Looking for most inexpensive universal disc player recommendations...NOT SONY!

[LuvMyQuad]

You could try to find a used Yamaha BD-A1060. It was released (now discontinued) with the slightly older Aventage series and was very good value, imo. Since it is not as "popular" as Oppo and others, it could still show up at reasonable prices on the used market. I managed to pick up a couple of them when the used Oppo scalping was severe.

Other option could be to install one of these high quality Pioneer drives on a HTPC.
https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Computer/Computer+Drives

There is no decoding built into PC drives. The available software to do the decoding is very limited as well. IMO you' d be much better off with a dedicated universal player for disc playback.

 

[mandrix]

There is no decoding built into PC drives. The available software to do the decoding is very limited as well. IMO you' d be much better off with a dedicated universal player for disc playback.

If you are playing back from the optical drive from a pc > AVR via HDMI then the AVR will / should do the decoding. I seldom use my Oppo, but I don't play from an optical drive either.
Of course you will need an app that bitstreams.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

If you are playing back from the optical drive from a pc > AVR via HDMI then the AVR will / should do the decoding. I seldom use my Oppo, but I don't play from an optical drive either.
Of course you will need an app that bitstreams.

Will the optical drive read an SACD? The MLP layer of a DVDA?

 

[mandrix]

Will the optical drive read an SACD? The MLP layer of a DVDA?

Nope. But it looks like fewer and fewer disc players are actually "universal" either. I'm covered either way, pc or disc player.
I had assumed (wrongly I guess) that the post about using a pc optical drive pertained to playable discs.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Nope. But it looks like fewer and fewer disc players are actually "universal" either. I'm covered either way, pc or disc player.
I had assumed (wrongly I guess) that the post about using a pc optical drive pertained to playable discs.

Maybe I was wrong? Who knows? But it was given as an alternative to a Yamaha universal player.

 

[mandrix]

Maybe I was wrong? Who knows? But it was given as an alternative to a Yamaha universal player.

Probably my CRS kicking in. lol.