For just $399, the Panasonic DMP-BDT300 represents great value for money as a 3D Blu-ray player.

Of course, you’ll need a 3D TV to take advantage of the full 3D functionality. However even if you don’t, the BDT300 still offers enough features to keep you happy, including BD-Live support, USB and SD card playback, 7.1 analog output and DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD decoding. Panasonic has also equipped the player with its own proprietary features, including Viera Cast, which offers access to the likes of YouTube, Picasa and Bloomberg.

Performance is exceptional for a Blu-ray player in this price range. The BDT300 handles most content with a minimum of noise and distortion. Colours and blacks are both rendered well.

Another strong feature is the sound quality, which is not only good news for watching movies, but also if you want to use it to play music (including CDs).

Buy a cheap Blu-ray player on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

The new LG HR599D media player may be something of a Swiss Army knife, but at $1379, it doesn’t come cheap.

If that price wasn’t enough to make you look away, then you’ll be happy to know that the LG HR599D does offer reasonable bang for your buck: it’s a Blu-ray player, DLNA media player and dual-tuner PVR with 500GB hard drive, all rolled into one neat package.

If you want to break that down, that means that as well as playing your Blu-ray discs and DVDs, the HR599D can also play back content in a wide range of formats (MPEG2, MPEG4 AVC (H.264), SMPTE VC-1, DivX, DivX HD, MKV and AVCHD). That content can be delived in two ways, either via USB or from your home network (whether it’s Ethernet or wireless). Then, of course, there is the dual-tuner PVR functionality, which allows you to record, pause and rewind live TV. To top it off, LG has thrown in YouTube compatibility, so you can playback online content.

The good news is that the HR599D’s price tag is entirely justified. It’s easy to set up and use and handles most media very well. Blu-ray playback isn’t quite on a par with that of some high-end standalone players, but it’s still very good.

Buy a cheap Blu-ray player on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

The new Toshiba BDX2000KY is a decent and affordable entry-level high-definition Blu-ray player.

Perhaps most notably, the BDX2000KY is Toshiba’s first Blu-ray player, signalling that Blu-ray has indeed won the high-definition format war. Previously, Toshiba only produced HD-DVD players, holding out against the likes of Sony and Panasonic. With HD DVD’s major supporter now switching to Blu-ray, it seems unlikely that the format will reign supreme in the long run.

Priced at just $329, the Toshiba BDX2000KY offers basic Blu-ray player functionality. It provides Full HD output (1080p) when coupled with a Full HD display as well as standard definition upscaling to 1080p. Connectivity options include an HDMI output, a LAN Ethernet port for use with BD-Live, composite and component outputs, plus optical digital and coaxial audio outputs. Toshiba has also packaged the BDX2000KY with a fairly standard remote control.

While the feature set may be very basic, performance is more than acceptable, especially with this price tag. Sound and images are handled well and start up and play times are both reasonable. Some Blu-ray players - even high-end ones - suffer from delay issues, not so the Toshiba BDX2000KY.

The Toshiba BDX2000KY is available in Australia now and sells for $329.

Buy a cheap Canon camera on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

The Pioneer BDP-120 is the manufacturer’s new budget Blu-ray player and for an entry-level model it offers decent features and performance.

Carrying an Australian recommended retail price of $599 - which is relatively inexpensive for a Blu-ray player - the Pioneer BDP-120 is a slimline, glossy black player that will look good sitting in most home theatre setups.

Unlike some other models on the market, it starts up and loads discs quickly and when it gets going, performance is pretty good. The BDP-120 is capable of 1080/24p (24 frames per second) playback and offers 36-bit Deep Colour support - though be warned that you’ll need a fairly new HD display to experience the full benefits of this. It also features 1080p DVD upscaling. Pioneer has also equipped the BDP-120 with a USB port.

Plus, if you purchase the BDP-120 with the Pioneer VSX-919AH AV receiver you receive an 8GB Apple iPod Nano - something to sweeten the deal if you’re looking to significantly upgrade your lounge room setup.

Buy a cheap Blu-ray player on sale

By Caroline Warnes

The Toshiba SDP92SKY is the latest portable DVD player to hit the market, featuring full DivX support and a nifty swivel design.

It’s an official DivX Certified portable DVD player, which means you can play all your media files in that format from both disc and SD card (and thanks to the SD slot you can also play MP3s and view photos).

The Toshiba SDP92SKY’s swivel design, which is reminiscent of a tablet PC, is also a highlight. The 9-inch LCD screen can be rotated all the way around backwards so it lays flat, which is more convenient for viewing in tight spaces such as in the car - you simply lay the player on your lap. The screen has a native resolution of 640×234.

Toshiba has also equipped the SDP92SKY with battery life of up to three hours, which is fairly generous for a portable DVD player. Also included is an AV input so you have the option to connect the player to a TV.

The Toshiba SDP92SKY carries an Australian price of $399 and is available now.

Buy a cheap portable DVD player on sale

By Caroline Warnes

The Panasonic DMP-B15 is the first portable Blu-ray player to hit the Australian market, allowing you to watch your high-definition discs anywhere at any time.

