Blu-ray Player Round-up

If you were sitting on the fence between standard definition DVD and High-Definition Blu-ray there are finally some decently priced Blu-ray players out there this holiday season.

Check out the Samsung BD-P1500. This player delivers solid 1080p picture and can bit-stream DTS Master Audio through HDMI 1.3. The player is now Profile 2.0 with firmware updates from Samsung, allowing for one of the biggest reasons to own a Blu-ray player—BD-Live. For jumping in on Blu-ray and BD-Live, 212.74 (as of this writing) is not bad at all.

The Panasonic DMP-BD35K is a step up from the Samsung but for just over 200 you get a lot more. This player decodes all major audio codecs on-board, so if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a receiver to decode bit-streamed audio, this would be the right player to get. Also, the BD35 is a Profile 2.0, BD-Live ready player.

The BDP-350 Blu-ray player is BD-Live capable and can read just about any format, whether it is BD-RE, or CD-RW. Some people might really enjoy the easy to use Sony interface from the PS3. The player does not decode DTS-HD Master Audio internally, so you will need a receiver for that. Otherwise this is a pretty solid player that doesn't require a whole lot of fuss.

Last and not least, the PlayStation 3 is still the best Blu-ray player for what you get: BD-Live, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, an HD gaming system, firmware updates that stay current with the industry, et cetera. Though the system hasn’t decreased in price for this holiday season, you can still find a good bundle deal over at the High-Def Deals Store.



Now remember, all Blu-ray players can play standard def DVDs. Also, if you want to know more about the high-def world, go to High-Def Headquarters.

Have a safe holiday season,
--Rich

Comments

[Brenda on December 03, 2008 at 03:51 PM]

Thanks for your recommendations. I created a page about blu-ray players for beginners (like myself) at http://www.squidoo.com/blu-rayplayer. I hope it will help some others wade through the information and make a decision on blu-ray.

Brenda