Dining Dead

I want to get my dad a blu ray player for under $150. He's a very casual movie/television viewer. He does not want/need anything super high end. His television is a 42" LCD LG. I cannot recall the model number. He does not use external speakers. Like I said, just movies every once in a while.

Things he does not need in a player:
Netflix
An abundance of USB ports

Things he does need in a player
Solid DVD upconversion
Solid High Def picture
Relatively quick load times (do not need to be lightning fast)

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Dining Dead

I'm thinking about the Sony BDP-S380. Anyone have or know of anyone with this player? It seems that the chief user complaints on Amazon are regarding Netflix and wifi usage, both of which are moot points for my dad.

Ranger

The Sony BDP-S380 looks good, though I'm confused why Best Buy has it for $149 while Amazon at $79, quite a difference.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+W...S380&cp=1&lp=1
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S380-...3748642&sr=8-1
edit: ah, amazon link's for a 3rd-party seller with $10 shipping. Were you looking at a different Amazon link?

Sdallnct

For a "causual" user, I'm not sure there is a bad player.

Last year I picked up an off brand one on BF for like $60 for the living room (I have a PS3 for media room). To my surprise, it works well, still works fine and has a nice pic. It is slow to power up and load a movie. But again, I really only got it for the occasional moving watching in the living room and to expand the use of our BD movies. It works fine.

spainlinx0

Panasonic Ultra-Fast Booting player is the deal of the day on Amazon today for 69.99.

Ranger

Yep, came here to post that.
http://dealnews.com/Panasonic-DMP-BD...ng/530157.html
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GGK2JI?tag=dealnewscom
Seems to have decent reviews.

Brian Shannon

Costco has the Panasonic 215 for $119 if they still have stock

kvrdave

$59.98 now. 3.5 stars

edclem

I recently picked up the panny BD 210 for $130.
It loads really quickly, has built in wifi for streaming, etc.

So far, I'm really pleased. I'm replacing a panny BD-55, and the performance is equally good (audio/video - the '65 was excellent on both accounts). Boot time is WAY faster with the 210.

davidh777

I got the Panasonic Ultra-Fast for my dad as well. He's been jonesing for a player but I'm not sure how great it'll be on his smallish TV.