Introduction to Video Player Reviews

As physical media is slowly replaced by streamed content, it’s important to understand just how you’ll get the very best video source material to that shiny new display. Whether it’s a television or a projector, you’ll need some way to feed it. In the past we had scores of DVD players to choose from but now Blu-ray is the gold standard when you’re talking about shiny discs. And Ultra HD Blu-ray is just starting to appear on the market and with it, expanded color gamuts like Rec.2020 and extended contrast from HDR encoding.

Audio formats are equally important. Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro 3D represent the latest technology that seeks to make movie sound more realistic and enveloping. Knowing how to get the most from them is a key factor in our reviews of players, AV receivers and surround processors.

For those looking to stream their content, we include coverage of media servers and streaming devices. A wealth of content can be found on the Internet and no technology has been left out here. HDR, Ultra HD and advanced audio codecs are just as prevalent as they are on Blu-ray disc.

Once you’ve decided on a new display, be it television or projector, we can show you the best sources to use for your ultimate home theater experience.

Review Categories

Blu-ray Players

Media Server

Universal Players

DVD PLayers

Home

Video Players Reviews

Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

Chris Heinonen and Adrian Wittenberg

The Pioneer BDP-51FD is currently the only non-Elite Blu-ray player that Pioneer offers, but it is far from a budget model. Pioneer has a well deserved reputation for offering high quality DVD players in the past and is certainly trying to continue that tradition with their Blu-ray lineup, even if it means that their lowest end player is priced above that of other manufacturer's models. However, since the release of the BDP-51FD, complaints about its performance has led to multiple firmware updates being released as Pioneer tries to maintain its position as a purveyor of high end electronics. This review examines the player with the latest firmware update applied.

Blu-ray Players

Yamaha BD-S2900 Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

Adrian Wittenberg

It has been some time since Yamaha manufactured a hi-def disc player, either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.  Instead Yamaha has been offering upscaling DVD players such as the S1700 and the S2700.  Now that the format war is over and Blu-ray is the declared winner, this is no longer true.  Yamaha has created the BD-S2900, their first Blu-ray player.

Blu-ray Players

Denon DVD-2500BTCI Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

Adrian Wittenberg

The DVD-2500BTCI is one of several Blu-ray players that Denon is offering in their current lineup.  Unlike the  DVD -3800BDCI which features a Realta HQV video processing solution and internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio, the DVD-2500BTCI is billed as a digital-only transport that offers playback of BD discs as well as output of  the audio signals on the disc in raw bitstream format using its HDMI 1.3a compliant connection.

DVD Players

Classe CDP-502 DVD Player

Adrian Wittenberg

For a player as expensive as it is, the Classé CDP-502 could stand for some improvement in its core video performance.  Its de-interlacer performance is very good though, and the National Semiconductor AVC 2510 chip set handles most material very well, as there were really only a few minor hiccups it experienced in our DVD Player Benchmark™ tests. It would be hard for me to recommend this DVD player based on its video performance alone, but people in the market for a player in this price class will undoubtedly be looking at it for its ultra high-end audio performance. That, combined with a robust video feature set and the ability to up-convert any material to various HD resolutions through HDMI, makes the CDP-502 an impressive offering overall.

DVD Players

Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-ray Player

Kris Deering

Samsung was the first on the block to release a Blu-ray player with the BD-P1000. This first model had a few hiccups in design, but ultimately after a few firmware updates, it provided decent performance. They followed up that model with the BD-P1200, which featured Silicon Optix's Reon video processing.

Blu-ray Players

Pioneer Elite BDP-95FD Blu-ray Player

Kris Deering

Without a doubt Pioneer represents the high end of the Blu-ray camp at this point. While we've seen Blu-ray players from several respectable hardware companies already, I don't think any of them carry the clout that Pioneer does with home theater enthusiasts like the Elite line. Pioneer Elite has a solid reputation when it comes to DVD playback and I was excited to finally have the opportunity to review one of their higher end Blu-ray players.

Blu-ray Players