7. Sony BDP-S1

Sony is a prime mover in creating Blu-ray technology and the vendor of the "major Blu-ray contender" - ironically, the less expensive Sony Playstation 3. Accordingly, Sony is arguably more keenly aware of the importance of economics to the success of its own offerings, and also to the success of this high-definition DVD technology in general. That probably goes a long way toward explaining why the Sony BDP-S1 is the cheapest of all the players (aside from the Playstation 3), and why Sony is also pushing affordable, feature rich, HDMI-equipped AV receivers out the door as fast as it can. (Our current favorite is the surprisingly affordable, feature-laden Sony STR-DA5200ES, with its 3 HDMI inputs.)

Like most other Blu-ray players, the Sony features a smooth front panel design, with a flip-down cover that hides the media drawer and most other controls.

As is also typical of most Blu-ray players, the Sony BDP-S1 does a great job with Blu-ray discs and also handles upconversion of conventional DVDs to 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Surprisingly, though, this unit cannot handle conventional or high-definition audio CDs (SACD), nor DVD-RW, DVD-R (including VR mode) and DVD-RAM formats. As with other first generation Blu-ray players, it also suffers a bit from slow load and startup times (in sharp contrast to the Sony Playstation 3 which is both the cheapest and the fastest of this bunch). Like many of the other units, the BDP-S1 includes an HDMI output, along with composite, component, and S-Video outputs for picture, plus optical and coaxial digital audio, 5.1 analog outputs for multi-channel surround sound, along with a pair of stereo analog outputs.

Alas, as with many other high-definition players, the remote doesn't get stellar marks - most users will probably want to switch over to a friendlier universal remote ASAP (except perhaps for setup stuff, which with luck you'll go through only once). As with numerous other early Blu-ray players in this guide, the BDP-S1 only supports HDMI 1.2, which means that high-end, high-resolution audio schemes are somewhat stymied; the same observations we made for the Pioneer BDP-HP1 also apply to this unit.

Sony includes a Blu-ray version of The Fifth Element with this drive, but no HDMI cable. Given its low price, buyers may find this unit attractive, especially given its great video playback, but the lack of audio CD and high-end surround sound support may (or perhaps should) scare some prospective buyers off. At least, they should compare this unit to the Playstation 3 before taking this particular plunge!