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Lexicon’s BD-30 Blu-ray player is scheduled to launch in September with a preliminary price planned at $3,499
You won’t hear any complaints about the falling prices of Blu-ray players leading up to the holiday season. The flip-side, though, is that there really aren’t a lot of “luxury high-performance” Blu-ray player options for audio/video enthusiasts.
Lexicon, recognizing a void in the Blu-ray market, has developed the BD-30, saying it will be the first THX-certified Blu-ray player. It intends to launch the BD-30 in September.
It’s not cheap with a preliminary price planned at $3,499. The idea, though, says Marc Kellom, VP of marketing for Lexicon parent Harman International, is to provide clients with a high-performance Blu-ray player to complement expensive systems.
Many luxury consumers, Kellom says, are connecting PlayStations or inexpensive components to their high-end systems just to watch Blu-ray. On ElectronicHouse.com, it’s not uncommon to read similar comments made referring to powerful home theaters that may have top projectors, screens and sound systems but “I can’t believe it’s only hooked up to a (insert brand x here) Blu-ray player!”
There is some competition in the step-up Blu-ray player market. Denon recently announced its DVD-A1HDCI, Marantz has several Blu-ray models and Sony just announced a Blu-ray 400-disc changer. Then, of course, there’s Goldmund’s over-the-top $17K Eidos 20 BD player.
Adding to Lexicon’s BD-30 luxury consumer appeal, Kellom says, is the opportunity to marry it with its forthcoming MC-12 Firmware v2.0, which updates the MC12HD to accept 7.1 PPCM signals over HDMI.
Offering the firmware revision in conjunction with the Lexicon BD-30 creates a Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio compliant theater system, according to Lexicon. It adds:
By performing the Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio decoding in the Blu-ray player, the listener benefits from having all mixing functionality done within the player. For instance; commentary tracks can be lost if a native bitstream is sent to the A/V processor. By sending the mixed 7.1 LPCM signal to the A/V processor the listener can always be assured that all content is being transmitted.
The MC-12 is also targeted for a September release.
Some additional details about the Lexicon BD-30 Blu-ray player:
- Supports Blu-ray, DVD, SACD, DVD Audio, CD and video & audio over USB
- Load time is reported to be under 5 seconds
- Uses Anchor Bay’s VRS technology
- BonusVIEW
- BD-Live
- RS232 for use with external control systems
First off, I own a Lexicon processor for my high end home theater, but I think their smoking something diving into the video world. It would be unlikely if their unit out-performs the new Oppo BD player, and if there’s a DAC concern, one could always use an external unit; all at a huge cost savings.
When high end companies dive into the video realm, I believe they’re just rounding out their product line, and not offering anything new.
Spend your money on building up your BD library.
This is nothing but a rebadged Oppo Blu-ray player. Not impressed at all.
I think a lot of the reason people are mixing lower-end BD players with higher-end electronics has A LOT to do with the nature of the transport stream. With a 1080p digital display and AVR or Pre/Pro handing the decoding, the transport stream is passed basically untouched from player to display and audio processor. With audio decoded in the player and passed as LPCM there is still only minimal decoding/decompression done by the player while the AVR or Pre/Pro still performs bass management, DAC, and other duties. With the player doing so little and all in the digital space, there’s much less to go wrong and most any midrange player will perform well, even along with other electronics that greatly outclass it.
Something like the Samsung BD-P2550 is a great example of a device with features and output quality allowing it to integrate well with MUCH more expensive electronics without being a bottle-neck. Its HQV Reon implementation even allows it to perform in the top-tier in terms of SD-DVD playback as well. When this kind or performance, it’s truly hard to justify something more expensive. Build quality is another matter, but with continually evolving standards and expanding feature sets, a device like this is judged more on features and performance than build quality… if it does what it’s supposed to well, it’s almost disposable when standards and features change.
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I have owed both the Samsung 1200 and 5000 and used the 2550 and for the best bang for your buck you cant beat these players. I don’t think other players 2-3-4 or 5 times the price tag could really be that much better ???
But i do like my BD-8002 ; )