BR PQ difference between BD35 and BD80

[passingbat]

Hi,

Is there any picture quality difference from Blueray discs between the BD35 and the BD80?

The reason I ask is that here in the UK, you can still get the BD35 for a very good, low, price. But Blueray picture quality is the most important to me.

Looking at the reviews, they tend to suggest that they are the same, but I would appreciate peoples' opinions.

I realize that the BD60 is the 'new 35' but the BD80 has analogue outs that I could utilize until I update my reciever; the price of the 35 is such that it would be worth going with optical until that time, but if I was going to get the new model, I would go for the 80.

BTW Chris, thanks for a great site, with such detailed reviews and articles. I often refer people from the UK AVFORUMS to items on your site (with full creditation). Username dicklodge there.

[MrBoylan]

Hi,

Is there any picture quality difference from Blueray discs between the BD35 and the BD80?

The reason I ask is that here in the UK, you can still get the BD35 for a very good, low, price. But Blueray picture quality is the most important to me.

Looking at the reviews, they tend to suggest that they are the same, but I would appreciate peoples' opinions.

I realize that the BD60 is the 'new 35' but the BD80 has analogue outs that I could utilize until I update my reciever; the price of the 35 is such that it would be worth going with optical until that time, but if I was going to get the new model, I would go for the 80.

BTW Chris, thanks for a great site, with such detailed reviews and articles. I often refer people from the UK AVFORUMS to items on your site (with full creditation). Username dicklodge there.

Hi,

I would say the differences in BD picture quality between the BD35 and the BD80 are minimal at best. There were a few minor enhancements done to the firmware between generations, but I don't know any changes that would have affected Blu-ray performance. There is the 3D NR feature in the BD80 and that's supposed to clean up noisy DVD and Blu-ray Disc transfers but the 4:4:4 color support and the i/p conversion for 1080i Blu-ray Discs on the BD35 and BD55 were already excellent and I didn't notice any significant differences on the BD80.

I do really like the new Playback Information Window on the BD80 which shows you the codecs coming off the disc and being sent out the player (exclusive to the BD80, not available on the BD60), but I don't think anyone's going to notice a big different in PQ between BD35/BD55 and BD60/BD80, as far as Blu-ray support goes.

Glad you're enjoying the site and the forum and good luck!

-Chris

[passingbat]

Thanks for the reply and advice Chris.

I've decided to go for the BD35 and just ordered one. There are a couple of reasons, the first being the really low price. The second is that I've decided to update my reciever and I wouldn't need the analogue outs then. This will maybe not be until later this year or early next, but the savings will go towards that.

HD audio decoding is not the main reason for the reciever update, hence considering analogue outs from a bd player. I like to connect older equipment as well as newer HDMI things and the new recievers coming out this year are reducing optical and component inputs to make way for more HDMI. My plan is to get the latest version of my Yamaha RX-V1500, the RX-V1900, before it's replacement, which is due in 2010.

Thanks again,

Dick Lodge