CNET UK hosts Blu-ray player load time shootout, PS3 wins
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 28th 2008 9:08PM
posted Nov 28th 2008 9:08PM
Long load times on Blu-ray players have always been a pet peeve of ours, and obviously we aren't alone. The gurus over at CNET UK rounded up four of their favorite decks and popped in a test disc (Vantage Point) in order to find which was the quickest at getting down to business. Trailing the pack was Pioneer's BDP-LX71, which took a staggering 1:54 to load and play the film. Panasonic's DMP-BD35 nabbed the bronze in unceremonious fashion (1:16), while Samsung's BD-P1500 slipped in second with a 1:09 load / play time. As we gave away in the headline there, Sony's PlayStation 3 easily took first with a test time of just 42 seconds. We'd love to know if any other untested decks could outperform that -- anyone care to time their unit and chime in below?
Considering it's been close to a year since the close of the format war, I have been looking forward to purchasing my first Blu Ray player. However this article gives me pause. According to their criteria My HD-A35 loads movies in under 30 seconds, which is considerably quicker than the PS3...which they rate as the fastest Blu Ray player on the market at 43 seconds.
Have load times increased on any of these BD players after firmware upgrades, or are all the players a case of "it is what it is" in regards to load times?
My requirements for a Blu Ray player, which no current BD player has satisfied:
1) Profile 2.0
2) 7.1 analog outputs
3) Wi-Fi
4) load times under 30 seconds
Yeah, some of those requirements can be met today.
There are a few players with Profile 2.0 and 7.1 analog outs (I think at a MSRP of $399 for both, the Sony BDP-S550 and the Panasonic DMP BD-55 are some good relatively inexpensive [for the feature set] examples, I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong).
The wireless thing I think can be addressed with I think what's called either a wireless bridge or an ethernet bridge (not really sure what it's called :P, basically a device that you connect to the ethernet port of a device and it can connect to your router wirelessly).
And the load times shown for Vantage Point are quite long because it is a BD-Java disc, which always take longer to load (other examples Ratatouille, Transformers, Iron Man, etc.). The PS3 is a friggin monster of a computer, that's why it can load that fast, and I think it'll be a while before standalone BD players can even match the speed of the PS3 so your expectation is a bit unrealistic.
One more thing, is that 30 seconds realistic? Does it include the time needed to open the tray from OFF?
My Hd-A2 takes at least 45sec just to open the dvd tray from off. That is far more iritating than the ps3 taking 45 seconds to load. At least while its loading im not standing next to it, disk in hand with a sad look on my face. The real question is is it 42 seconds from off or from the xmb.
This is one of those annoying little things that still prevents you from being able to say we finally have a STANDALONE blu-ray player both cheaper AND better than the PS3 in EVERY way.
'Cause let's face it, Blu-ray movie fans are not ultimately looking for a games console when they think Blu-ray. If they want a games console they will buy a games console.
My gripe with the PS3 is that I couldnt control it with my Harmony remote... You know how annoying that got?? I mean how expensive would it be to put some type of IR/RF in the machine so i can use my harmony??
considering there were no games i liked, goodbye PS3 and hola to my brand new Panny DMP-BD35... Not only does it have TrueHD, but i can push play from my harmony... it was a wonderful feeling to say the least lol
Load speed is heavily dependent on drive speed. Since the PS3 only has a 2X read BD drive, it's limitation is not the CPU power but the ability to read data off the disc.
So, standalones will get faster than the PS3, and they won't have to have equivalent CPU speed. Tailored SOC and a 6X read drive will see them leap ahead.
As comparison DVD player from 1999 with 2004, so is BD player 2006 with 2011.
nice article
similar -
Blu-Ray blog post -
http://www.techreviews4u.com/?p=56
HTPC w /LG GGC-H20L and ArcSoft Total Media Theater: Less than 15 seconds (as low 7 seconds if ArcSoft is already started and on-screen).
P
My HTPC is just as fast, I didn't know this was an issue until I saw this post.
Really, who cares about loading time? Does it really make that big of a difference to wait 1 minute for a movie to load, when you're really going to sit down for two hours and watch the movie. Oh wait, it's now two hours and 1-minute, since so many people are so concerned with the load times.
On the other hand, I WOULD be concerned with load times if it was like seven minutes. A one minute load time? Paaalease.
I have the PS3 and the Sony BDP-350. The BDP actually loads about 6-7 seconds faster.
the ps3 is faster if you have disc auto start. And of course much faster if the ps3 is already on.
These things take time. If any of you ever followed the Secrets' DVD Benchmark, it took a super high-end Denon and the relatively cheap in comparison Oppo in until we had near-perfect DVD players. Of course that was all dependent on how they actually treated the image and in small part based on their responsiveness. Not that many DVD players were speedy for the most part. Here we've always had an issue with initial loading times but I don't see any problems with the image so I can deal with that.
Regardless, I've had a PS3 since mid-2007 and always knew it was the fastest as I tested others on display. I've never had a problem with load times, you only "deal" with it once and then you're fine, its similar to boot-up time on a PC. Its the previews if anything I have issue with.
Sombody out there that can help me . to update my panasonic blu ray dmp plaer bd35 . per computer ? tanks Roland