Good Bluray Player To Buy?

[nafem]

guys sold my ps3 and want to get a standalone bluray player.

its just got to be as good as the ps3 as a minimum, i was happy with how it performed.

i would like it to be under $500

i was thinking the samsung BP-1500?

i run it on a epson TW2000 HD projector via hdmi, sound into a yamaha receiver 5.1 via digital optical fibre cable.

i would love to have it region free for blurays, some say u can chip them? if so what ones can i chip, and where do i buy, id spend the $$ if i can get a region free player.

thanks guys

[jutta]

guys sold my ps3 and want to get a standalone bluray player.

its just got to be as good as the ps3 as a minimum, i was happy with how it performed.

i would like it to be under $500

i was thinking the samsung BP-1500?

i run it on a epson TW2000 HD projector via hdmi, sound into a yamaha receiver 5.1 via digital optical fibre cable.

i would love to have it region free for blurays, some say u can chip them? if so what ones can i chip, and where do i buy, id spend the $$ if i can get a region free player.

thanks guys

Read the Pana BD35 thread

[Rocean]

http://www.cnet.com.au/dvdpvr/hddvd/0,2000...39292963,00.htm

[davep]

Using optical for audio wont give you new HD audio, if its an older yamaha (like mine), why not take advantage of a blu-ray player that does full internal HD audio decoding and outputting via the 5.1 outs. The Sony S550 can be gotten for around $540 (marginally over budget) - I bought one over the w/e. Scanspeak (user here) should be able to make it region free. I'll probably region free mine when the dollar climbs a bit again, but tehre doesnt seem to be a huge reason now.