Which Blue Ray player to buy ?

Wait for the new Oppo player. It will be released soon. See AVS forum for details. Don

The current model Panasonic with internal decoding and 7.1 analog outs is the BD55, but its being replaced with the BD80. The 80 is not out yet and the 55 may be scarce at the moment. The comparable Sony is the BD550. The Oppo may be worth waiting for, but it would be a bit redundant for you since you already have a universal player (the Oppo will plays SACD, DVD-A, etc.). Since you're buying the player solely for Blu-ray, there's a lot of players that would be overkill for you, since almost all available players will provide excellent picture quality with blu-ray discs. The reason I recommend the Panny's is that they have been ahead of the curve in regard to playability of discs, etc. I've yet to encounter a disc the Panasonic would not play. Oh yeah, stay away from Samsung. They make great TV's, but have had issues with their BR players.

Don makes a good suggestion, AVS forum has a wealth of info on bluray players.

I agree with Cruz123, the Oppo BDP-83, is redundant to your current univ player and therefore you will be overbuying (I think it's around $600?).

The panasonic BD35 and BD55 both have 2 channel audio out (the latter has 7.1 out). I have a BD55 and pic quality is great as is audio.

But, because these panasonics will be replaced with the BD60 and BD80,unfortunately for you, the old models are scarce and getting marked up higher than retail prices from pre christmas 08. Maybe a used BD35 will pop up for you.

I purchased an LG BD-300 last fall and I've been thrilled with it. I have not compared the picture quality with other players, but it looks great to me. And I haven't tried using it for its audio capabilities. However, it has a feature that allows Netflix streaming movies over the Internet that is very neat. It costs nothing beyond your regular Netflix subscription, and you can instantly watch a good number of movies available on Netflix.

Just another one for you to consider, as this unit has a feature that helps to set it out from the pack.

Michael

Well depending on your independent needs, if you want the best of the best video, and excellent audio possibly with an external dac with low money in mind regarless of cost on higher end units... here is the link to read direct comparisons of almost all above mentioned units included.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1230738445&openmine&zzUndertow&4&5#Undertow