Blu-ray Player Review

Time to buy a Blu-ray player?

While there are many good places to find reviews of Blu-ray players, CNET is the most up-to-date and comprehensive. The site's reports don't have as much detail as video-enthusiast magazines or websites, but because CNET tests more Blu-ray players than most others, it has good scope.

PCMag.com also does a good job of comparing Blu-ray players, but their reports are a little less detailed and cover fewer models. A roundup of budget players at PCMag.com, as well as great individual Blu-ray player reports at Home Theater magazine, BigPictureBigSound.com and Audioholics.com are also helpful. ConsumerReports.org reviews lots of Blu-ray players and has recently updated its site. However, while testing is competent, discussion about individual players is brief.

Blu-ray players need to be hooked up to a compatible HDTV to see the full benefit of their increased resolution. If you don't own or plan to buy an HDTV, see our report on standard-definition DVD players.

Reviewers tell us that many current Blu-ray players are more capable and easier to use than their predecessors, though some players are a little sluggish off the starting line. Most are also quick and responsive when it comes to playing movies and navigating disc menus.

Blu-ray players can also play standard-definition DVD discs, and most do a good job of upscaling those DVDs to near-HD quality, though some are clearly better than others -- which means your existing DVD collection will be playable if you choose to upgrade to a Blu-ray player. Prices for Blu-ray players have significantly declined over the past year, and promise to fall lower still. The end of the format war in early 2008 has removed the fear that the Blu-ray format could become obsolete.

In the end, what matters most is picture quality, and there experts agree: Blu-ray picture quality (when viewed on an HDTV) is simply unbeatable. For example, Eric A. Taub, Gadgetwise blogger for The New York Times, stages a comparison between DVD and Blu-ray and says that the latter "simply blew away" its standard-definition competition. "Every scene 'popped' with a clarity and presence never seen with standard DVD, making the scenes, whether daytime exteriors or heavily shadowed interior club scenes, come alive."

Taub goes on to note that the price difference between a good-quality upconverting DVD player and a good-quality Blu-ray player has closed considerably, and that once it declines even more "there will be little reason for the average consumer not to choose Blu-ray when looking for a DVD machine."