A Blu-ray player + Netflix streaming for $99.99

Most sub-$100 Blu-ray players have zero frills. This one has a big one: Netflix streaming!

(Credit: Best Buy)

The holidays must be drawing near, because suddenly the Blu-ray deals are heating up.

For example, what's better: a refurbished low-end Blu-ray player for $79.99 (sold out, I'm afraid) or a new Blu-ray player with BD-Live and Netflix support for $99.99?

The latter deal is happening now at Best Buy, which charges a reasonable $7 for shipping--a charge you can avoid by opting for in-store pickup. (Either way, you'll have to pay sales tax.)

The Insignia (Best Buy's house brand) NS-BRDVD3 offers the usual 1080p output goodness, including upconversion of regular DVDs, along with Dolby TrueHD decoding, Blu-ray Profile 2.0 (which allows for BD-Live features, among other things), and support for Netflix streaming (for subscribers only, natch).

You'll need a wired Ethernet connection to take advantage of the Internet features (and get a required firmware update), so plan your "deployment" of the player accordingly.

I haven't found any reviews of this particular model, other than the handful of user reviews on Best Buy's site--most of which are very positive.

I will say that between this and the $80 refurb from the other day, I'd definitely drop an extra $20 on this. Netflix streaming is just plain awesome, and a one-year warranty is always preferable to 90 days.

This does get me wondering what kind of Blu-ray deals we'll see as we get closer to the holidays, and particularly on Black Friday. Could a player get as low as $50? Food for thought. In the meantime, this is about as good as it gets, price and performance-wise.

[Dan_DTC]

"You'll need a wired Ethernet connection to take advantage of the Internet features"...bleh!

This is a great deal for anyone that does not want wireless streaming.

Thanks for your hard work, Rick!

[ralfthedog]

You can get an Airport Express and set it up in wireless bridge mode. I have 4 devices connected to an Airport Extreme in my media room. It works great.

Note: If you have one device use the Express. If more use the Extreme. The Express only supports one IP.

[Dan_DTC]

Reviews (kinda) on this player: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1182110

[jvbo]

Anyone knows if these dvd streaming services (Netflix, etc) works out of USA?

[Jeffdo]

Netflix streaming does not work outside of the USA, I was in St Thomas (US Territory) two weeks ago and I couldn't stream movies to my laptop. I got a pop up saying it only works in the 50 states.

[Dan_DTC]

Try using one of the free proxy servers based in the US.

[QueSeraSera]

The writing is on the wall. The days of physical formats are numbered
For future proof your media use Cloud computing based digital contents.

[acebojangles]

How long can Roku players stay priced at $99 when deals like this are available?

[planblove]

Good deal Rick, but I'd really prefer a wifi connection for the streaming.

[moneeman]

For those wanting wi-fi, that version is $149. Cut and paste the link provided by Dan-DTC and read through the comments for more information.

[macksumum]

this not as good as it gets i'm very sure they will be offering a deal where you can buy two or three overpriced blu-ray movies and get a blu-ray player for free.

[goatfinder]

can you also give me my horoscope? perhaps tell me when will I will find true love or when humans will finally inhabit mars?

[hutch2509]

grrr...and I JUST bought the refurbed blu-ray! I would have rather had this one.

[hitekJim]

Thanks. Insignia looks to be very good deal, though I recommend waiting for LG player to come down in price since, in addition to Netflix and Pandora support, it supports Youtube (which Insignia does not) which will be very useful, e.g. like for U2 concert on youtube yesterday. I recall that the low end LG is not rated well by cnet for video quality unfortunately so that tilts the scale some,
Re Roku, still an awesome deal since it includes Netflix + Amazon video on demand + option to do MLB, plus takes up little room, is wired or wireless, and should continue to add new services .

[kanank]

this is good for people who just watch movies. i play dvds on my computer, then pause it for few mins to read some news or check my emails. dedicated devices are not for me. this deal is definitely wonderful if Netflix has lot of those aware winning movies from sundance/cannes/berlin film festivals instead of all that garbage from Hollywood.

[sav1981]

I've bought this Insignia bluray player with Netflix and let me tell you it's not worth buying at all. Long load times, trouble playing bluray, poor picture quality, bad dvd upconversion, and trouble getting this to connect online. Playing discs that are slightly scratched, forget about it. It's worse than Samsung BDP 1600. For a high quality bluray at an affordable price, the Panasonic BD60K is only $169. The only downside is that it doesn't have Netflix, but that may change since Netflix is planning to incorporate their service to as products as they can.

[mman74]

Great deal I am sure you will all agree. However, what about Blu-ray + Netflix + Gaming + Browser + Mediastreamer for US$299.
Netflix is now available on PS3!

[sav1981]

I agree. Now that Netflix is coming to PS3 the only thing that MIcrosoft can still boast about is you paying $50 for "better online gaming", but that may change soon because the PS3 is quickly catching up in terms of online play and user interaction for free. Also I've never understood why Microsoft don't implement thier Internet Explorer in the 360 like how Sony has the slow, but still capable Netfront browser. Heck even the Wii has Opera. Because of Sony's decision to have an internet broswer in their system, sites like Myspace, Twitter, Google, and Youtube just to name a few, beats out any media player in terms of quantity and value. Basically, you can go to any sites you please and still have the same functions as if you were on a computer. So when Microsoft announced that they have Facebook, Myspace, and Last.Fm coming this Fall, I think to myself the PS3 and Wii has the whole internet to explore not just a couple of popular sites. So why are people excited about this? I think Microsoft is losing momentum in the gaming industry and is trying everything to get it back, especially from Sony. I hope they do something other wise by 360 is just a $299 + $50/year paperweight.

[cnetmart]

I know we are talking about different price points, but The PS3 is possibly the best blu ray player around. I had an entry level Sony prior to it and it was grabage-- load times were unbearablke and it would freeze up as well. Get the PS3 and a remote. It was just announced that Netflix will be supported on the PS3. Just need to install some software available from Netflix.

[GhostintheCPU]

I personally don't like Sony, but the PS3 is the exception. The new $299 PS3 Slim has a wireless connection and has games of coarse, a slow but full internet browser , Blue Ray, and Netflix what more could you ask for ? I was going to say the t word.

[paulimusmaximus]

I almost want to get this since it has netflix, but I figure we'll start seeing a lot of better brands for this price in the near future with Christmas coming up, so I can wait a few weeks for a better bargain than this.