. I can't say that about any other Blu-ray player I've owned (two -Sharp & Panasonic) You, pretty much, can't go wrong with the BDP-83.

However, it is expensive. I see, on the CR site, that the Panasonic DMP-BD80 has the same rating as the BD83 and costs a lot less. I've owned a Panasonic predecessor (BD55?) to the BD80 and liked it very much.

If money is no object, I suggest getting the Oppo. If you're on a tighter budget, I doubt the Panasonic would disappoint you.

EDIT: Forgot to mention another thing I really love about the Oppo. It's a true universal disc player, handling both DVD-Audio and SACD discs in addition to Blu-ray Discs, CDs, and DVDs.