Blu-ray Players

In a bit of a surprise, the Universal Blu-ray player market has gone through a big upswing recently. While DVD-Audio and SACD might be considered dead audio formats to the mainstream media, more and more players for home are including support for them now. One fairly recent addition to the group is the Cambridge Audio 751BD Audiophile Blu-ray player. It also supports 3D Blu-ray, and I was quite excited to have the chance to try out this unit myself.

McIntosh is one of the most distinctive, and iconic, brands in all of Hi-Fi. Sporting a look that seemingly has never changed, they are most well known for their two channel amps and preamps, but also have a full line of home theater components as well. The MVP881 is McIntosh's contribution to the world of universal players (CD, DVD-A, and SACD). At $8,000 there is a lot of less expensive alternatives as competition. How did the McIntosh compare? Read on.

The first Blu-ray players that I reviewed for Secrets many years ago were Pioneer models. Up until then, the only player I had used was a PlayStation 3, and was looking forward to a regular box that my universal remote could control and would be easier for my wife to operate. While the Pioneer players did fulfill those requirements, they were also far slower in use than the PS3 was, and as was common for most players then offered no online capability at all. Skip ahead a few years and at the CEDIA Expo, Pioneer was displaying players that were not only much faster and smaller that those early models, but had online streaming capabilities and other features as well. I asked them to send along a unit as soon as they could, and they happily provided me with their BDP-43FD model from their Elite line.

You know that new hi-fi technology has finally reached the commodity stage when you can get a basic model on the cheap. Sony's latest Blu-ray player is the BDP-S580, and at $199.99, it even is 3D-capable.

The cost of Blu-ray players has plummeted over the past couple of years, and numerous models from various manufacturers are available for $300 and less. Pioneer's ne BDP-430 is only $299. It is 3D-capable and includes several Internet apps. It is also a player that we tested with our new Blu-ray HDMI Benchmark.

Vizio initially made their mark by being one of the first companies to offer a plasma panel that was both affordable and a good performer. Since then they have continued to serve this niche by offering products that have very good performance for the price, but also have branched out to offer some truly high end home theater equipment. Remember when Blu-ray players first came out, they were all at least $500? The Vizio VBR231 sells for only $179. How does a < $200 Blu-ray player perform? We put it to our new Blu-ray Benchmark tests to find out. (P.S. It even has wireless Internet apps.)