GOTY 2010 - Blu-ray Players

Blu-ray players are more than just a step up from regular DVD players. Not only do they offer better image reproduction and a better overall viewing experience, but the new ones also have a host of amazing features including the ability to play media off of hard disks, as well as the playback of previously unsupported formats like MKV files. So here’s my list of top three Blu-ray players this year.

Sony BDP-S370 – First Place
At first glance, this looks like an ordinary Blu-ray player. The design is quite nice and the features are pretty standard as well. It has your usual connectors at the back such as HDMI, Ethernet, Component, Composite, etc. It even has internet video stream-ability, upscales DVDs to 1080p and supports Dolby TrueHD internal decoding. But don’t most good Blu-ray players have this stuff today? Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray player makes all the difference when you actually pop in a disc, sit back and get blown away by the intensity of picture and sound quality that comes from it. And the best thing is that it costs Rs. 9990. This just goes to show that you don’t have to shell out tons of money to get a good quality product.

LG BX580 3D Blu-ray Player – First Runner up
This one is my personal favourite, as it has some really nice features. Not only does it play files from my hard disk, but it also supports MKV playback. And although I’m not the biggest fan of 3D vision, it supports that as well. And did I mention that it looks really nice, and is easy to use too? The only reason I’ve put this in second place is because it lacks some basic features such as multi-channel analog audio output and has only one HDMI port. Most people might argue that both these points are invalid, but LG could’ve just as easily added them as extra options. But all of this is more than made up for when you watch movies on it, as the BX580’s performance can be described as nothing short of stellar. This Blu-ray player is priced at Rs. 16,650, and although you can get other players for a lot cheaper, this one is definitely worth every penny.

HDi Dune BD Prime 3.0 – Second Runner up
This is the big daddy of Blu-ray players, as it does everything it claims to do. It’s not just a Blu-ray player, but also a media player that reads hard drives and optical discs. It supports a whole lot of formats from HD WMV, MKV and VOB to the regular AVI and MOV. It also upscales DVDs to 1080p beautifully, has a nice looking and easy to use UI and has plenty of connectivity options. There are a couple of things that some may see as a problem though. First up is the price, which is a whopping Rs. 34,900, which would definitely be a deal breaker for some. But this is serious quality we’re talking about, so don’t just dismiss the Dune blindly after looking at the price. The second aspect that may work against this awesome player’s favour is that the menu is a tad slow.

We’ve got quite a few more awards to give out before this glorious year ends, so keep your eyes peeled and keep visiting us!