The Best of the Current Blu-Ray Players

May 16, 2008 – 11:13 am, posted by draiken78

Hi everybody!

The last 2 weeks I’ve told you about what I thought the best budget LCD HDTV and the best of the 40″-50″ HDTV’s were. This week, I’m going to take a break from HDTV reviews and tell you what I feel the best Blu-Ray players are. To date, Blu-Ray players are a real hit or miss proposition. That doesn’t sit very well with me, since you can expect to pay in excess of $400 for a player. I’m a huge fan of high definition, and I want you all to avoid any negative experiences that may sour you on the new Blu-Ray format.

Currently, there are 2 players I feel confident recommending to you. They stand leaps and bounds above the rest of the competition, not only in quality, but features as well.

Playstation 3

This should come as no surprise to anybody. This is the player that nearly single-handedly defeated the HD DVD format in just about a year and a half. This is a very high quality product, and is much well-built than the Playstation 2 was. The PS3 handles any Blu-Ray out there with ease, and usually gets updates for future titles before the title is even released. Here is a list of the pros and cons.

Pros

• Easily updated. The PS3 has an Ethernet port for you to easily connect to your internet service for updates, as well as online play if you use it to play games on. It also has built in wireless if you have a router or modem that transmits a wireless signal, making the Ethernet cable unnecessary.
• Profile 2.0 player. The PS3 was the first to offer the final 2.0 profile for Blu-Ray playback. This enables you to access more content and games via the internet to add even more content to your Blu-Ray movies.
• All-in-one media center. The PS3 plays Blu-Ray movies, games, DVD’s, CD’s, and can stream content from your PC or iPod.

Cons

• Ugly. This machine will clash with anything that you currently own for your entertainment center. The shiny black coating on the outside is also a dust magnet.
• Loud. The PS3, while quiet most of the time will get quite loud if the fan kicks in to overdrive. In order to avoid this, you must keep your PS3 in an open area with lots of breathing room and away from anything that puts out heat. This makes it very hard to integrate into some home entertainment set-ups.
• Can’t use a universal remote. This doesn’t affect everybody, but if you use a universal remote so you only need 1 remote like I do it will drive you nuts (I use a harmony universal remote). The only remotes you can use so far without a major workaround is the PS3 controller, or a Bluetooth power remote you must buy separately.

Panasonic DMP-BD30

This player has the best reputation out of all the stand alone players, and with good reason. This player is by far the smoothest running stand-alone player out there. It doesn’t suffer from most of glitches the other players suffer from. Here are the pros and cons fro this player.

Pros

• Bitsreams HD Audio. For anybody who owns a newer receiver that can decode the HD audio itself, this player will bitstream the audio. This will enable your True HD lights on your receiver to light up.
  
• Updated Frequently. This is one of the problems that plague most of the stand-alone players. Nobody wants to buy or rent a new release Blu-Ray movie only to put it in their player and find it needs an update to play. Panasonic is on top of things in this department. When an update is needed, it is usually released the same day as the affected movie is. Some other manufacturers can take up to 3 months to release an update to get a movie to play.
  
• Runs silent and cool. This is a must feature for anybody that wants to put this player in their entertainment center. As with all electronics these days though, I highly recommend that the area it is placed in is not completely enclosed. It’s not worth the risk of having your electronics overheating due to lack of ventilation.
  

Cons

• No Ethernet port. This is a problem because it makes it more difficult to update your player. The manufacturer’s website gives directions on how to do this, but many people don’t read the directions and end up ruining their machines while attempting to update them. At least 90% of the time a player is ‘Bricked’, it is due to the consumer turning off their player before the update process is finished. They then need to send it in to Panasonic and wait for a replacement unit to arrive.
• Not the best at up-scaling DVD’s. All Blu-Ray players have the ability to up-scale your current DVD’s to a higher resolution. Unfortunately, this player is among the worst at it.

In the coming months after I’ve had a chance to look at the next wave of players, I’ll re-visit Blu-Ray players. Who know, maybe a new leader will emerge!