Home Best of Awards Secrets Best of 2008 Product Awards
Secrets Best of 2008 Product Awards
Written by Staff   
Tuesday, 30 December 2008 02:33
Following are the Secrets Best of 2008 Product Awards. Congratulations to all the winners!

Best High Definition Digital Video Camera Best Mid level 7.1 AV Receiver
Best Value 1080p Digital Projectors Best Value Monoblock Power Amplifier
Best Value Speakers Best Value Stereo Power Amplifiers
Best Wireless Music Transmitter Receiver Ssurround Sound Processors
Compact Subwoofers Entry Level Bookshelf Speakers
Entry Level Turntable Flat Panel Speakers
Full Size Subwoofers High End 5.1 Speaker System
High End Complete Turntable Package High End Turntables
High End Two Channel Speakers Power Conditioners
Most Innovative Bookshelf Speaker Design Video Switching Technology
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Where's the best DVD player & Blu-ray Player Awards for 2008?
written by marine92104 , December 30, 2008

What happened to the best DVD & best Blu-ray player of 2008 award?

That was the awards I was looking forward to?

They were included in last years awards. Can you include the best of 2008 in those categories?


...
written by JEJ , December 31, 2008

We did not test any player that we felt deserved the award.


Best Blu-ray/DVD Player of 2008
written by Josuah , December 31, 2008

In my opinion, the best Blu-ray player if you also want good DVD playback is the Samsung BD-P2500/2550. If you don't need good DVD playback, then it would be the PS3 if you can deal with the slightly louder fan noise.

I'd be interested in what the best amplifiers would be, not in the value category but high-end.

It's also unfortunate that the Epson 6500UB wasn't released in time for a review. Technically released at the end of 2008, I suspect Secrets would like it better than the Sanyo.


Right on
written by NoStrings , December 31, 2008

Doesn't that say a mountain full when JEJ thinks there wasn't one player that deserved an award for "best" in the Blu-ray/DVD category? I always felt it was a temporary format anyway.

This is what makes your website still the best, when it comes to calling it like it is. Most would have mentioned something.

Keep up the good work.


...
written by FM , January 01, 2009

The Panasonic BD35/55 might be the best player of 2008.


No strings - No brain
written by c21mark , January 02, 2009

No strings thinks Blu-ray is a temporary format!! What planet are you from! Obviously your home theater must have a 20 inch television. Try watching a top notch Blu-ray disc on a 100 inch screen with a 1080p projector and compare it to your DVD disc. Wow now you can see the whole movie. By the way Blu-ray sales have been gaining ground and it does not look like its slowing down. Enjoy your out-dated technology!!


falling behind
written by EW , January 02, 2009

I think it says that Secrets needs to get it's act together. Where are all the blu-ray player reviews? I only see coverage of 5 players on Secrets, of which only the Denon and the Yamaha are current. What gives?

No Sony reviews at all. Only the 1400 Samsung, BD30 Panasonic, and BD95 Pioneer, all of which have been replaced. Plus there are 2 other Denon's out now and LG is on there 3rd generation player. Sharp, Sherwood, Marantz, Integra, and several off brands were all not tested.

I think the key is you didn't TEST a player that deserved the award. Maybe there isn't a perfect machine out yet, but ignoring the new product category every enthusiast is looking at I can not understand. Secrets reviewed and benchmarked 100's of dvd players. There are about 20-25 current blu-ray players of which there are good and bad machines.

I hope in 2009 to see many more reviews of blu-ray machines. Including the release of high end players into the market. I've seen a lot of audio reviews on Secrets this year which is good. But the DVD benchmarks is your claim to fame, and I'd like that to continue with blu-ray.


C21mark
written by NoStrings , January 05, 2009

I didn't say Blu-Ray wasn't good. It's currently the best picture a consumer can watch. My comment pertains to whether the "Blu-Ray format" will last. Sony has a track record of inventing brilliant products, and then not supporting them. Why should this be any different?

You've got to calm down.




...
written by marine92104 , January 07, 2009

I agree I think the key words is the website hasn't reviewed many Blu-ray players & therefore none are listed?

I look to this site & the year end awards to see what is the best audio or video available for that year.

Last year there were more catagories like LCD, Plasma, Blu-ray player & DVD player.

Is the website going to continue to review these catagories?

Hopefully so. It doesn't seem right to leave those categories out.

I also agree the website has built it's fame on the secrets of home theater benchmark DVD players & I hope it continues with the best DVD & Blu-ray players reviews.

It just doesn't seem like the best of with these catagories missing.


Best of
written by King , January 17, 2009

I always am curious as to how the Best of say 2008, stands up to previous Best of equipment, of past years.

You dont want to buy best of 2008 if 2007 was much better.

Its tough to audition high end equipment in most areas. So we count on reviews.
Thanks


Just look at the chipsets!!!
written by westcott , January 18, 2009

It does not take a genius to see that all the new BR players are using substandard chipsets, not that the competion is no longer around. Not one uses an Anchor Bay or Realta solution.
Then you wonder why Secrets did not waste their time reviewing them.
So you bought crap. Just stand up like a man and admit it..


Player Reviews in the works..or not
written by SEJ , January 22, 2009

Player Reviews in the works include players from Denon, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, LG, Pioneer and Sherwood...and we are awaiting the upcoming OPPO. Notably, Samsung has yet to make any of their players available to our review team.




C21Mark
written by Dude ! where's my hi-res ? , February 06, 2009

Blueray, as all disc based media, is going bye-bye(5-7 years MAX)!
The future is ALL about downloading media (hi-res or not - your choice).
If you don't believe downloaded media can be as good as anything optically disc based, then you have never truley seen/heard "HI-RES".
You don't have to like it - you just have to accept it (kick and scream the whole way if you like).


D/L Media... someday maybe.
written by Andrew Yang , February 06, 2009

Further to the discussion in Brian's blog post.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com...-15-2008/

There a number of factors conspiring against elimination of disc based media. The distribution mechanism does not necessarily dictate the quality of the media, but given the current limitations and direction of online distribution, it would seem to be more likely the case than not. Physical media, Blu-ray specifically, has a storage limit of 50 GB per dual layer disc. There is a nominal difference in the variable cost of distributing multiple discs, whereas the fixed cost would remain effectively the same. This allows for the delivery of high bit rate media (>20 Mbps video, and HD multichannel audio) at virtually no cost delta to a lower bit rate copy. This would be in reference to high quality AVCHD/VC1/H.264 video encodes with Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA audio encodes. I would suggest that as good as x.264 and AC3 (aka good ol' DD) in an MKV wrapper look and sound, on an appropriate display and surround sound system they are most obviously and definitely inferior.

Looking at online distribution, the equation changes rather significantly. While bandwidth has increased more rapidly than the difference in disc capacities (1993 ~56 kbps to 2007 5 Mbps versus 8.54 GB to 50 GB) the increase is still insufficient to provide real time delivery of high bit rate media. The standard ISP model is moving to limit bandwidth which then serves to increase the variable cost of distributing and receiving media. This also means that lower bit rate media is inherently more cost effective to distribute.

The result we see in the market now is that online HD content is markedly lower quality than what is available on physical media. The business model being adopted by the ISPs only furthers the problem, and reduces the likelihood that physical media will be eliminated in the near or even mid-term.



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