Samsung BD-P2500

The Samsung BD-P2500 is among the most capable stand-alone Blu-ray players available. Features include the ability to stream Netflix videos from the Internet directly to your TV. This BD Live-compatible player (meaning it can access content from the Internet) also has complete audio support, including onboard decoders for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, analog 7.1-channel audio outputs for sending those HD audio formats to older home theater receivers, and bitstreaming to send HD audio to new receivers that have their own decoders. Solid video-processing circuitry delivers top-notch Blu-ray and DVD picture quality. There are some negatives, however. Some discs require a firmware upgrade to be playable. In addition, the Samsung BD-P2500 is a bit slower than some other stand-alone Blu-ray players -- and considerably slower than the Sony PlayStation 3 (*Est. $400). Though the PS3 can't stream Netflix, it does add a powerful video game console to the equation. The Samsung BD-P2550 (*Est. $350), a Best Buy exclusive, is similar to the BD-P1500, but adds Pandora Internet music streaming.

We found lots of reviews for the Samsung BD-P2500 Blu-ray player. On balance, the best coverage is at CNET, which provides enough details for most without burying readers in minutiae. The review at BigPictureBigSound.com is also comprehensive without being overly technical. For those who do want to dig deep into the technical details, the review at Home Theater magazine is hard to beat. Sound & Vision includes the essentially identical BD-P2550 in a four-player "shootout." You can read lots of user feedback at Amazon.com.