Blu-ray Players for Under $150! [Archive]

hdtvfan0001

12-19-08, 04:03 PM

I don't think you'll see them get much below $150...and only a few at that.

There are now several articles starting to appear that say HD-related equipment may actually increase in price (LCD sets for one) after February's Digital conversion target date.

In any case....the $128 Magnavox I got will be the bottom price for some time, but more units in the $150 $200 range should appear.

Stuart Sweet

12-19-08, 04:17 PM

I disagree, my gut tells me they'll sit at $125-$175 for a while like DVD players did, then begin to dip to the point where they're nearly free, as DVD players are now.

rudeney

12-19-08, 04:51 PM

I know I wasn't clear on communicating my thought there - I was thinking more in terms of "Black Friday" 2009 rather than just "Q1-2009".

hdtvfan0001

12-19-08, 05:12 PM

I disagree, my gut tells me they'll sit at $125-$175 for a while like DVD players did, then begin to dip to the point where they're nearly free, as DVD players are now.
I would love for you to be right... :D

smiddy

12-19-08, 05:16 PM

the biggest component that is new is the blue laser, essentially the hardware is nearly identical to DVD. You have new software of course, but still nearly identical. I think Stuart is right...

hdtvfan0001

12-19-08, 08:00 PM

the biggest component that is new is the blue laser, essentially the hardware is nearly identical to DVD. You have new software of course, but still nearly identical. I think Stuart is right...
We'll see....there are also additional audio components to support the new codecs...but yes...the prices have dropped a ton just in the past 30 days or so...I suspect they'll flatten out.

rudeney

12-19-08, 08:04 PM

spartanstew

12-19-08, 09:56 PM

Over the last month or so, the Panasonic BD35 and Sony 350 have each been available for under $150 via various deals (as well as the Insignia and Olivia). I got my BD35 for $139.

hdtvfan0001

12-19-08, 10:49 PM

But they are just "chips". Unless we're talking high-powered super-thin film CPU's, chips are chips and one shouldn't cost more than another to make. Of course it may not be the manufacturing cost that's at issue - it may have more to do with intellectual property licensing.
There is some truth to that...but the costs of one $500 and one $200 Blu Ray may vary for other reasons than just the cost of a few chips...other components can vary in cost as well...so there is a viable reason why there is a range in pricing.

In any case...seeing a bunch of Blu Ray players sub $200 is quite something, when you consider they were 2-4 times that just 6 months ago. :)

TSR

04-12-09, 10:44 AM

There is some truth to that...but the costs of one $500 and one $200 Blu Ray may vary for other reasons than just the cost of a few chips...other components can vary in cost as well...so there is a viable reason why there is a range in pricing.

In any case...seeing a bunch of Blu Ray players sub $200 is quite something, when you consider they were 2-4 times that just 6 months ago. :)

I need to pick one up for my bedroom, but I would prefer to get an iPhone first, but money isn't coming in like it used to unfortunately.

hdtvfan0001

04-12-09, 01:29 PM

Look for the next big sales around the 4th of July and Labor Day holidays....still hearing that there will be 3 tiers of pricing by then:

1) $250 or less
2) $250 - $499
3) Too much - never mind what it costs...:D

roadrunner1782

04-12-09, 11:36 PM

I'm not overly concerned with the price of the players (although I am looking for a cheap for the bedroom), but more with the price of the blu-ray movies. $30 is just too much for me!

hdtvfan0001

04-13-09, 07:47 AM

I'm not overly concerned with the price of the players (although I am looking for a cheap for the bedroom), but more with the price of the blu-ray movies. $30 is just too much for me!Good point....however between Amazon deals, Fry's deals, and others...it is now not uncommon to see Blu Ray movies in the $14.99 - $19.99 price range - a major drop.

Just a week ago, Amazon alone had 130 titles under $20, many of which were $14.99.

Also look for the Buy Two, Get One Free deals, as they often result in pricing in the $15/$16 each range with that offer.

roadrunner1782

04-13-09, 09:13 AM

hdtvfan0001

04-13-09, 09:17 AM

I always shop around when buying my movies and Amazon.com has been a life saver. There is sometimes I don't want to wait for a movie to be shipped to me so I go buy locally at Wal-mart or Best Buy and if the movie is fairly new it's usually around the $30 range!
I prefer buying locally as well, and will do so at Best Buy, but only with a price match lowest price (often using Walmart or Fry's prices).

