Bought new Bluray player

[Smokey]

Not having a BR player, I ran cross Philips BR player (BDP2105/F7) for $49 at Target store on black friday and this player has been a solid player despite getting alot of bad reviews on internet (most notably freezing).

Not having bluray discs, also bought few BR discs to see what all the fuss is about.

First I had to see how this player does with DVDs since that is majority of my disc collection. It does ok with upsampling DVDs. I have a dedicated DVD player and can see that DVD player does a better job upsampling than BR player. I guess that is to be expected.

As for playing BR discs, Philips player shine. I played X-Men last Stand on BR disc and picture quality is awesome, especially outdoor scenes. I would not say that BR blow me away in term of picture quality as compared with DVDs, but it is definite improvement.

Guess the reason I am not overwhelmed with BR picture quality might be that I am spoiled by quality of HD video files from internet. Some of those HD videos (in MP4 format) does blow me away in terms of picture quality.

Philips player also have WI-FI with Youtube, Netflix, Pandora apps and picture quality of streamed videos looks pretty good without any hicups or excessive buffering.

All in all a very solid performer and definite keeper for $50 :)

[Mr Peabody]

Good for you. Plus the Wyfi makes it easy to get firmware updates. When judging Blu-ray picture keep in mind the price you paid, there is a difference in players, although it's hard to say if the difference in PQ would warrant difference in price for you. Some movies come with both DVD & BD that would make for a good comparison for you.

[blackraven]

BR is also movie dependent. Some movies have better pictures.

[recoveryone]

Peabody has a good point smoke, The quality of the chipset can make or break a unit especially in the up converting area. Now also you have to consider the whole chain, from the movie to the display. Not sure what you have, I would recommend using the source direct mode (if supported) to see the difference in blu ray and DVD's. The SQ that comes with Blu Ray is another factor, even if you have 5.1 the new codecs are more detail, once again if your system supports them. One of the main factors in reviews of BDP's was their ability to up convert DVD's and that point has been watered down over the years, thinking people are not buying or viewing DVD's at the levels they use to. right at the turn of the Blu ray revolution Pioneer & Oppo was making great DVD players that's PQ could come close to cheap Blu rays and out shine many that were touted as up converting 1080P.

Its just like having a high output engine and running it with a 2 barrel carb, you have to let the pony's run loose to get the full effect.