Insignia™ - Blu-ray Disc Player with 1080p Output - Black

I was an early adopter for HD DVD. The format war and the end result of HD DVD losing left a bad taste in my mouth. I decided if I was going to get one of these players That I would start with a cheap model and let them work out the rest of the kinks and get the platform working the way that it is supposed to work. When all of the bugs are gone then I would like to purchase the Denon mid level player as there products have always been excellent. So I bought the insignia and hooked it up via HDMI to a Optoma HD70 720p projecter on a 80" screen. I must say this player looks no better or worse than the Toshiba HDA2 HD DVD player that I bought for $500.00 when it first came out a few years ago. I paid only $229.99 for this blu ray player and must say that I am very pleased. Even at 720p I am very pleased as my projector provides an excellent image. If you are like me and want to ease your way into BLU RAY I highly recommend this player. If you need the lastest and greatest go buy the $2000.00 DENON. I was not overly impressed with the scaling of standard dvds. So I will continue to use my HD DVD player to watch and scale my dvd movies. I have watched a fair amount of BLU RAY movies without any problems of the player locking up, freezing or any of the complaints I have read about some of the other players. It has a much faster bootup and load time than the HD DVD player at about 30 seconds to 45 seconds. So the end result is my wife won't grip when I go to buy the Denon next year because I didn't spend a fortune on this one. I in turn will be perfectly content to have this as my primary Blu Ray player for one or two years because the quality is great.

This Insignia entry into high definition was a surprise. On the shelf for about $50-$100 less than "name" brand players of equal specs, this player does just fine and holds up well against the Somny S300 that I already own. People buying their first Blu-ray player will not be disappointed, but be prepared for slow boot up times... its common with all stand alone blu-ray players. The player is compact, and is 1.1 profile ready, meaning discs that feature the "Bonus View" (picture-in-picture option) will function without hassle. However, for the completists, there is no internet connection available, so if you are looking for 2.0 (Blu-Live), you will have to look elsewhere. Easy set up, although you may have to tweak the player's video output settings to match your tv (720p/1080i/1080p). This is one "budget" name player that you shouldn't overlook when deciding to jump into high definition movies.

This being my first Blu-Ray player I am pretty happy with the performance overall. I upgraded from an Xbox HD-DVD player to this machine and it performs as well or better than my old HD machine. The loading (indexing) time is fairly long at 42+ seconds but it doesn’t bother me considering how much data a Blu-Ray disks contains. It really is a no frills machine and doesn’t have a fancy “splash” screen or complex setup menus but for a player that will most likely be outdated in a few years its just whet the DVD doctor ordered. The HDMI video up conversion from SD DVD’s is just as good as my old Samsung DVD up converter if not better. For the money I recommend this machine however Magnavox (NB500MG9) sells this same machine under their name for $50 less :0P

Let me first stop and tell you DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE PRICE AND THE FACT THAT THIS IS NOT ONE OF THE BIG NAMED PLAYERS! this unit has the same chipset in it that is in the big more expensive panasonic players. it works right out of the box. easy to set up, i was playing a blu-ray video in less than 10 minutes after plugging in the power. my 1080p sony tv looked incredible with the picture it was getting. it played the latest blu-ray titles to include "the mummy, the mummy returns, the bank job, the golden compass, etc" with NO PROBLEMS! you really need an a/v receiver that does HDMI 1.3 & does HD audio decoding onboard to take full advantage, it's worth the upgrade if you don't have one. I have a ps3 and it works great and sounds great but it can't bitstream. in my opinion, my a/v receiver does a better job with HD audio than the ps3 does. this unit will stream DTHD & DTS-HD-MA to your receiver and your receiver will light up and say such in either 5 or 7.1 don't be fooled by the brand name, this is a great unit. if this was out before i purchased my ps3 and i bought it, i probably would not have a ps3 now. i bought it for the price and to stream HD audio to my receiver. RUN, DON'T WALK AND BUY ONE!

While I already have a Playstation 3 (used only for gaming), I wanted to purchase a second blu-ray player so that other members of my family could watch their films in the living room. Mainly, I wanted a DVD player that wasn't too expensive, but could still provide the excellent video quality expected when watching a blu-ray disc. (I still purchased Best Buy's 2-year Performance Plan, in case the machine does break down). While I didn't know what to expect when I purchased this item, I am happy to report that it has come through with flying colors. There is one thing that new purchasers of this product need to be made aware of though. After first hooking up this item to your HD TV, you may have to hit the set-up button on the remote and set the video setting to 1080i. (Ours was originally set at 480). This may not be the best DVD player for everyone, for the price and type of use that I was purchasing this machine for, it was perfect for us.

This product is well worth the money if you are on a tight budget and you just want a basic Blu Ray player without the hefty price and bells and whistles the more expensive ones claim to showcase.The picture and sound quality is awesome as this is my first Blu Ray player.I was a little unsure at first buying a cheaper, off brand player but so far it has exceeded my expectations.I haven't been able to take full advantage of true 1080p on my 65" T.V. ,but the moment I started it I was blown away. I read some of the reviews stating that it wasn't that great but I found out you have to get a good quality HDMI cable because the cheaper ones just don't work as well.I love it and would recommend it to anyone in the market for a Blu Ray player.

I took this beauty home and have found the ability to time warp. This player allows me to stand next to Leonidas in the battle of Thermopolae and attempt to take down the Persian attack. I then feel as if I know what women want while standing next to Mel Gibson, but I am the one who gets Helen Hunt. Then I hit what I would like to call the moment of truth....... I put in Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D on Blu ray and almost Star Trekked myself (shatner). I cannot believe that all that value came from a unit that cost me so little. I will reccomend this player to anyone I come in contact with. My boyfriend Eric is buying this player for everyone on his Chanukkah list. Thanks Insignia for the BPE (best playa evah).

I have been very please with this player so far. I have played several different blu-ray discs as well as standard dvds. It has not given me any trouble. I'm not sure why the complaint on load times. It takes about 25 seconds from when you hit power to start loading a disc, or recognize there is no disc in the tray. Hit open tray and it opens right away (not 1 min later like another reviewer said). Loading a disc takes between 30 sec and 1 min depending on the content on the disc. If you can't wait 1 or 2 minutes for your disc to load you have serious waiting issues. Playback is outstanding. Indiana Jones looks incredible in high def. I use this on a 37in Vizio 720p TV. I run it using the 1080i settings and everything looks amazing. So if you wonder whether your 720p or 1080i HDTV will do blu-ray disc justice, don't worry it will. 1080p is only necessary on really large TVs. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get in the blu-ray game and not break your bank in the process. Only drawback my wife pointed out was that there is no clock on the display. Great player!