Productopia | Blu-ray Players

If you've shopped for gear for a home theater, you've probably noticed that upconversion is a standard feature in lots of different types of equipment, including DVD players, Blu-ray players, LCD TVs, plasma TVs and even many home-theater receivers. For those unfamiliar with it, upconversion (also called upscaling) is the process used to transform standard-definition TV images to high-definition resolutions. One of our readers, Robert, recently wrote in to ask: "In a home theater, what component is best for performing upconversion, and is there any benefit in doing upconversion more than once?

If you're among those who missed out on Black Friday's Blu-ray player deals, fear not: The cheapest of them all is set for a return engagement. Home Media magazine reports that beginning this Saturday, December 12,  Wal-Mart is again offering the Magnavox NB500 at $78, the same price as on Black Friday, when it was a doorbuster special. The sale is set to run through Dec. 18, or as long as players are available, but you will have to go to the store itself to get one, as the deal is not being offered on line.

Though it's not the $50 Blu-ray player that some thought would be out there for Black Friday this year, the $78 Magnavox NB500 that Wal-Mart is offering as a doorbuster is still the cheapest Blu-ray player we've seen to date. This Funai-made player has been around for quite a while now under various brand names, including Philips and Sylvania, and has earned pretty good user feedback. Of course, there's a catch or two.

We've just updated our report on Blu-ray players, and the biggest news is how far and how fast the prices of some really excellent choices have dropped. The Panasonic DMP-BD60K, for example, delivers terrific picture quality, especially with Blu-ray Discs, and a reasonably complete mix of features at a street price of around $150. You can also find some lesser but still decent Blu-ray Disc players for even less -- as low as $100 with careful shopping. That $100 price is significant, as that's the price most experts have long said would be the tipping point for mass adoption of the Blu-ray format. So, does that mean that the time is finally right for most people to make the switch to Blu-ray?

We've just updated our report on Blu-ray players, and the biggest news is how far and how fast the prices of some really excellent choices have dropped. The Panasonic DMP-BD60K, for example, delivers terrific picture quality, especially with Blu-ray Discs, and a reasonably complete mix of features at a street price of around $150. You can also find some lesser but still decent Blu-ray Disc players for even less -- as low as $100 with careful shopping. That $100 price is significant, as that's the price most experts have long said would be the tipping point for mass adoption of the Blu-ray format. So, does that mean that the time is finally right for most people to make the switch to Blu-ray?

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