Media Devices

Panasonic's big new entry in the 2009 Blu-ray lineup is its cutting-edge DMP-BD80. If you're familiar with the BD60, the BD80 has all of its features and then some. It adds things that viewers were clamoring for, such as DivX playback and better, more high-end audio connections.

The DMP-BD80 is a Profile 2.0 player supporting BonusView / picture-in-picture playback. It also offers BD-Live Web capabilities as well as bitstream output and onboard decoding of Dolby TrueHd. Best of all, it offers the Panasonic Viera Cast Web Platform. This incredible system lets you stream video-on-demand from Amaon as well as access YouTube and Picasa Web albums.

The DMP-BD80 boasts a disc drive that supports DVD, BD, AVChd, CD audio, MP3, DivX and JPEG files. On its back panel you'll find an Ethernet port for Viera Cast Web features, BD-Live and fast firmware updates. There's no internal memory, so if you want to download BD-Live features, you'll need to add an external storage device; there's an SD card slot for this purpose, though an SD card itself is not provided.

Speaking of the SD card slot, it can also be used for playing JPEGS and MPEG-2 video. Finally, you'll find a USB port on the DMP-BD80, allowing for playing JPEG, MP3 and DivX files.

So where can you go to find a Blu-ray player at DVD player prices? Truthfully-Nowhere. However, the new Samsung BD-P1500 offers one that costs not more than better DVD players cost just a couple of years ago. Further, it's not even a stripped down model.

In fact, the BD-P1500 comes with HDMI 1.3 output, providing full 1080p at 24 frames per second. Plus it features Samsung's proprietary Anynet+ connectivity technology. This allows the user to operate several HDMI products with just one remote control.

There are Ethernet and USB ports that enable networking connectivity and firmware updates. And amazingly, it plays just about any video that comes in disk form. It plays regular DVDs in almost any format, along with Blu-Ray disks.

As for its audio capability, the BD-P1500 supports DTS-HD and Dolby True HD. There are also 2-channal analog outputs provided, along with optical digital. You could easily spend double what you'll pay for this model and get much less. Give it a glance next time you're at the home-entertainment section. We're betting that its strengths will far outweigh its weaknesses in your mind.

For some odd reason, the words "high-tech" and "rugged" don't often seem to go together. We tend to equate fancy new electronics devices with being somewhat fragile.

Not true with the new Sony BDP-S500ES, this new Blu-Ray DVD player is not only state-of-the-art, but it's solid and durable. Just a quick glance at it will reveal both of these qualities to be true.

Its look is very sleek, featuring a machined front face, yet the reinforced connectors, gold-plated though they are, on the set's back attest to how solidly the BDP-S00ES is built. Whereas most bargain players have cheaply-made connectors, you'll immediately recognize how solid these are.

The dual qualities of modern yet durable continue when you examine the player's front. It features an elegant, simple panel on the front that doesn't confuse the novice. At the same time, the disc tray is not at all fragile, feels quite solid, and is coated in order to protect your discs.

The playback is the normal outstanding quality you would expect from Sony. Just one small quibble: The $2,000 price point seems out of line for a player that does not feature WI-FI capabilities. But those who want a player they know will last for many years will likely overlook that fact in favor of the rugged durability of this model.