I can't remember when I ever paid more than $21.99 for a Blu Ray movie. The average I pay is about $17.

Stuart Sweet

04-13-09, 09:18 AM

I'll jump in and add kudos to amazon. Best Buy's prices may occasionally beat them but then stock on hand is an issue. Target is usually way out of line pricewise and my local Wal-Mart rarely has more than 20 BD titles.

If you have a Fry's locally, they're great on catalog titles, with many selling at $13.99.

My player was pricy at $279 on sale, but I haven't paid more than $20/disc very often.

roadrunner1782

04-13-09, 09:26 AM

I only have about 3 blu-rays I've paid $30 for, and that's only because I wasn't in the mood to shop around. My only gripe is still going to Wal-mart or Best Buy and seeing blu-rays with a $29.99 price sticker on it, when I know that movie can be bought cheaper elsewhere or they could be selling it for alot less!

Cholly

04-13-09, 09:49 AM

I seldom buy Blu-ray movies. I'm on the one at a time plan with Netflix, averaging a movie a week. If I should happen to feel there's a movie that will get played again and again, only then will I buy a copy. The last one I bought was Wall-E. In fact, my current ownership of high-def movies is at 29 DVD-HD (one of which is the BBC version of "Planet Earth") and 7 Blu-ray.

hdtvfan0001

04-14-09, 05:20 PM

OK...for those who want to know how to buy Blu Ray movies for an average of about $15-$16....here's an example of how you can do it....buy 2, get one free.

Note:

This link is a limited time sale at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=3&docId=1000361971

roadrunner1782

04-14-09, 09:29 PM

Thanks for the link!

hdtvfan0001

04-14-09, 09:31 PM

Thanks for the link!
I know this about hardware....but many have also indicated their desire for reasonable cost Blu Ray disks....so....you're welcome.

hdtvfan0001

10-24-09, 08:21 AM

This is now almost nostalgic...but Smiddy did a good job of seeing the handwriting on the wall - now you can get a number of Blu Ray players under $150.

You can also get a fair number of Blu Ray disk movies under $15 as well.

My...how things have changed in 2009 (in a good way).

rudeney

10-24-09, 10:26 AM

This is now almost nostalgic...but Smiddy did a good job of seeing the handwriting on the wall - now you can get a number of Blu Ray players under $150.

I'll bet we see some serious discounting for Black Friday. I'll even predict sub-$75 BR players! :D

You can also get a fair number of Blu Ray disk movies under $15 as well.

But new releases are still high. Very few are breaking the $25 mark. BestBuy has starting doing "door buster" sales for the first two hours on new-release Tuesdays where they are $22, but that seems to be as good as it gets until they show up on the sale shelf several months down the line.

hdtvfan0001

10-24-09, 10:31 AM

I'll bet we see some serious discounting for Black Friday. I'll even predict sub-$75 BR players! :D

But new releases are still high. Very few are breaking the $25 mark. BestBuy has starting doing "door buster" sales for the first two hours on new-release Tuesdays where they are $22, but that seems to be as good as it gets until they show up on the sale shelf several months down the line.
Agree on both fronts.

I'm reading a few places that the new release Blu Rays will likely start to come down at the start of 2010. There is alot of pressure from the studios to grow the sales volumes, and Disney even recently said they's love to see regular DVDs go away in lieu of Blu Ray.

I just got Transformers 2 for $13.99 at Wally World based on a first-day promo price of $16.99 and using a $3 Pappa Johns coupon.

Those prices are not at all bad. The average new release on Blu Ray is now about $24.99, with some promos even lower.

The key is to comparison shop...it takes some time...but saves $$$.

spartanstew

10-24-09, 11:57 AM

This is now almost nostalgic...but Smiddy did a good job of seeing the handwriting on the wall - now you can get a number of Blu Ray players under $150.

Actually, you could get them for under $150 the day this thread was started (and before). The $100 barrier was broken a couple of weeks later.

hdtvfan0001

10-24-09, 12:01 PM

Actually, you could get them for under $150 the day this thread was started (and before). The $100 barrier was broken a couple of weeks later.
True...the Mags came out right before that....got two of those for my brother and me at the famous $114 price at the time. :)

Steve615

10-29-09, 12:23 PM

Cholly

11-08-09, 01:09 PM

This week's Target ad has a Memorex Blu-ray player for $99.99. I don't see it on their web site.

