All DVD Players

The Bottom Line: The Insignia NS-2BRDVD is an underfeatured and slow-loading Blu-ray player, but it provides basic Blu-ray playback at a bargain.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Remote control, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Stereo, 6.4 lbs

The Bottom Line: The Samsung BD-P2500 adds Netflix to an already well-featured and top-performing Blu-ray player, with only some minor disc compatibility issues giving us pause.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Surround Sound, 6.8 lbs

The Bottom Line: The Sony BDP-S550 offers excellent image quality and a solid feature set, but only consider it if you need the multichannel analog outputs.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Surround Sound, 7.3 lbs

The Bottom Line: The Samsung BD-P2550 adds Netflix and Pandora to an already well-featured and top-performing Blu-ray player, with only some minor disc compatibility issues giving us pause.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Surround Sound, 6.8 lbs

The Bottom Line: The Panasonic DMP-BD35 represents the best value in standalone Blu-ray players, with excellent image quality, a comprehensive feature set, and a price that's significantly lower than the PS3.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Remote control, Dolby Digital, DTS decoder, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD, Stereo, Black, 5.7 lbs

The Bottom Line: Now that Blu-ray has become the pre-eminent high-definition standard for discs, the Xbox 360 has yet to support it, but it still remains an excellent game console with a superior game library and online experience.

Specs: Xbox 360 Pro System - Game console, DVD-ROM, 1 x IBM PowerPC 3 cores 3.2 GHz, 512 MB ( 512 MB ) GDDR3 SDRAM - Integrated, 1920 x 1080

The Bottom Line: Even though PS2 backward compatibility has been dropped from this version, the 80GB PS3 is still a superb Blu-ray player and high-definition game console.

Specs: Sony PlayStation 3 - Game console, BD-ROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Cell Broadband Engine, 256 MB - Integrated, 1920 x 1080

The Bottom Line: The Panasonic DMP-BD55 is the best standalone Blu-ray we've tested and it's a good choice for those with older receivers, but most people will get the same performance out of the cheaper DMP-BD35.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Surround Sound, Black, 5.7 lbs

Specs: Sony PlayStation 3 - Game console, BD-ROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, IBM Cell Broadband Engine 3.2 GHz, 256 MB - Integrated, 1920 x 1080

The Bottom Line: The Toshiba XD-E500's XDE picture enhancements don't live up to the hype. While it's a solid upscaling DVD player, its high price makes it a hard sell.

Specs: DVD player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, Dolby Digital, DTS decoder, Stereo, 3.5 lbs