As much as I would love to get the new Oppo BD player, that $500 sticker is a bit much for me to bite on right now. So of the sub-$200 players, what looks good to y'all? I've got an Oppo 981, so up-conversion is not an issue - Just BD and related features. Netflix would be nice, but we have this feature on Xbox 360 and it's just OK over wireless, so a cable is probably in order for the BD player.

Thanks,

Scott

If you can find something from Panasonic or Samsung, you will be good to go...I got my Panny for a little over $200 on sale at Costco, including an HDMI cable. Picture is killer, even though my projector is only 720p. Haven't hooked it up to the Panny Plasma 1080p yet.

Scott, possibly the best buy in an inexpensive Blu-ray player would be the refurb available from Sears of the Magnavox which Consumer Reports ranked second in a test of $200-$600 players in the 12/08 issue.

My choice would be the Panasonic BD60. I think these can be found for under $200 in the United States.

I agree to look at the Panny or Samsung. I wish that my desire to get into Blu-Ray would have waited as I have Sony BDP-S550, which is fine, but seems to not be the player of choice for people. I mainly got it because it was the most feature rich player at the time that had analog audio output that I wanted.

Thanks All,

I like the Samsung 1600 for its Netflix connectivity, but reviews seem to indicate it actually has issues playing BluRay discs...

Any comments on the LG players?

Scott

I'm with Dr on the Panny BD 60 or Costco equivelant. Youtube and Streaming Pandora is cool.

I know with the LG players they support netflix but if what it is you are after is the best performing and reliable Blu-ray player in your price range it would be something like the Panasonic BD60.

Paying anything more than 89.99 for a box with a Magnavox label could cause serious psychological scarring...

I checked the link and was very tempted... but looking at the images I noted there was no Network port and the specs say nothing of WiFi. How do you update Firmware to play new discs?

I Googled around and it seems you don't.

Is that why they sell them as Refurbs? Buy it, play movies, firmware update comes out... aaaand you can't play any new movies! Return it. They update the firmware and re-sell it again!

snazzed

Yeah, I'm leaning toward the Panny BD-60. The new LG units are fairly well rated, though I suspect its based on sales volume, pushed by the connectivity features rather than video quality or the ability to play (new) movies.

Scott

Here's how you update the firmware for the Magnavox. You download the file from the manufacturers website and burn a disc...Pretty easy.

I have the Magnavox NB500MGX. It doesn't have BD-Live, streaming, or an ethernet port. It's pretty bare bones compared to the others. I personally don't need those things...just wanted a player to watch movies. Bought it for 98 clams + tax at WalMart. It plays every disc. Cool.