Latest round of LG, Panasonic and Samsung Blu-ray players begin retail invasion
By Donald Melanson 
posted March 3rd 2010 4:41PM
posted March 3rd 2010 4:41PM
We've already seen Sony's newest Blu-ray players turn up at retail, and it looks like they've now been joined by LG, Panasonic and Samsung's latest offerings. Those include the BD590, BD570 and BD550 from LG, the DMP-BD85 and DMP-BD65 from Panasonic, and a lone BD-C6500 from Samsung, although that's just the first of more to come from the company. No surprises with the prices or specs, but you can check out a slew of in-the-wild shots at the link below, or head down to your local Best Buy (or other retailer) to see if you're able to spot any of them first-hand yourself.
Either this or a ps3 for 300 bucks...
@albinomexi Hrm ... a blue ray player or a blue ray player that als plays games for the same price .... that is a hard one.
@albinomexi
Ive been saying sense the PS3 came out.. why bother to make another stock style Blu-ray player, much like how dvd players were made back in the day...
to compete with PS3; blu-ray players have to offer some serious side programs.... even if that side program is in the form of a yahoo widget or pandora player.
@DeFlanko Or some kinda software that refunds half your money.
Duh... for that price I would just buy another PS3 if I wanted a Blu-ray player.
$300 retail lol, is probably gonna drop to like $150 or less in BF.
gawd, bestbuy is such a rip off. does this come with their "premium" good for nothing $50 HDMI cables? what a joke.
@Xtole
Spoken like someone who knows NOTHING about home theater.
@V1cKdB Not starting anything, but wasn't it proven that $8 HDMI do 100% the exact same thing as the expensive Monster cables? Yup. I'm certain it does.
@V1cKdB
You'd buy a $50 dollar cable from *Best Buy* ???
Spoken like someone who knows nothing about home theatre
I can get a ps3 with more features for the same price
@ashleythehottiest
I respect the fact that people like their PS3's for their ability to play games. What I don't understand is why one would want a noise making machine in their home theater. Isn't having a PS3, or XBox in the room like having a Harrier jet take off next to the monitor? :-)
I want *quiet*, d*mn it, so I can hear the explosions clearly.
@Spiny Norman
Honestly, the PS3 is quiet as long as you don't have it shoved into a cabinet with no air circulation. You do that, and the fans will be in overdrive sounding like your typical XBOX.
@Spiny Norman Nope you just need to dust it on ocassion, also you can only hear the ps3 when the Tv's on mute...
How ould you hear the ps3 or xbox for that matter with your surround sound cranked up?
@Spiny Norman
Dont forget if its a phat PS3 every leap year your console will stop working
@Spiny Norman And here is someone who has never heard a PS3 running.
@gmac
Oh, you just *know* it's making a racket over there on the media stand. :-)
@Spiny NormanB it's been very well established that there are not only different fans but varied noise characteristics among ps3s. I've had 2 - the first was dead silent and the second is absolutely audible during quieter parts of movies and is distracting. So no the ps3 is not the ideal blu-Ray player by any means.
yup the average consumer can just buy a ps3 for that amount of money...
@JustThatNerdyGuy
There are many reasons people opt for standalone players. As a home theater installer it's nice to be able to stack components. Standalone players are also intuitive to use with a slick easy to navigate interface. Lastly, analog audio outputs for non capable non HDMI receivers. I have both a PS3 and Panasonic BD player. The PS3 is a better player and upscaler, but I tend to use the Panny more because of the remote and interface.
Off topic question. How do you guys get digital audio in your home theater setup? The only way to get digital audio from a TV to Receiver is optical. But if your audio/video source goes to your TV via HDMI it's butchered to stereo on it's way out to the receiver.
So unless you have a dedicated receiver with a crap load of HDMI inputs (or you have HDMI 1.4) I don't see how this is possible.
@VampireHunterZ
You answered it: a home theater receiver that has sufficient HDMI inputs, and support for the latest lossless sound codecs, i.e. Dolby HD and DTS-HD Master.
Curious, don't the older PS3s (i.e. non-slim) lack the ability to output the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master bitstreams? That would be another reason to have a dedicated BR player.
Hmm, well I have 6 hdmi in/outs on my reciever so that's how I do it.
@VampireHunterZ
You also need to buy a 1.4 hdmi receiver and buy those "ripoff" 1.4 hdmi cables from Best Buy like that "HT Expert" a few posts ago ripped Best Buy for.
Or you can watch 3d images and surround sound from your "just as good" $8.99 Walmart HDMI cables and pretend your hearing and watching good quality HT.
@Spiny Norman The thing is I have one of those 5 Disc DVD Home Theater players from Samsung. It has one HDMI in and one HDMI out. That obviously doesn't cut it when I already have 3 HDMI devices. So all inputs go to the TV and I send the audio out via optical.
