Loading...I love my movies – I always have something on the TV during evenings and weekends, even if it’s just an old favourite playing for background noise while I’m pottering about the house. I’ve always kept up to date with the latest technology and this is no more evident than in the format I view my movies in. I’ve been slowly replacing my old DVD collection with blu rays and have been using my Playstation 3 as my main blu ray player for a few years now, but finally upgraded that too. During my research I became a bit of an expert in blu ray players and this is my personal top five list of must have blu ray players on the market right now.
5. Philips BDP7500
Pros: Excellent picture and sound quality, speedy load-disc times, cleverly designed
Cons: Unattractive styling, pricey for what you get
Price: £220
A great all round BD player, but don’t expect anything more despite the price tag. The exterior of this player has been well thought out, but the internal features fail to match up.
4. Sony BDP-S570
Pros: High quality playback on blu rays, HD 3D TV compatible, BBC iPlayer, Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Portal
Cons: Limited support for streaming, needs a new HDMI v.1.4AV receiver to work
Price: £160
Full of bells and whistles, this player is remarkably good value for money – unfortunately you’d need to upgrade other hardware before you could use it!
3. Samsung BD-C6900
Pros: Fantastic disc-load speed, good picture quality, attractive design, 3D capability
Cons: Networking is a pain
Price: £295
Lossless audio and speedy disc-load speed set this attractive little number apart from the pack. The internet TV functions are also fabulous, but the networking process can put you off getting at them!
2. Panasonic DMP-BDT310
Pros: Great picture and sound quality, dual HDMI outputs, Skype capabilities, 3D support
Cons: Not so speedy disc-load times.
Price: £230
Small but packing a hell of a punch, this top of the range player has a number of networking options, dual HDMI outputs, 3D support and a whole host of other features including Skype. The only trade-off is the disc-load speed isn’t great.
1. Panasonic DMR-BW880
Pros: Massive storage capacity, idiot proof, over-network sharing capability, awesome picture and sound quality
Cons: ‘Awesome’ comes at a cost… it’s ridiculously pricey!
Price: £800
Anyone from the biggest tech geek in the world to your technophobe grandma could use this machine and with its 500GB storage capacity it’s a great family blu ray player. It’s stylish and a phenomenal player, but at £800 you’d expect no less.