Mark Holtz

11-08-09, 03:55 PM

Amazon has the Panasonic DMP-BD60 for $136.89 and the Panasonic DMP-BD80 for $172.37 now. I like it's twin brother, the DMP-BD605, and I understand that it upscales DVDs well.

sigma1914

11-08-09, 04:03 PM

Amazon also has the LG-BD370 (with Netflix) for $148.79 & ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.

RAD

11-08-09, 04:13 PM

Best Buy is now selling their Insignia NS-BRDVD3 player for $99.99.

It includes Netflix streaming capability and it is BD-Live ready.

More info at the following link.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia%26%23174%3B+-+Blu-ray+Disc+Player+with+1080p+Output/9386112.p?skuId=9386112&productCategoryId=abcat0102003&id=1218096447923

Myself and my son also picked up one of those, so I think the authors opinion will probably happen.

hdtvfan0001

11-08-09, 05:50 PM

Expect more deals on Black Friday...I bet there are no less than 5-6 models on special sale that day and/or weekend...even less in cost....

Richard King

11-09-09, 06:14 AM

From 4:00 PM (Eastern) today to 4:00 AM tomorrow (or until sold out) Newegg.com is going to be selling "recertified" Magnavox RNB500MS9 Blue Ray players for $79.99.

rudeney

11-09-09, 09:25 AM

From 4:00 PM (Eastern) today to 4:00 AM tomorrow (or until sold out) Newegg.com is going to be selling "recertified" Magnavox RNB500MS9 Blue Ray players for $79.99.

Yep, here it is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882226009

The reviews have been very mixed - several buyers have reported that the units are in rough cosmetic condition and a few DOA's, but of course NewEgg has been helpful to them.

Chris Blount

11-09-09, 09:29 AM

Best Buy is now selling their Insignia NS-BRDVD3 player for $99.99.

It includes Netflix streaming capability and it is BD-Live ready.

More info at the following link.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia%26%23174%3B+-+Blu-ray+Disc+Player+with+1080p+Output/9386112.p?skuId=9386112&productCategoryId=abcat0102003&id=1218096447923I picked up one of these over the weekend. Seems work well. Netflix streaming is smooth.

It's a good idea to immediately do a firmware upgrade as soon as you bring the player home via the Ethernet connection. Lots of new features in the latest release.

hdtvfan0001

11-09-09, 09:38 AM

I picked up one of these over the weekend. Seems work well. Netflix streaming is smooth.

It's a good idea to immediately do a firmware upgrade as soon as you bring the player home via the Ethernet connection. Lots of new features in the latest release.
Its always very important to keep the firmware current, as new Blu Ray disks tend to feature new things that are only supported in newer firmware.

Stuart Sweet

11-09-09, 09:40 AM

I heartily agree for BD-Live-enabled players especially. I've had a couple of discs fail to play at all until I got a firmware update.

Getteau

11-09-09, 02:51 PM

Expect more deals on Black Friday...I bet there are no less than 5-6 models on special sale that day and/or weekend...even less in cost....

I agree. That's what has been holding me back on picking up one of the $99 players.

Getteau

11-09-09, 03:16 PM

Q for those in the know:

From what I have been reading in the various Blu-Ray player threads, it seems like they are all about equal in playing regular Blu-Ray video.
Here's what I'm not sure of. I'm guessing for more $$'s, you'll get a player that's faster to load, does better upscaling of regular DVD's, has better sound capabilities and supports the newer standards. Does that sound about right?

I don't have a fancy stereo attached to all but 1 of my TV's, 99.9% of the time, I never look at any of the "extras" on a DVD and I don't really care about connecting the payer to the Internet (I can burn a DVD to do updates or use a USB key if I have to). I've also gotten used to the fact that my Magnavox player takes what seems like an eternity to power on and bring up a DVD (compared to my other DVD players)

So with that said, am I really missing something by getting a $100 player compared to a $250 or $300 player?

If not, any recommendations on the current set of sub $150 players? Based on this thread, it seems like I'd be looking at a Memorex, Magnavox, Insignia or the lower end Panasonic players. Is there anyone who is notoriously slow to respond to firmware updates for un-playable movies? I think I've had my Memorex player for a little over a year and it's already had 2 firmware updates. It's also played every movie I've put in it. Granted, I only have a handful of Blu-Ray movies because I only have 1 Blu-Ray player and 4 DVD players.

