bluray

Oppo releases cheaper BDP-80 Blu-ray player

We've been longtime fans of Oppo's disc players, but as much as we liked the company's BDP-83 Blu-ray player, its $500 price puts it out of reach for most buyers. With that in mind, Oppo has released the BDP-80, a lower priced Blu-ray player that looks to keep much of what we liked about the BDP-83 for only $290. It's available today.

The easiest way to see the differences between the new BDP-80 and the BDP-83 is to check out Oppo's comparison chart, but the short story is that it keeps most of the BDP-83'… Read more

Vann's has the Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player for $209.97, after $40 savings, plus free shipping.

Save $40 on the Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player from Vann's >> Regular price is $249.97 >> Sale price is $209.97 >> Savings $40 (16%) >> Click here for deal

Hands on: Pocket BLU app serves up Blu-ray extras

Here's a neat idea: an app that links your iPhone or iPod Touch to whatever Blu-ray movie you're watching and serves up extra content, a remote control, a soundtrack listing, and even Facebook integration so you can tell friends about the movie.

Pocket BLU is that app. It's free, it works, and it's pretty cool--but it suffers from two major limitations.

The first is that it works only with Blu-ray players that have Wi-Fi. I can understand the need for a network connection, but what's wrong with Ethernet? Save for PlayStation 3s, few modern players … Read more

Return of the $99.99 Sony Blu-ray player

A sub-$100 Blu-ray player is no big deal these days, but it's still fairly rare to find one that offers BD-Live at that price point--especially a Sony model.

Last month, SonyStyle offered the refurbished BDP-S360 Blu-ray player for $99.99 shipped (plus sales tax where applicable). I'm happy to report that the deal is back.

Happy, but not ecstatic. See, I now think if you're going to buy a Blu-ray player, you should get a model that can stream Netflix movies. This one can't.

Also, because it's a refurb, the warranty expires after 90 … Read more

CES 2010 wrap-up: home theater

LAS VEGAS--For the past few years, Blu-ray has been at the center of CES home theater news and 2010 was no different. Whether its 3D, portable players, streaming media, HTIBs or even AV receiver/Blu-ray combos, Blu-ray seemed to play a part in nearly every aspect of the home theater gadgets announced at the show this year. Here's a quick summary of the major trends we saw.

3D is coming, like it or not 3D was the biggest story at CES 2010, and four manufacturers announced 3D Blu-ray players: Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba. We liked the Panasonic DMP-BD350T … Read more

Sony has non-3D Blu-ray HTIBs, too

LAS VEGAS--Sony surprised us by announcing a 3D-capable Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system at CES 2010, but the company also introduced several standard Blu-ray HTIBs, too.

Key features of the Sony BDV-E570:

5.1 home theater system Built-in Blu-ray player 1000 watts of total power Wi-Fi capable using the included USB dongle Access to the Bravia Internet Video platform, which includes Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Pandora, Slacker, and NPR streaming capability Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Can control using iPhone/iPod Touch iPod playback using USB S-Air-ready (requires purchase of S-Air transmitter) DLNA compatible $550 … Read more

3D Blu-ray player roundup--what you need to know

CES 2010 isn't over for a few more days, but the big news regarding 3D Blu-ray players is out. There hasn't been many specifics announced, but we've broken down the most important details below.

Four standalone 3D Blu-ray players were announced

The four 3D Blu-ray players announced are the Panasonic DMP-BDT350, Samsung BD-C3900, Sony BDP-S770 and Toshiba BDX3000. Sony also announced the BDV-HZ970W home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system with a built-in 3D Blu-ray player. Samsung announced a 3D Blu-ray HTIB but didn't have a specific model name.

The Panasonic DMP-BDT350 is the only player with dual HDMI outputs… Read more

LG's unannounced, awesome Blu-ray sound bar

LAS VEGAS--We covered all of LG's major product announcements on Wednesday, but when we swung by the booth yesterday the LLB915 Blu-ray sound bar caught our eye. We're not quite sure why LG didn't mention it at the press conference, but the feature set is impressive. Here's what the product card said.

Key features of the LG LLB915:

Sound bar with built-in Blu-ray player 2 HDMI inputs, 1 output 430 watts of power Wireless subwoofer Built-in Wi-Fi LG's NetCast suite of streaming media services, including Netflix, Vudu, CinemaNow, YouTube, Pandora, Picasa, and AccuWeather DLNA-compliant No … Read more

Samsung's trio of Blu-ray HTIBs get DLNA, Wi-Fi, apps

LAS VEGAS--We liked most of the Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems we reviewed in 2009, but the Samsung HT-BD1250 stood as the best, thanks to its excellent sound quality (for an HTIB, at least). Samsung has announced a new line of Blu-ray HTIBs at CES 2010, adding features like DLNA-compatibility, Samsung Apps, and Wi-Fi. Here are the details.

Key features of the Samsung HT-C6500:

5.1 home theater system Built-in Blu-ray player Built-in Wi-Fi 1GB onboard storage Supports Internet@TV/Samsung Apps, which will provide content from Netflix, Pandora, Vudu, Blockbuster, Picasa, and Twitter Automatic speaker calibration No release date or … Read more