Best Blu-Ray Players

Now that HD DVD is dead, home theater fans have only one choice for high-def movie discs: Blu-ray. Blu-ray players can deliver outstanding image quality, with movies encoded in 1080p resolution and rich colors that put DVD to shame.
While the majority of home movie watchers avoids Blu-ray because of the ongoing format war and high costs, AV enthusiasts lately have been hesitant to pick up a new Blu-ray player for another reason: They've been waiting for the impending Blu-ray Profile 1.1. All Blu-ray players certified to bear that magic logo after October 31 must meet the more-stringent hardware requirements of Blu-ray Profile 1.1, which should allow players to take advantage of special features, like picture-in-picture commentary. Incidentally, the rival HD DVD format has had these features from the start. While some manufacturers have rushed to get their players out before the deadline, Panasonic has taken a different approach by releasing the first Blu-ray Profile 1.1 player, the DMP-BD30, before October 31 even hits. And while the price of the player is still high overall--$500 list--that's about the cheapest you can get a standalone Blu-ray these days. The DMP-BD30 certainly doesn't beat the value proposition of the PlayStation 3, but if you insist on getting a standalone Blu-ray player as opposed to Sony's console, it's one of the top contenders.