Mark Holtz

11-11-09, 12:09 AM

In my humble opinion, you cannot go wrong with the Panasonic DMP-BD60 player. The reviews have been excellent in both DVD upscaling as well as BluRay playback. Yes, it has internet connectivity, and you should get the latest update from Panasonic. The player now goes for $130.03 at Amazon.

I've just ordered my SECOND player because of an anticipated HDTV purchase.... for my mom. Thanks to some just-realized unused rewards points plus super-saver shipping, I am getting that player for $5.03. (HoHoHo!)

paulman182

11-11-09, 05:41 AM

I saw the Sony BDP-S360 at Wal-Mart yesterday for $148.

Chris Blount

11-11-09, 07:18 AM

Cholly

11-11-09, 12:13 PM

Does it have Netflix streaming?

No -- but it does have Amazon VOD and YouTube. It also has Picassa and a Weather Channel feed for several major cities.
At Amazon's price, it's a fantstic buy. I'm very pleased with mine. It get a lot of use.

koji68

11-11-09, 01:15 PM

Blu-Ray movies at $9.99

Not new releases though:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=br_lf_m_1000439161_pglink_next?ie=UTF8&plgroup=2&docId=1000439161&plpage=2

SPACEMAKER

12-02-09, 06:28 PM

I bought the Sony BDP-S360 for $129 at Best Buy. A good way to get my foot in the proverbial Blu-ray door. I'll move it to the bedroom after I get a nicer one.

dmspen

12-02-09, 07:25 PM

In my humble opinion, you cannot go wrong with the Panasonic DMP-BD60 player. ...player now goes for $130.03 at Amazon.

6AVE.com has it for $129 and through the Cooperative Employee Purchase Plan with my company, I can get the 60 for $104!

SCORE!

rudeney

12-02-09, 09:32 PM

I'll bet we see some serious discounting for Black Friday. I'll even predict sub-$75 BR players! :D

I haven't yet seen sub-$75, but HH Gregg had one (Magnavox?) for $79 after
rebate for Black Friday.

But new releases are still high. Very few are breaking the $25 mark. BestBuy has starting doing "door buster" sales for the first two hours on new-release Tuesdays where they are $22, but that seems to be as good as it gets until they show up on the sale shelf several months down the line.

BestBuy had Four Christmases and Angels & Demons for $17.99 each last week (I bought them both).

hdtvfan0001

12-03-09, 08:12 AM

With at least 3 Blu Ray players sub-$100 this Black Friday...and several others in the sub $150 range...as well as numerous sub $14 Blu Ray movies on sale the past week or so....

This will be remembered as the season Blu Ray became mainstream. Some of the early sales numbers I've seen on both players and BD movies have set big time records. 2010 as a whole is also going to finish as a major banner sales year for BD.

Now with all these new players out there...and many new BD movie releases coming up (including alot of very popular titles)...there's a clear momentum on all this. Downloads are still gaining some traction as well, but only a small fraction of the BD disk volumes.

gameguru1360

12-07-09, 11:28 AM

some prices of lcd and plasma tvs have started to go up...tvs being priced at $1500 moving back up to $2k

rudeney

12-07-09, 12:25 PM

some prices of lcd and plasma tvs have started to go up...tvs being priced at $1500 moving back up to $2k

Yeah, I've seen some of that, but I've also found soem prices to be fairly negotiable.

BTW, what is that in your avatar? :lol:

hdtvfan0001

12-07-09, 12:46 PM

BTW, what is that in your avatar? :lol:
Some of us don't want to know. :eek2::D

As for recent pricing...yes...I've seen some creeping upwards on Blu Ray player pricing in particular after the recent Black Friday and week thereafter. Good deals can still be found...but you have to dig deeper.

Mark Holtz

12-07-09, 01:14 PM

I just checked. Amazon still have the BD-DMP60 for $129, and sears still have the LN40B630 for $879.

