I just want a BluRay player that works......

[Snidely Whiplash]

Sheesh, I'm having one of those spells where things just seem to go south no matter what I do.

Three months ago I replaced a 5 year old Sony BluRay player that had performed flawlessly until it died. I bought the cheapest ($79) Sony WiFi enabled BluRay player at Best Buy and within 2 weeks it stopped recognizing any discs. Wouldn't play anything. Picked up another cheap ($65) Samsung WiFi enabled BluRay player at Walmart and after a couple months this one has started stuttering during movie playback.

I inquired at the AVS forum for purchase suggestions and the consensus seems to be an Oppo BluRay player (Oppo recently bailed out of the BluRay player market and I dont care to buy a pricey orphan) or a higher end $250.00 Sony 4k unit (UBP-X800) that seems to have hit-or-miss reliability amongst even the AVS forum members.

I just want a BluRay player that works so my wife can watch a handful of BluRay shows and movies we have and to use for Redbox rentals. Do I really have to spend $250.+ for something reliable?
.

 

[RunningBum]

Could there be anything in your setup causing the problem? Lots of dust, or an enclosed space where it overheats?

I've got 2 players, an Oppo and a Memorex, that I bought 10 years ago. Both still working, except the power button on the Memorex doesn't work, so I have to use the remote for that. I dislike both though, because they are so freaking slow to start up and load discs. Years ago I read someone's defense of that, that the ordinary consumer just didn't realize that this is not like a DVD player, it is more like a PC that has to boot up. What that person doesn't realize is that most of us don't want a PC that is slow to boot up, all we want is a player that quickly loads and plays discs. Hopefully newer ones are quicker? But maybe not as reliable if your experience is typical.

Also, 4 years I bought my son a refurb Samsung system that includes speakers, and wifi for streaming. He has a bunch of movies and I saw the system still in his house so I'm sure it still works. So I'm 3 for 3 with players that have lasted.

 

[bUU]

I think that is why you have to spend so much for reliability: So many people driven by dining a lower price.

 

[ERD50]

We have always had much better luck playing DVDs on a computer, than on a 'box'. The same might be true of a Blu-Ray?

I'm guessing the computer just has more power for error detection/correction, but many of the DVDs from the library or rented would lock up at some point on our DVD players, and play w/o a (visible) hitch on a computer.

Most computers have HDMI out now, so can plug right into a modern TV (does Blu-Ray need a specific HDMI version? I'm not up on these things).

-ERD50

 

[broadway]

I bought a Panasonic Blu-ray player about 8 years ago.
As a bonus, I got the the 3D version of Avatar when it was very popular.
Sold the Avatar Blu-ray for $75(?) on eBay.

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

Could there be anything in your setup causing the problem? Lots of dust, or an enclosed space where it overheats?
……...
What that person doesn't realize is that most of us don't want a PC that is slow to boot up, all we want is a player that quickly loads and plays discs. Hopefully newer ones are quicker? But maybe not as reliable if your experience is typical.

No. its an open entertainment center and my wife is one of those cleaning nuts. She regularly wipes off the power cords to every electrical device in the house on cleaning day. I call it a sickness, she claims its attention to detail. LOL

I'm starting to think that newer (not just in electronics) is much < older. I just want a player that works.

I think that is why you have to spend so much for reliability.

I get it - apparently the cheap players are cheap in more ways than just the price. But do I really have to spend $250+ for one that works?

We have always had much better luck playing DVDs on a computer, than on a 'box'. The same might be true of a Blu-Ray?
………..
(does Blu-Ray need a specific HDMI version? I'm not up on these things).

I'm not sure about that either. With HDCP I thought that might be opening a can of worms that might not work (PC to TV via HDMI cable).

My solution of not Blu-Ray problems is I've never owned a Blu-Ray player.

My wife has several discs she watches regularly and we enjoy a Sunday afternoon Redbox feature every so often. Not big on TV but just want to be able to watch these on occasion thus my reluctance at having to spend a fortune to do so.

I wouldn't mind paying the steep price for the full featured unit if I thought it would last but I'm not convinced that's even the case.

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

I bought a Panasonic Blu-ray player about 8 years ago.

I'm not seeing any Panasonic players listed at Best Buy, Walmart, Crutchfield, etc.

 

[HI Bill]

I've had the best luck with Panasonic players. Both Sony and Samsung and PS3 have failed on me, but the Panasonic is still going strong.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I bought a Panasonic Blu-ray player about 8 years ago.
As a bonus, I got the the 3D version of Avatar when it was very popular.
Sold the Avatar Blu-ray for $75(?) on eBay.

I bought the same one - it still works!

 

[Big_Hitter]

I've had the best luck with Panasonic players. Both Sony and Samsung and PS3 have failed on me, but the Panasonic is still going strong.

I have a PS4 that plays blu ray beautifully, better than my panasonic

 

[Big_Hitter]

I'm not seeing any Panasonic players listed at Best Buy, Walmart, Crutchfield, etc.

I got mine at target

 

[bUU]

I get it - apparently the cheap players are cheap in more ways than just the price. But do I really have to spend $250+ for one that works?.

The point is that since so many people are willing to buy crap and so few people willing to pay a premium for quality, quality doesn't benefit from economies of scale as much as it would otherwise, so quality costs more than it would otherwise.

 

[brett]

We bought a Samsung at BestBuy five years ago. Forget what we paid, but it was well under $100.

Still works like the day we first plugged it in. Just bought a second Samsung unit for Costco for another monitor.

I knew nothing about the brands but we do have Samsung TV's. Hooked both up and they worked immediately with no fiddling about.

Happy camper with this gear. If the five year old one breaks tomorrow it will not owe me anything.

 

[MichaelB]

I usually look at Wirecutter, see what they suggest, and read their review. They recommend Sony DBP-S3500 https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-blu-ray-player/

 

[Sojourner]

She regularly wipes off the power cords to every electrical device in the house on cleaning day. I call it a sickness, she claims its attention to detail. LOL

Considering the unusually high rate of failure of your recently purchased Blu-ray players, maybe this is part of the problem? I don't think it's the actual cleaning, but maybe the frequent moving/jostling of the player during the cleaning process? Or maybe some cleaning spray that's inadvertently finding its way into the player and messing with the delicate parts and electronics? Something to consider.

I get it - apparently the cheap players are cheap in more ways than just the price. But do I really have to spend $250+ for one that works?

No, you really shouldn't have to spend that much. Blu-ray technology is fully mature and has been for many years, such that simple players can be very cheaply and reliably manufactured, much like DVD players. However, if you're a "heavy" user, watching numerous discs each and every week, you may want to consider spending a little extra on the player to get a more solidly built device. Or, buy the cheapest one you can find online and purchase an extended warranty that will replace it with a brand new identical (or better) model if/when it fails. Even with an extended warranty, you should still not be spending much over $100.

 

[ncbill]

Used Panasonic off eBay - have 3 of them that still work fine.

 

[Cobra9777]

We have a Blu-ray... I think. Haven't used it in probably 5 years and really have no need going forward.

That said, my experience with cheap standalone Blu-ray players is that they are woefully under-equipped with processor and memory power. They are extremely slow. PCs and gaming consoles work much better. One example, the in-laws wanted to watch something on Netflix recently, so I was going to login at their house. They have no streaming box nor smart TV. But they have a Blu-ray player with a few apps on it including Netflix. I opened it up and stared at a giant "N" for 5 minutes. I am not exaggerating. After logging in, scrolling around was a complete joke.