Now you can buy a hi-def player: the five best Blu-ray players : Tech Digest

It's been building up to a crescendo, with Toshiba's announcement expected sometime this week that they are indeed pulling their support of the HD DVD format. At least the conclusion to this bloody battle will result in all of you finally being able to splurge your retirement money on a hi-def player, or upgrade your tired multi-format to one of these Blu-ray players.

So, in no particular order, here's the top five best Blu-ray players, as voted by Tech Digest and HDTV-UK.

1.) Panasonic DMP-BD30 - this baby offers full 1080p playback, Final Standard Profile functionality, picture-in-picture, audio mixing, Panasonic's P4HD technology, 1080/24 playback, HDMI 1.3B, Deep Colour compatibility, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio decoding, SD memory card slot, AVCHD codec, and EZ-Sync. £349, or $499.95, out now.

2.) Sony PS3 - it's an obvious one, as it's one of the cheapest Blu-ray players you can find, plus it does so much more. If you like games that have been out on the Xbox 360 for months previously, that is. £299 or $399.99, out now.

3.) Sharp BD-HP20H - one of the more affordable players around, this Blu-ray beauty has an AQUOS TV link via HDMI, 1080p out, DVD up-conversion to 1080p, and promises no signal deterioration. £399 or $399.99, out now.

4.) Pioneer BDP-LX70 - a very pricey player, but it performs like a dream with its 1080/24p pictures, upscaling and brilliant sound. Sadly it's only HDMI 1.2 not 1.3 or BD Profile 1.1 compliant, but allows for streaming from PCs and support of the Dolby TrueHD lossless audio format. £780, out now.

5.) Samsung BDP-1400 - one of the cheapest players in the US, it plays the discs at 1080p, and up-converts standard DVDs to 1080p via HDMI, plus coaxial and optical digital out, Dolby Digital Plus with DTS HD and MP3 playback. £219.99 or $549, out now.

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abercrombie

So beautiful sharing , thank you !

abercrombie & fitch london

Well said, such a person should be a good sentence, or the future will be more rampant.

hollister uk

Very well , thank you!

ed hard uk

It's very good ,thank you

Damien

PS3 is last out of the top 3 gaming platforms. MS & Nintendo are very close, but Sony is lagging far behind, with no killer titles out.

360 has Gears, Bioshock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, F.E.A.R., Prey, etc. PS3's top rated game on IGN is Castlevania for PSN. Get with the program dude!!

Sony released a powerful piece of hardware, with absolutely no games to show it!!!

Katherine Hannaford

*ahem* with HER point, Ron...

ron howard

@antony: I think the reviewer was talking about the present when he said "If you like games that have been out on the Xbox 360 for months previously, that is." It's nice to talk about the future when you actually know when the future will be reality.

GT and FF can't seem to get a solid release date, and Haze, like so many PS3 titles before, has been delayed until late 2008 or early 2009.

When hyped titles like Heavenly Sword, Lair and Motorstorm fail to exceed Ninja Gaiden Sigma (currently the highest rated game for PS3) which is a remake of an XBOX game, it's hard to argue with his point.

Antony

Nice PS3 comment...not. What a sad Xbox 360 bias - so I assume that the following titles have been out on 360 for months, then : Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Resistance, Motorstorm, Unreal Tournament 3, not to mention exclusives coming this year such as Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy 13, Haze, Little Big Planet and many many more. The PS3 is recognised as the best and most future proof bluray player on the market as well as a stunning piece of kit all rounf- nice effort in downselling this awesome machine but I trust people will see through the spin....

Now you can buy a hi-def player: the five best Blu-ray players

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