It was all so much easier a few years back when there were only a few different Blu-ray players to choose from.  Now the market is flooded with countless players from makers on the low and high end of things.  Even manufacturers that don't typically dabble in electronics have moved into the Blu-ray player market. 

To make the whole process easier, we've compiled a list of ten Blu-ray players that are worth picking up right now.  Ultimately, of course the choice depends on your needs, so we've pulled from a range of prices and uses.

Sony BDP-S570  (detailed review)

Sony's excellent standalone player comes in at the sweet spot for Blu-ray pricing.  At a list price of $250 it's costly enough to pack some needed features, but not so much that regular folks balk at the cost.  It's a slick looking player that's leaps and bounds above its predecessor.

One of the finest points of the BDP-S570 is the amount of features that Sony manages to sneak in at the price.  It's 3D capable, it's got WiFi built right in and it can stream video and audio from different online sources, including Netflix.

The most common complaint about the S570 is that the wireless functionality can be finicky.  It works beautifully with some networks, but not with others.  Still, at $250 a 3D capable Blu-ray player with wireless streaming capabilities is nothing to scoff at.

LG 590

If you are looking for a player with a beefy internal hard drive for CD archival and you are holding off on the jump into 3D until next year, LG’s BD590 is probably your best bet.  The 590 allows you to rip your CD collection to the player in 128, 192, 320 or lossless format.  It automatically takes the meta data from the CD as it uses Gracenote, the company that supplies Apple with metadata.  The LG BD590 also supports a variety of internet based content providers including Pandora, Netflix, CinemaNow, Vudu and YouTube.  It can access these services with built in Wi-fi, assuming you have a wireless router setup at your home.  Retail is about $380, but it can be found for about $300 online.  
 
While the start-up time doesn’t rival some of their competitors, the player has excellent image quality for its class.  It also has a slim profile with hidden controls behind the front, glossy panel.

Oppo BDP-83  (detailed review)

Moving away from the low end, we find the Oppo BDP-83.  At $499 the BDP83 is the single most impressive player in the price range and is still one of the best deals in Blu-ray.  You'll find similar features in players at twice the cost.

One of the biggest things the BDP-83 has going for it is the Anchor Bay VRS video processing that's built right in.  It handles Blu-rays beautifully, and upscales DVDs better than most thanks to the deinterlacing and scaling of Anchor Bay's tech.

The BDP-83 is also a universal disc player that's capable of handling DVD-Audio and SACDs incredibly well.  It's well supported by firmware updates too.  Early in the player's life there were complaints of distortion when playing SACDs, but a quick update from Oppo rendered the complaint moot.

Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD

Pioneer’s Elite series of players has a history of quality (if not very heavy) equipment and the BDP-23FD is no exception.  The 23FD has a picture quality that rivals the previous Oppo player and there are 4 Burr-Brown DACs on the inside handling each channel.  It also has multi-channel PQLs to reduce the jitter in the audio track.


The unit also comes with 1 gig of internal memory and is BD-Live compliant.  The player is on the slower side when loading a new disc, but the tradeoff is a superior picture and sound quality over most players.  As of late, the BDP-23FD retails for about $499.99, but can be found for considerable less than that online.

Marantz UD9004

If you're looking for the best in Blu-ray combined with some amazing audio features, the Marantz UD9004 is the way to go.  It's one of those players that must have been a joy to create.  Marantz picked the best components for their flagship universal player, and the $5,999 price reflects that.

It's got a REALTA HQV video processor for the best possible playback of Blu-ray discs and upscaling of DVDs.  It handles 36-bit Deep Color, and includes 297MHz/14-bit DACs for component and S-Video outputs.  

The UD9004 handles audio like a champ.  It plays back Blu-rays, DVD-Audio and SACDs impeccably well, and includes a separate HDMI output just for audio.  All outputs utilize 192 kHz/32-bit audio DACs, and there are a wide range of those.  All in all, you won't find a player much better than the UD9004.