Oldkeyguy

12-09-09, 03:17 PM

I just bought Samsung P1600 $149.00 and the Samsung P3600 $229.00. One for me and one for my boy at Best Buy. I don't like to fight on Black Friday. I know that It's not the best deal in the world. But will enjoy the streaming video. Merry Christmas to everyone...

hdtvfan0001

12-09-09, 03:19 PM

The $78 Magnavox Blu Ray players are returning on Saturday to Walmart stores (again)...in case anyone missed out and wanted those as stocking stuffers...;):D:lol:

cartrivision

12-11-09, 05:44 PM

This week, I saw Samsung, and Sony Blu Ray players in Walmart for $150, and a Magnavox Blu Ray player for $140.

Mike Bertelson

12-15-09, 06:30 AM

The $78 Magnavox Blu Ray players are returning on Saturday to Walmart stores (again)...in case anyone missed out and wanted those as stocking stuffers...;):D:lol:

This week, I saw Samsung, and Sony Blu Ray players in Walmart for $150, and a Magnavox Blu Ray player for $140.

Holy Cow, those are good prices. :eek:

Mike

Mark Holtz

12-15-09, 11:11 AM

I'm staring at Amazon's DMP-BD60 for $128. Not bad.

bobukcat

12-16-09, 04:54 PM

I'm staring at Amazon's DMP-BD60 for $128. Not bad.

I just saw the exact same thing, pretty impressive.

Cholly

12-17-09, 11:44 AM

I'm staring at Amazon's DMP-BD60 for $128. Not bad.

$127.49 today. I just ordered one :D

hdtvfan0001

12-19-09, 08:42 AM

Sub-$130 prices on the BD60's Panny is an incredibly low price.

olguy

12-20-09, 10:03 AM

Sub-$130 prices on the BD60's Panny is an incredibly low price.It sure is. I bought mine a few months ago when Wallyworld made the first price drop. All the way down to $214. :( But I do really enjoy it. Bullit's car chase never looked better :lol: May watch Ronin tonight. It has a great chase also. I likes me some car chases and stuff blowin' up.

Cholly

12-20-09, 03:01 PM

It sure is. I bought mine a few months ago when Wallyworld made the first price drop. All the way down to $214. :( But I do really enjoy it. Bullit's car chase never looked better :lol: May watch Ronin tonight. It has a great chase also. I likes me some car chases and stuff blowin' up.

If you're a Netflix subscriber and like car chases and things blowing up, I recommend the Blu-ray versions of The Transporter and Transporter 2 as well as the Bourne series. Very entertaining! :D

olguy

12-22-09, 07:54 PM

If you're a Netflix subscriber and like car chases and things blowing up, I recommend the Blu-ray versions of The Transporter and Transporter 2 as well as the Bourne series. Very entertaining! :D
Thanks Cholly. I'll give them a try. And I saw the Panasonic BD60 at Best Buy today for $119. On line also at that price. Think I'm gonna be sick :p

hdtvfan0001

12-22-09, 08:09 PM

Thanks Cholly. I'll give them a try. And I saw the Panasonic BD60 at Best Buy today for $119. On line also at that price. Think I'm gonna be sick :p
At that price...hope you grabbed one for me too. ;):D

My BD30 has been working very well now for 18 months.

Grentz

12-22-09, 08:13 PM

They have been running lots of bundle deals with the BD60 lately. Nice player too ;)

hdtvfan0001

12-22-09, 08:21 PM

They have been running lots of bundle deals with the BD60 lately. Nice player too ;)
Yes, its a good one.

They had a few hiccups with the first batch, but a firmware update took care of that, and since...the reports are very good.

My Panny BD30, its predecessor, has been a very great performer here for over 1 1/2 years now.

bpaulson

12-23-09, 01:17 AM

I picked up my bd-p1600 for $149.99 from newegg before thanksgiving. I just picked up a bd-p1590 from Wally world for $128 which is a damn good deal in my book!

hdtvfan0001

12-23-09, 08:37 AM

I picked up my bd-p1600 for $149.99 from newegg before thanksgiving. I just picked up a bd-p1590 from Wally world for $128 which is a damn good deal in my book!
A good deal is anyone's book. :)

Getteau

12-24-09, 07:53 AM

I picked up the Panasonic BD60 yesterday at Best Buy for $119. I'm taking a gamble that they will eventually add Netflix to the Viera cast area.