Being the first to market with a product such as this always has one problem - the cost. And the Panasonic DMP-B15 is no exception, setting you back $1319.

The good news that comes with this price tag is that the DMP-B15 can also act as a standalone player in your lounge room, thanks to the inclusion of an HDMI port and composite AV output for older TVs, allowing you to plug it into your existing home theatre setup.

Panasonic has equipped its portable Blu-ray player with a range of car accessories, including an adaptor for the cigarette lighter and headrest mount, so you can take your Blu-ray movies on the road with you - perfect for long family trips.

At the heart of the Panasonic DMP-B15 is the 8.9-inch screen - so yes, despite the term “portable”, this isn’t a small device. One can only assume that as subsequent portable Blu-ray players hit the market, the standard design will become smaller and less bulky. It features a native resolution of 1024×600p, which falls short of the standard Blu-ray resolution of 1080p, however this is still a massive improvement over any portable DVD player on the market.

Panasonic has also equipped the player with access to its proprietary VieraCast portal, giving you access to YouTube and Picasa; plus a credit-card sized remote that you can use to control the DMP-B15 when it isn’t convenient to use the controls on the unit itself.

Buy a cheap Blu-ray or DVD player on sale

By Caroline Warnes

The LG BD370 Blu-ray player is a budget model that performs much better than its price would suggest.

Despite coming in at well under the $500 mark, the LD BD370 doesn’t have the feature list of a budget Blu-ray player: in fact, it’s rather comprehensive. The shining star of the BD370’s feature set is YouTube functionality, allowing you to playback YouTube videos directly on your TV when the player is connected to the Internet. Obviously, the image quality won’t be stellar HD, but it should be an improvement over what you’d see on your PC screen, thanks to upscaling.

Aside from the standard Blu-ray and DVD discs, the LG BD370 offers support for a range of formats, including the most common you see on the Internet (MPEG2 and 4, DivX and so on). It can also decode DTS_HD and Dolby True HD. Outputs include HDMI, component, composite, an optical and coaxial digital and stereo out.

Performance is exceptional for a player in this price range - image quality is much better than what you’d expect. The LG BD370 is also lightning-fast for a Blu-ray player, particularly when compared to the earliest models that were available on the market.

Buy the LG BD370 Blu-ray player from shops in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

The first thing that will draw your attention to the Philips DVDR3600 DVD player and recorder is the price - it comes in at well under $200.

Considering that a decent standalone DVD recorder will cost you upwards of $500, the price tag alone should suggest that you are not buying a top-of-the-line player here.

If you are specifically looking for a machine with heavy duty recording functionality, the DVDR3600 is probably not for you. There is no internal hard drive - this is one of those (increasingly rare) recorders that uses DVD discs to store content.

Obviously, for anyone who is planning to frequently record a lot of content, a disc-based recorder will not be convenient or economical in the long run, given how many discs you would be going through.

Fortunately, the DVDR3600 supports dual media recording so you can create recordings on a range of discs, including DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R DL discs. This means you can use rewriteable discs to record over the top of old content. Files supported include DivX, MP3, WMA and JPEG.

Another selling point for Philips is the HDMI 1080p upscaling functionality. Keep in mind that this is often called “true high-definition”, which isn’t strictly true. All this means is that if you have a big-screen HD TV, the player will try to “upscale” the quality of a standard definition disc during playback.

Click here to find offers on Philips DVD players and recorders from retailers near you.

By Caroline Warnes

As Blu-ray and HD-DVD players are relatively new technology, it’s not surprising that most models still tend to be very expensive.

However the Sharp BDHP20X Blu-ray player is one of the exceptions to that rule, carrying a reasonable RRP of $749. Of course, there’s a catch: it does lack some features and functions that you’ll always find on higher-end models.

For starters, the BDHP20X isn’t compatible with Blu-ray Profile 1.1 specification (this basically allows picture-in-picture and other similar functions). It also lacks support for a number of common formats, including MP3, JPEG, DivX and even WMA.

However in terms of performance the BDHP20X does excel, outperforming its $749 RRP. The picture is generally sharp and detailed. The features that are included tend to work well, including 1080p HD upscaling and the Quick Start button.

Click here to find offers on Sharp Blu-ray players from retailers near you.

By Caroline Warnes

Panasonic has always been a market-leader when it comes to DVD players and recorders, and the DMR-EX77 is another standout.

The DMR-EX77 is a combination DVD/HDD recorder with a built-in standard-definition digital tuner - which is a very nice package considering the $549 recommended retail price (although you can pick it up for less in-store… so read on).

It boasts a 160GB HDD and recording to this is both excellent and easy to do, thanks to the one-touch recording feature and time-shift function. Thankfully, the remote control is also easy to master, as is the built-in editing tool.

As there is only one tuner you can’t watch one channel while you’re recording another, however there’s no problem if you want to recording to the hard drive while you’re watching a pre-recorded show or DVD.

The DMR-EX77 DVD recorder can also upscale DVDs to 1080p, which is a nice touch but a little superfluous given there’s only a standard-definition tuner within the unit.

Betta Electrical is currently offering the Panasonic DMR-EX77 for $498 - find out more here or find offers on other Panasonic DVD recorders here.

By Caroline Warnes