Four of the best Blu-ray players

Round-up by: Ian Morris

Last updated: 29 Jul 2009

The initial problem with Blu-ray players was the high price being asked. With DVD players costing as little as £30 these days, asking consumers to pay £300 to £500 for something that, on the surface, looks the same was a hiding to nothing. Luckily, however, the cost has fallen recently -- and while Blu-ray players are still expensive, they are at least in the sub-£200 bracket now.

So, what should you be looking for when you buy a Blu-ray player? One factor, which is more important than it sounds, is the amount of time it takes a player to load the disc and start playing the movie. We've always been keen to point out players' shortcomings in this regard, and we have a page with the popular player load times listed. If your player takes a long time to load discs, you'll probably spend more time shouting at it while your friends/significant other/family all tut and start to look bored. This can be embarrassing, so long load times should be avoided where possible.

You might also keep an eye out for extra features too. It's not uncommon for DVD players to support DivX. This is terrific if you have a heap of files in that format and many people have managed to amass at least some from their time on the Internet. Because Blu-ray players are built to handle HD video, however, it's becoming common to throw in playback support for MPEG-4 video at HD levels. You may also find that MKV file support is included, which is terrific news.