Get a BD-Live-ready Blu-ray player for $169.99
You'll have to wait for a firmware update to the refurbished Samsung BD-P1500, but in the meantime, you're still getting a solid deal on a Blu-ray player.
CompUSA has refurbished Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray players on sale for $169.99.
That alone isn't huge news--last month, Buy.com had a Sylvania player for $159.99. So what's exciting about this? The BD-P1500 is the first sub-$200 Blu-ray player I've seen that supports BD-Live.
In case you're unfamiliar with it, BD-Live lets you download movie-related Internet content (trailers, extras, etc.), interact with other users, and more. Very few players (and only a handful of movies) support the technology, but it should become more commonplace in 2009.
Now, here's the catch: The BD-P1500 is only BD-Live-ready, meaning Samsung has promised--but not yet released--a firmware update to enable the feature. It could be months before the update (which will also bump the player to Profile 2.0) is available.
Update: Turns out the BD-Live firmware update was released in October! Thanks to the astute readers who corrected my erroneous info.
In the meantime, you'll get to enjoy all the other spoils of Blu-ray, including HDMI 1.3, Dolby TrueHD audio decoding, and, according to CNET's review of the BD-P1500, "very good image quality on most Blu-ray Discs."
Personally, I can't get that excited about BD-Live, but I can appreciate wanting a player that offers support for next-gen features. (Few low-end players can be upgraded to Profile 2.0.) What about you? Is this the Blu-ray spinner you've been waiting for, or will you wait for even lower prices and BD-Live that's already onboard?
This refurb comes with a 90-day warranty. Ground shipping will you run a very reasonable $5.