I can recommend the Pioneer BDP-LX91. Controllable with Beo5, had no problem with any BR or DVD, perfect sound, amazing picture. Load times are higher than PS3 and price though.

Panasonic DMP BD80, superb: robust, versatile (USB, SD CARD, plays all video formats...) and 100% Beo4/5 compatible 🤒

I, too, have no desire to play games on the PS3. However, the PS3 is a great blu-ray player as far as functionality and ease and frequency of support updates. It also serves as a media server access point to play divx files. I find that the touch-sensitive power button reminds me very much of the Beosystem 4500 and has that tactile B&O sense of magic.

Hi,

I tested several players last spring: Sony, Philips, LG, Pioneer, Samsung - each for several weeks. Aim was to find the one with excellent picture and audio quality with Blu-Ray and good control with the PUC of the BS3. I could not get my hands on a Panasonic device to do the extended home testing so I had to rely on second opinion on that. Oppo was not available that time.

Pioneer was absolutely too slow and very big. BDR picture and audio are digital so I did not see or hear any difference between any of the drives. I also draw a conclusion that BDRs are still evolving and therefore it would not make sense to invest heavily to a product with an estimated life span for two years. Therefore I ended to do the selection based on price/performance. For me that was Sony 550 for 229€. Hidden in a cabinet and decent control via PUC.

thanks, that is useful.

i have had trouble locating a panasonic one so have settled on this which i hear is a remarkable machine for £160 (it's also multi-region for standard def DVDs):

http://www.buyblurayplayers.com/sony-bdp-s360-review-3473

🙂

does anyone know if the sony bdp-s760 works with the beo5 ??

I would assume so, it seems as if all BDP's from Sony use the same IR commands - that goes for the s300/s350/s550 at least.

Also, please note that the BeoSystem 3 will not decode DTS High def or Dolby's high def sound format. Buy a BR player that will decode them and pass them on as PCM multichannel (so buying the Sony S350 is not wise if used with BS3, but the S550 will work just fine).

Roger