From $135, 000 Goldmunds to $499 Denons, we’ve seen the entire gamut of Blu Ray players. This one’s a little different.
Discount brands have long been touting TV-DVD player combos, it does look a lot more tempting to get that kind of thing with the high-def quality of Blu Ray. Sharp got into the game first with a couple of these LCD TV/Blu Ray player combos but trust Best Buy to raise the ‘cheaper’ stakes. And that’s exactly what it has done with a new LCD TV/Blu Ray combo branded under its Insignia collection.
The Insignia NS-LBD32X-10A, featured on Best Buy’s website, is just $699.99. Let’s put this in perspective – Sharp’s Aquos BD combo is priced at a minimum of $1099, and the Aquos, minus the Blu Ray player, costs $599.
As you would expect from a 32-inch LCD HDTV, it is 1080p, full HD Blu Ray, though that does kinda limit the juice you could’ve gotten out of all that extra Blu Ray resolution. It goes without saying though, that the player does support every format you’d need a TV for – DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, JPEG, WMA and MP3.
And, it comes with a tabletop stand.
The set comes equipped with an Ethernet port, though the website doesn’t say anything about the built-in Blu Ray player’s support for Blu Ray’s advanced features like BD-Live and its online services. They’ve also thrown in a couple of HDMI ports. For a LCD/Blu Ray combo under $700, no one expects the player to play as great as a Sony or aforesaid Denons and Goldmunds, and the refresh rate of the LCD is, within expectations, 60 Hz. All in all, for the casual buyer, this is great value for the dollar.
