Our Picks for the Best Blu Ray Player

Oppo BDP-93

Gean-Edwards.com Vote: Best overall Blu Ray Player

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Panasonic DMP-BDT310

Gean-Edwards.com Vote: Best overall budget Blu Ray Player

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Blu Ray 101

Although its taken a while, Blu-Ray Players have caught on and now are a popular household name. The expensive price tag on Blu-Ray Players is whats held them back for so long, costing on average up to $400 for a single unit. Fortunately, Blu-Ray Players can now be purchased for much cheaper, and some of them for even less than $150 dollars. While they may not have all of the features as the more expensive models, they are definitely budget friendly, and have enough features to entertain the whole family.

One drawback that still remains is startup time. It still takes Blu-Ray Players a bit more time to fully boot up when compared to normal DVD players, and this is primarily because of all of the features that Blu-Ray Players come packed with. It’s been said that slow boot times are no longer an issue, and according to some of the more recent reviews from Consumer Reports and Reviewers on Amazon, start up times are improving, and Blu-Ray Players are beginning to be alot more “Hassle” free.

Features, and What to look for

For starters, the first thing you should do when buying a Blu-Ray Player is consider what kind of TV it is that you currently own (or will be buying). Is it an HDTV? If not, your going to need one. Many homes all across the world now have HDTV’s, so this shouldnt be too much of a problem, but if you dont own one, then we’d suggest buying a normal DVD Player instead of Blu-Ray if you dont intend to buy an HDTV. Having the HDTV will not only help out wiht the visual qualities, but it will also help out alot wiht sound. Having that high definition will mean you’ll have Dolby Digital lossless sound quality.

Things to consider

1. Consider standard-definition performance. Some Blu-Ray Players have problems playing SD (Standard-Definition) DVDs. If you have a huge collection of SD DVDs, then we’d suggest hanging on to your old SD DVD Player just to stay on the safe side. That’s not to say that ALL Blu-Ray Players have problems playing SD DVD, because alot of the higher end models now play SD DVD just fine, but its definitely something to keep in mind because not ALL Blu-Ray Players play them without problems.

2. How often will the Firmware be updated? Firmware updates is a pretty standard deal with today’s technology. Firmaware updates are used to not only enhance on already existing qualities, but they are also used for bug-fixes as well. Check to see if the Blu-Ray player that your interested in has an ethernet connection available. Reason being is because this way the Blu-Ray Player will be able to get the updates via the internet, using a fast connection, vs. You having to manually download the update, then install the update to your Blu-Ray Player.

3. 1080p Resolution = A MUST HAVE! To get the best quality from your BLu-Ray Player, you’ll want to have an HDTV that has 1080p screen resolution. Not all HDTV’s have 1080p (some only go as high as 720p, which will result in teh screen-res being scaled down to fit the pixels available to your TV). So make sure that your TV is capable of playing 1080p. Also, with 3D movies becoming more and more popular, an HDTV with 1080p, and the ability to play 3D wouldnt hurt either.

4. Network Connection – If you are looking at a Blu-Ray Player that uses BD-Live, then you’ll need to have an internet connection of some sort. BD-Live is great because sometimes there will be media on a Blu-Ray disc only viewable via an online connection.

1. Wikipedia – Blu-Ray: