Sony ES BDP-S2000ES 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

This item can be found for a steep discount(less than 475 usd). The quality and 5 year parts and labor warranty are the advantages of paying more than the minimum to get blue ray tech. Great engineering does not come cheap and Sony is the best engineering value in electronics for my money.Buy Sony ES BDP-S2000ES 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player!

Sony BDP-S301 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player BD/DVD/CD Playback with Bonus HDMI Cable

Bought mine in May and have had nothing but problems. The majority of discs won't play the first time. Very slow loading too. Have had to return many discs back to NetFlix, even after updating the firmware. I recommend you buy something else.Buy Sony BDP-S301 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player BD/DVD/CD Playback with Bonus HDMI Cable!

Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-Ray Player With A 1-Year Extended Warranty Service Plan & High Speed HDMI Cable (2 meters)

This Blu-Ray player might be OK. I wouldn't know. Since the beginning, the sound would drop out for 5 or 6 seconds every few minutes. With both DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Best Buy says its a "firmware upgrade" issue. Not really. Firmware deals with the Blu-Ray media - not DVD. Blu-Ray is not as stable a media as standard DVD. Anyway, just to be polite, I tried a firmware upgrade. No dice, same issue persists. Factory reset? Same issue. I send the player back to Samsung for their technical expertise. Player returned to me after a week worse than before. Now it doesn't even play regular DVDs? I called 1-800-SAMSUNG. Guess what - they have no idea. The most informed response to my call was "it must have been damaged during shipping. It is a delicate machine. They test everything before it goes out." It was shipped back in a box that was two sizes too big. What did they think was going to happen? Not only does their product stink - their repair and customer service smells just as bad. I'm going to give this thing back to Best Buy and upgrade to a high-end DVD player. At least I know they still work. BTW - the crisp image and brilliant sound doesn't impress me that much. Its not worth all the hassle - firmware upgrades every few months, etc. I think Blu-Ray is a half-baked idea that needs to go back to the R&D department for more testing. Buy Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-Ray Player With A 1-Year Extended Warranty Service Plan & High Speed HDMI Cable (2 meters)!

Philips Blu-ray Disc Player, BDP7200/37

I am like another reviewer who feels like I have to defend this product. Almost could not believe it when I saw the average review of only three stars as I write this. Did a lot of homework before buying this and when I saw it on sale for just under $200.00 at a competitor of Amazon.com, I had to pull the trigger. I am very glad I did, because the very minor flaws I have encountered thus far (after three weeks of ownership) seem insignificant to me.
Don't compare a player in this price range to one that has double the retail price. To me that is unfair.
I am a guy who has a decent Dolby Digital 5.1 sound system. I don't care if this does not have the latest Dolby TruHD or DTS HD decoders built in, because I am not going to take the plunge into a new AV Reciever thank you. The 5.1 sounds excellent via the optical input. I have a feeling that Philips knows who they are building these things for.
As for Picture quality, I could not be happier. I have it hooked up via HDMI (with the audio off so I can send that via Optical) to a Panasonic 42" Viera plasma (which accepts 1080P24 signal). Blurays look absolutely stunning if you have a TV that can accept 1080P24, and I have not had any of the freeze issues that some others talk about after viewing approximately a dozen bluray titles so far. DVD's look excellent as well (maybe not as good as Oppo), but MUCH better than my previous Samsung DVD player ever produced. Another selling point to me is the fact that it plays all DVD formats. Not just the minus only, some others in this price range. If you have any family stuff, home movies, etc recorded on Plus format dvds, watch out. You might end up not being able to watch them on your new player.
Lastly, If you look at some "big time" reviewers like CNET for example, you may be wrongly swayed against buying something that is not at the absolute top of their list. That would be a shame. I think they got it wrong when they gave this one an average rating.
I really like mine a lot, and I can't imagine that most people would not feel the same way if they picked one up. Buy Philips Blu-ray Disc Player, BDP7200/37!