After doing some research I discovered the audio was butchered. There is also an obvious difference when I play a DVD directly from the player compared to other sources. I guess it pays to have dedicated equipment like a proper receiver.
/Sigh, one day I guess I have to...reVamp my system.
@VampireHunterZ
You're not the only one discovering that. :-) I work with 3 guys that have all basically replaced their HT gear over the past few months. It all started out innocently enough with the purchase of a new LCD TV. Of course, they need to get a BR player to really enjoy the TV. Alas, they don't have enough HDMI inputs, or have a receiver that handles HD audio, so the receiver is the next purchase.
You can pick up a decent mid-range Onkyo, Yamaha, or Denon receiver for ~$450. Each has a minimum of 4 HDMI inputs, and handles the HD audio. On top of that, they all support upscaling of non-HD material, so you can finally ditch all the cables and get by with HDMI only. Heaven. :-)
@Spiny Norman
My fatty PS3 has optical out and I'm usin it to. I just need a good receiver to maybe hear the difference :-P
@V1cKdB trying to justify our expensive cable purchase are we?
@amneziac
So you tell me how I'm supposed to get 3DTV and HD audio with a $10 walmart non 1.4 HDMI cable?
@V1cKdB
Huh? My $10 HDMI cables have no problems passing the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master bitstreams to my receiver.
There's nothing in the 1.4 spec that adds anything to the audio chain other than audio return channel, which allows one to route audio through a TV, rather than through a receiver.
They are really bags of hurt comparing to PS3. :)
@mianmian
Why? Let's say I don't play video games. Which I don't . Why spend $300 (+ extra for another controller, BR remote, etc.) when I can buy player for under $200 that has all the features except for games.
Why would you need an extra controller if you're not playing video games? Yes, you need the remote, but not an extra controller too...
I will consider buying a blue ray player when I can pick one up for $100-$150. Oh and it had better have Netflix streaming built in too.
@Pillager1900
Seriously? There are numerous BR players on Amazon that sell for less than $150, including models from Panasonic, Samsung, LG, and Sony.
@Pillager1900
Then you can buy one now.
@cc82 Might have too. I really have not been keeping up with pricing on blue ray (keep getting distracted by other shiny things).
" or head down to your local Best Buy (or other retailer) to see if you're able to spot any of them first-hand yourself." -- No thanks. I would prefer not to deal with the 250% markup and the salesperson trying to push 100$ monster cables on me! ha!
@DoctarPeppar
Uh, just say no? I've never been a big fan of Best Buy, but I stopped in there on Saturday to check out a TV, and they were a) pleasant, and b) somewhat knowledgeable. I might have been lucky. Anyway, they matched the price that I could have gotten at Amazon, and they through in free delivery and set up, which would have cost extra at Amazon. I was surprised to see that they were willing to deal. So, ignore the displayed price and haggle a bit. Actually, I didn't even have to haggle. I simply stated my target price and they matched it on the spot.
@Spiny Norman
I got a trojan installed on your comp...activating webcam now...what is that I see...a blue best buy polo shirt! :P JK. I've never had that experience there but I guess it's possible...
@DoctarPeppar
A little introverted aren't we?
I like to actually see and hear what I'm buying. I shop online like anyone else but for things like HT I prefer to see and hear the equipment. As far as "pushy" salespeople...they don't bother me at all. But then again I don't have the personality of a doorknob.
@V1cKdB
ohai bestbuy employee #2!
The Samsung 3D 6900 I put out at my local Best Buy in Iowa, the one with the window on top to see your Blu-Ray movie. It looks pretty slick ,but the $399 price tag is insane when Sony offers a comparable model for $249. The Samsung 3D model doesn't even give you one pair of glasses to start out with, it is $149 for the non-recharable 3D glasses, $199 for rechargable ones.
please
Fuck a ps3....I"ll take on these anyday over that overrated piece of crap.
I bought a Panasonic DMP-BD60 for $99 on Presidents Day along with an HP DV6 entertainment laptop with hdmi output for $450 ($350 with a $100 Christmas gift card) for Netflix and everything else online and a D--Link wireless N router for $20 on Black Friday . The point is you don't have to spend a lot to get a lot if you shop smart ! As far as 3D content goes , if and when live action 3d stops giving me eyestrain headaches in the theater - I'll consider it . Until then with a claimed 1/3 of people getting headaches from 3D , it's a spotty proposition at best , at any price !
Can someone remind me why I would want a blueray player for the same price of a PS3, when the PS3 can also do so much more?
Pretty sad tbh.
Physical media might as well be dead. I will never pay $300 for something like this. I will pay that amount for a Net top media PC that just happens to be able to play blue ray.
@SlickVic
I'm with you, Blu-ray support on a nettop will be an afterthought.