thanks roger,  very helpful reply indeed.

think i might go for the bdp-s760. it has an amazing review and gets high praise everywhere.

The BDPs shae a core set of IR commands. I have a BDP-S350 which shares the same remote control with the BDP-S550.

B&O offers a PUC definition for the BDP-S300 and a definition called BDPxxx. So you can control the players from your BV4.

The BDPS300 definition works for the basic functions. The BDPxxx seems to be derived from the BDP-S300 definition, but is worse in a couple of ways. I just wrote myself a PUC definition file for my BDP-S350, which supports almost all of the native remote's codes (beside open/close and Sony's TV control codes on that remote). I will have my definition installed on my BV9 within the next two weeks, when my B&O dealer comes along to make a firmware upgrade to the BV9 and other improvements to my B&O installation.

If you go for a Sony Bluray Player and have intrest in my definition file, please let me know. If my definition file works ok, or after fixing any bugs I introduced, I will send you a copy. You will need the Service Tool or your B&O dealer to install it.

msinn

The best Blu-Rays:

link

Denon DVD-A1UD

I’ve had the PS3 for 2 years now with my BV7-40 III. I'm planning to move it to the children’s playroom, and buy a dedicated blu-ray player for the living room. But two things must work, otherwise there’s no reason for doing it: full Beo4/Beo5 control, and DTS HD master and Dolby True HD decoding. Reading the specs. for Sony BDP-S550 and 360 it seems that the only difference in the sound is that the 550 has 8ch multichannel analogue out, and the 360 does not. Both have PCM HDMI output. I’m lost here – can anyone tell me if the 360 will do the job??? Here in Denmark it can be bought at DKK 2.000 (Euro 266) including 20 Warner blu-ray discs. Thanks...

Danny

I have a bog-standard samsung BD-1600 and though a bit noisy and a tad slow, performs excellent. I paid 195$ now over a year ago.
BD-technologie is still developing so I don't see the point in buying an expensive one just yet.  Also have no need (yet) for DTS-HD or Dolby true HD. 
Sound is already very good on many BD player and I doubt the HD audio formats will add that much to the overall experience. I have a standard 5.1 setup which works excellent and don't want to be surround by a gazillion speakers all around me either as I don't have a dedicated home theater room.

Prices should drop considerably in europe next year. Here we see already sony 360's and equal LG and Samsung BD players as low as 150$. They are really pushing these players now in all major stores. Also the quantity of available BD disks for sale or rent is increasing. Most movies are available in both formats now.  Slowly the regular dvd will be phased out in the long term, I suppose as it cannot keep up with audio and visual requirements.

There is a dramatic difference between DTS 5.1 and DTS-HD audio (/Dolby TrueHD).

BeoSystem 3 can not decode DTS-HD or TrueHD. But BeoSystem 3 will accept multi channel PCM, so all you need to do is make sure that your bluray player will do the decoding and pass on the sound as multi channel PCM. The S550 will do the decoding of the HD sound formats, but the not the S350. The S550 will pass on the multi channel PCM through the HDMI cable, so you do not need additional cables.

Roger