How do you choose a good blu-ray DVD player?

Question

Why are some $300, $500, and $3000?

Is there a pixel/resolution quality grade that I ought to be looking for?

Answer 1

Alot of the price difference has to do with build quality. Remember that in electronics you have the law of diminishing returns. You get smaller and smaller improvements for larger and larger increases in price. While resolution isn't changed you can still have a difference in image quality (especially on component video) and there does seem to be a difference in sound quality between models even with HDMI audio running. Specific features to be aware of would be Dolby TrueHD and dts HD Master Audio (streaming or even internal decoding), Bonus View (kind of like picture in picture for movies) BD Live(unlimited movie extras and automatic player updates through the internet. Only on new players being released next month). I haven't seen the $3000 player except for the entertainment server BD machines (which go even higher) but Denon makes a $2K machine that is built like a home foundation. Like any other A/V component that approach and enter the AV enthusiast with too much money equipment rack alot of cost goes into getting rid of every little thing that takes away from the most pristine picture and sound. In these cases a chip that costs 4 times as much and gets a 5% increase in picture quality is normal. Sometimes these component have a copper chassis to shield from electromagnetic interferance. Thicker Power cords, gold plated connectors, smooth ejection transports, RS-232 connectors on the back for control systems are all common on top tier devices. Blu-Ray is no different in this regard. Whatever you can buy at Best Buy is not good enough for someone so some manufacturers are going to offer a better version.

Incedentally the PS3 is a good machine but not without it's own issues. The remote and the look of the machine are the main things. Sony did just announce that PS3 is getting updated to support Dolby TrueHD and dts HD master audio so that gets rid of some of my objection.

Answer 2

Buy a PS3, most up to date Blu-ray player on the market.  

Self updating from the net and up converts your current DVDs.

Answer 3

"Why are some $300, $500, and $3000?" - an excellent question.