Blu Ray Player

For under $250, I really like the new JVC XV-BP1. It doesn't do SACD or DVD-Audio, but it's very fast and plays everything I've thrown at it. It handles the codecs that you mention via HDMI to your receiver. AVS Forum is a good site to get info on individual players.

The JVC XV-BP1 has a blue bar and blue back-lit buttons. A bit of "bling", but I can live with it for the performance of the unit.

Page 36 of the owners manual (on-line) describes the audio outputs for each connection. To get the HD codecs I suspect you would need to run HDMI to the receiver and then to the TV. I had a Samsung before, and it was terrible! Perhaps the newer ones are better. The biggest problem is having to get software updates to run newer discs. Seems the studios are always playing around with the BD-Java. Samsung was slow in providing updates.

Another thing is some units are "picky" or slow loading discs. So far, the JVC has played everything I've tried, and loads quickly. It feels more like a DVD player. On the AVS Forum some are calling it the "poor mans OPPO" (referring to the BDP-83).

The PQ on the JVC is excellent. What I really like about this player is disk compatibility and speed of operation. Many players have problems loading disks, and are very slow in operation. Not the JVC. I use my JVC to feed a CIA VDA2 DAC via coax. The 2 CH audio quality is excellent. The new Chris Botti Blu-Ray is very, very nice with the 48/24 bit PCM soundtrack.