UKC

My DVD player (Toshiba thing that has served me well for 14 or 15 years) has finally died
My television (Panasonic Vieira 32" that was a generous hand-me down) is showing its age, with muted colours and poor response to a lot of remote control commands

I have quite a large collection of DVDs that I'd like to continue to be able to watch. I am not about to rip them all for watching on a computer, that's a lot of work!

So I am looking to invest in a television and a DVD player, and I should get a Blu-Ray simply because there is material available on Blu-Ray that you can't get on standard DVD.
I am not massively clued up on what's hot and what's not, but I'll say that my requirements are not particularly high-end - for one thing, the TV is unlikely to exceed 32" due to my lounge being small and my not wanting a TV to dominate it (a projector would not be suitable, again for size reasons)
I have happily gone for years without receiving broadcast television but it is probably time to catch up with the world and get something that facilitates this; I dare say a lot of televisions will have inbuilt digiboxes, or I'll get an Amazon Fire Stick or similar....

I have a few Region 1 and Region 4 DVDs and generally have been used to the idea that region encoding is no issue for me. I understand that Blu-Ray is harder to make multi-region (on DVD it's generally a software hack via the remote control, on Blu-Ray it's a hardware mod). I guess I can live without multi region if it is going to add a lot to the cost.

So...what's the best way forward?
Simple solution, I guess, is to just go and get a 32" TV and find a nice Blu-Ray player which may have multi-region capability on standard DVDs.

But is this the best way forward? Should I get a TV with built in DVD player and buy a separate Blu-Ray player? Are there TVs with built in Blu-Ray?

I would hope to have an outlay of well under £400 on this, which seems realistic based on some brief high-street research I just did (based on not having multi-region)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I got a Sony BDP-S1200 to fill that niche a couple of years ago. Region free out the box for 30 odd quid. Chromecast or cdmi to the laptop for anything else.
Still on a 32" panasonic viera of 2012 vintage.

In reply to Mike-W-99:

Thanks. Looks like a discontinued model but sure I can find similar. I assume the niche you refer to is "multi-region DVD but only R2 BluRay"?

Think I've found a second hand Sony that is also multi region Blu Ray, for £80 on Gumtree, will contact the seller tomorrow.

Although I don't even have ANY Blu Rays at all, I have read a few complaints over the years that such-and-such release not only has better "extras" in (say) the R1 version, but is also better quality, or better formatted etc. Whether this is worth £40-£50 additional outlay for the very few releases "affected", is a question I'll have to ponder myself.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

shitting hell, sent a blue ray player to the charity shop last week, perfect working order with remote too. sorry pal!

In reply to wilkie14c:

Hey no worries, my DVD player was working last week.

I did find it notable that Cash Converters and CEX were not selling any such devices (saw one no-brand basic DVD player in one charity shop for a tenner this morning but left it because I want a Blu Ray and want at least the DVD to be multi region)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Hold off until after Christmas for big savings on the TV upgrade ?
Have a look at OLED screens if your not adverse to spending a lot of cash.

.... and someone who is so discerning in their viewing habits should have a screen bigger than a a 32.

In reply to Stichtplate:



I am not discerning, I watch all sorts of crap, I just don't mention the crap and only talk about the classy stuff (*)
cf you don't wax lyrical about some chips and kebab, but you'll tell people about a nice restaurant meal.

Good point about wait for January sales. My TV works, my DVD player doesn't, so the DVD player is the priority right now.

* having said that, I realise that I have actually been saving a few films for when I improve my set-up...although that was more about my TV having faded muted colours, than about size. Remember I said my lounge is not so big, so 32" is ok....

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Good point about wait for January sales. My TV works, my DVD player doesn't, so the DVD player is the priority right now.

As a temporary measure, can you connect your TV to your PC/Laptop?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Get in a viewing room and position yourself at the same distance as your home setup, you may be surprised at how immersive you find a bigger screen. Or maybe not, personal preference and all that.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Do not go trying to change the subject, one thing at a time, lets focus on the Phaeton, you would be better with a 911 but , one thing at a time ;-0

In reply to FactorXXX:




I could but to be honest with the TV not being in perfect condition (see comments about muted colours etc), by the time I faff with that, I might as well just watch directly on laptop (Macbook Pro with 15" or 15.5" screen). I drafted something about this earlier but decided not to post it for some reason. Often I deliberately leave my laptop in my office (away from home) so as not to be staying up late staring a computer screen (as if staring at a poorly gogglebox is any better )

In reply to J1234:


Had been planning to go see one in one of the two dealerships in Derby that each had one, but the cars disappeared off Autotrader! There is a 2011 one in Nottingham at £11k but I'd feel such a fraud going to tyre-kick that one knowing that I absolutely will not be buying it (it's beyond budget). Irrational I know. HOWEVER they photographed it quite comprehensively and I drooled at the pictures!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yes!

It turns out that my television that I was on the verge of replacing because it seemed to have screwed up colours and a somehow grainy picture on DVD, actually just somehow didn't like the SCART output from my old DVD player (a DVD player whose image looked ok on my ancient 26" Ferguson CRT(*)).

Have just plugged in my new player (second hand multi region Blu-Ray Sony thing from about three years ago) which is an HDMI connection instead of SCART. Testing it with the "Rinko Kikuchi goes clubbing" scene in Inarritu's "Babel" and it looks sharp and vibrant enough to keep me happy enough for a while!
I truly thought I was about to have to spend £300 on a new TV to go with my new player but in fact the new player has salvaged my current TV (which was given to me for free by a stranger ????)

* there may have been a tiny bit of confirmation bias here but I'll argue that it was "not much". I also noticed that VHS via SCART into new TV was worse than on my old one. Maybe this current TV has rubbish SCART inputs; I'll try the VHS via those other connections (the coloured round ones whose name escapes me)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

As well as the January sales there is also the football World Cup next year, which last time saw prices drop a lot.

But you need to make sure you're not buying out of date stuff (no HDR, USb 2, HDMI 1, no HEVC, no VP9 etc) or crap (Vestel).

Also check if your blu-ray player can be hacked for DVD region free, lots can (blu-ray less so).

I'd go bigger than 32" even if you need to re-arrange the seating.

You get a lot for your money these days, 43" 4K for £349, this would seriously upgrade your viewing experience:

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7526305

This a a pretty good website for checking the features and spec

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/5d41c07