XXHighEnd

I'm totally pissed off with Sony and their bloody Blu Ray players. I've had the optical drive of a PS3 fail in 18 months, the optical drive of a [fairly expensive] Blu Ray player fail in 15 months... and now the optical drive of another [fairly cheap] Blu Ray player fail in just 3 months.

I'm sure Sony still produces many good and reliable products, but my experience is that their Blu Ray optical drives have terrible reliability. I am the only one???

Also, I now need to replace two Sony Blu Ray players. I totally refuse to buy another Sony. I'm happy to stretch to €500 for one and €200 for the other. Does anyone have any recommendations based on their own experience living with the machine for a while? I've read good things about the Oppo - any thoughts?

Mani.

The Cambridge 752 or Oppo 105 only way to go. Both made in the same factory. I have a Cambridge 751 and sonically it was ahead of the 95 Oppo but now both new models probably similiar. If you don't use the 7.1 outputs get the cheaper models down ie: Cambridge 751, 651 or Oppo 95, 103 and use HDMI as I do below.

I run a Kanex HDMI converter to hear 24/96/192 through my Benchmark DAC2 for live BR concerts, SACD and DVDA. Much better sound than from the onboard DAC's. The digital out will not do 24/96 from BR's. This converter does not need to be connected to a monitor to work. I leave it set on 5.1. Would be interesting if this worked into the NOS but I guess the NOS needs xxhighend to work.

I mostly use this setup for live concerts which are some of my favourite sounds. I tend to run movies off USB and this feature is great on these players. Since the advent of xxhighend I've gone back to stereo and home theatre lies redundant. I was ever hopeful that surround music would get bigger but still early days. I've completely removed the centre speaker resulting in a much better stereo sound.

Why not using a decent media player with a harddrive?

I haven't used a Bluray or DVD-player for years! Best part is that I do not have to watch all those warnings, commercials and previews... just hit play and the movie starts!

Bert

And will a Blu Ray disc go in there Bert ? (I just don't know - I am used to computers only ;))

No problem at all. DVD, CD and Bluray and even a HDD bracket if you desire. And viewing your photo collection is an option as well and if you have 3D then.... no problem either. ;-)

http://dune-hd.com/eng/products/full_hd_media_players/37

For Bluray options (sans 3D) they have the smart series.

But I am sure if you would search for Bluray + Mediaplayer there will be other brands to find as well.

Bert