While that isn't news, I was stunned to see a $49 player. They had an Insignia Profile 1.1 player on clearance for $49. It was connected to one of the big screens in an end cap display. When I saw the $49 price tag, I thought it was a regular player. However, after stopping to read the tag, I saw that it was a Blu-Ray. I briefly glanced around the display to see if they had any boxes of them, but didn't see anything. So I'm not sure if it was a display unit or if they had them in the back. Although they usually put the open box display stuff in a separate aisle. Since the place was a mad house and I was in a rush to get out of there, I didn't stop to find a sales person. Although I may go back to day and pick a couple up for the kids rooms. $49 is a great price to do a swap out on the little used ones in the house and would go a long way to replacing all the DVD players I have.

hdtvfan0001

12-24-09, 08:52 AM

I picked up the Panasonic BD60 yesterday at Best Buy for $119. I'm taking a gamble that they will eventually add Netflix to the Viera cast area.

HH Gregg has that same unit today (and yesterday) for $99 with coupon (got via e-mail).

You still got a fantastic price on a very nice unit.

Getteau

12-26-09, 04:42 PM

HH Gregg has that same unit today (and yesterday) for $99 with coupon (got via e-mail).

You still got a fantastic price on a very nice unit.

So I haven't watched a Blu-Ray with it yet, but the regular DVD we played yesterday looked great (G-Force). Viera Cast is interesting, but we probably won't use it much. I played around with you tube yesterday and it just took too long to type in the search criteria. I'm going to try setting up some you tube play lists on my PC and see if those transfer to the player. Since it's networked, doing the firmware update was a piece of cake compared to my Memorex profile 1.0 player where I had to download the firmware update and burn it to a CD.

I'm also really happy with the boot up time. My Memorex player took a minute or so to come up to a point it was responsive enough to hit the eject button. Then it took a long time to play a regular DVD. I'd say it was a two minute process from the point we hit the power button to the time we had a playing DVD. While that doesn't seem like a long time, when you have a 4 year old screaming about wanting to watch his DVD, it's an eternity. For regular DVD's, the BD-60 is lightning quick. Probably almost as quick as my old DVD players. From it's standby-off mode, it takes just under 10 seconds for the tray to eject if I walk up and hit the open button. From that point, it takes about 10 more seconds to start the DVD when I hit the close button. For me, that's perfectly acceptable. I just tried my Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Blu-Ray and it took about 25 seconds from the time I hit the close button to the time the piracy warning showed up. Not too bad at all.

hdtvfan0001

01-03-10, 09:06 AM

I just tried my Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Blu-Ray and it took about 25 seconds from the time I hit the close button to the time the piracy warning showed up. Not too bad at all.
Anything under 30 seconds to load that much data into buffer isn't too painful.

Hope you continue to enjoy your BD60 (which should be easy, especially at that price!). :)

syphix

01-10-10, 06:17 PM

Quick review on the Best Buy brand Insignia NS-BRDVD3 ($129.99). I've gone through 4 Blu-ray players before settling on this one. I wish I would have just started here!

First: Magnavox NB500MG1F ($78 on Black Friday...wife bought as Christmas gift). It had HDMI handshake issues with my Samsung LCD. Intermittent static and black screens.

Second: Samsung BD-P1600 ($149.99). EXCELLENT picture quality, great extras (Netflix, Blockbuster, Pandora, YouTube, great menus and GUI) but it always locked up when resuming a disc.

Third: Toshiba BDX-2000 ($129.99). I was surprised this player didn't live up to the reviews. It had the same handshake issues as the Magnavox (both are built by Funai, so perhaps no surprise). Terrible menus & GUI, too.

Lastly, this Insignia (again, $129.99). I don't know why someone rated the menus/GUI so low on BestBuy.com. It's actually very user friendly. Netflix is great (could there be more additional online content in the future? The menus hint that perhaps...), and the player loads BD's as quickly as my PS3. Only downside is, as others have reported, the remote (which, btw, looks identical to my Samsung TV's remote in size, shape and most button placement! Is that more "proof" that Insignia products are produced by Samsung's factories??). I'll be replacing the remote with a Harmony any how, but until then, it will be cumbersome to have to aim it so directly at the player to get response. One other downside is the lack of included memory for BD-Live features. A USB memory stick is required (minimum 1GB), and the USB port is oddly placed on the front of the player behind a small door: a little inconvenient when placed in a cabinet.

CONCLUSION: great player with great picture and Profile 2.0 features (requires a USB memory stick, though) and Netflix streaming. Here's hoping they enhance the player with more online content (YouTube, Pandora, etc.), but completely note expected for the price. A GREAT value.