Insignia NS-BRDVD blu ray player reviewed by George Williams

August 26, 2008

I purchased my Insignia NS-BRDVD from bestbuy.com. This is my very first BD player. I was waiting for the format war to end once it did I search the internet for the review of various Blu-ray players. I decided to research on various Blu-ray players in order to make the best possible buy for my needs. I needed relatively inexpensive player that would compliment my flat panel tv. This player was perfect in terms of price to performance ratio.

I did not need the latest BD profile player since I am not expecting to utilize the internet contents of through the player. This player is profile 1.1 compliant. 1.1 profile allows picture in picture feature. The 2.0 profile is kind of useless at this point and not worth the money. This player also lacks the multi channel audio outputs and high resolution audio decoding. If you can overlook these shortcomings, the rest of the player is perfectly capable blu-ray disc player for under $300. The 1080p 24 frame is pretty nice feature as well.

The player itself is not the most exciting looking design. But who really buys electronics based on the exterior looks? It's a basic box design with tray on the left and blu-ray logo on the right. There is small LCD display screen for general information display. The SD card reader is nice bonus if you plan to view digital pictures. The remote is nothing to gush over. It is pretty standard remote and it does its job adequately. The menu is pretty easy to navigate and straight forward.

The audio option is pretty basic. The player has capability to decode Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution. You will need receiver for other high definition audio decoding. But for me, this was perfectly fine for my needs. I have basic receiver home theater set up. If you are audiophile you most likely arent looking to buy relatively cheap blu-ray player.

We watched various blu-ray movies including Batman Begins and 300. Both looked fantastic on the flat screen tv. The audio was excellent as well. We also tried out various standard DVDs to compare the upconversion. The upconversion was excellent in terms of picture quality.

This player is perfect for budget minded consumer like myself. It does everything the more expensive players can do and much more. At sub $300 price point, you can't beat the performance or the value.

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