June 14, 2008 6:00 AM PDT
10. Panasonic DMP-BD50
Editors' rating: 7.4
The good: First Profile 2.0-compliant standalone player; excellent image quality on Blu-ray Discs; onboard decoding for all high-resolution soundtrack formats, plus bit stream output; analog multichannel outputs; SDHC card slot can play high-definition AVCHD video.
The bad: Expensive compared with the superior PlayStation 3; standard DVD performance is lackluster; operational speed still sluggish compared with PS3.
The bottom line: Excellent soundtrack support and Profile 2.0-compliancy make the Panasonic DMP-BD50 the most recommendable standalone Blu-ray player to date, but the PS3 is still better and cheaper.
Read CNET's full review
Price: $700
Photo by CNET Networks
