Philips BDP3000 Blu-ray disc player
1080p viewing for the masses, apparently
Review Many people enjoying Blu-ray movies do so using a Sony PlayStation 3, while the rest of us will opt for a dedicated Blu-ray player. For the latter, Philips is touting its BDP3000 as a budget player and, while certainly not the cheapest, it does offer 1080p playback, the optimal Blu-ray format.
Philips' BDP3000: the shiny black fascia affords the minimum of buttons and distracting lights.
Presented in a 6cm-high box with a tastefully unfussy, shiny black fascia, the Philips BDP3000 is a straight replacement for a DVD player. That is, it plays all your DVD Region 2 discs as well as high definition Blu-ray Region B titles, along with DivX movies saved to CD and DVD media, including home-recorded discs.
Additionally, the device has been designed to play media on CD Audio discs, MP3 and WMA CDs, and just about any disc that contains JPG images. Apart from a simple status window, the front of the unit is as featureless as you can get, providing just four buttons: Power, Eject, Play and Pause. It uses a tray-loading mechanism that is quiet and feels strong enough to resist clumsy treatment.
The case is about a foot deep and a 435mm wide. We think that is quite big – the width is only 6.5cm short of half a metre – but the size and sturdy metal casing should make it well-suited to stacking with other devices under your TV.
A useful choice of ports are provided around the back. The most universal of these is an HDMI output socket to allow anyone to plug the player into their HD-Ready TV. Home cinema buffs with legacy equipment can also make use of a composite video port along with stereo audio RCA ports. A digital coaxial socket is included with support for Dolby 7.1 surround, and a set of component-out ports are provided for those with high-definition displays that support them.
The USB port allows storage of BD-Live content to a flash drive but not other media file playback
Some Blu-ray titles include a BD-Live feature that allows you to access and download online content while the disc is inserted. To this end, Philips has included an Ethernet port to allow you to connect the BDP3000 to your home broadband router. Philips does not give any technical information about its Ethernet connectivity but it appears to be a 10/100BaseTx port.
COMMENTS
Electricity consumption
And Philips says it uses 25W operating and 0.5W on standby, so it costs just 50p per year to have it plugged in, and no more than £25 even if you use it 24*7.
@Christian Berger & @AC
Agreed on both points. I can't believe anyone would try to sell a region locked DVD, let alone a region locked BR. And why can't it play content from the USB port, FAIL
PS3
Needs a decent Remote!
Then I'll buy it!
I dont want to game my way around a movie!...
@Sooty
"there isn't a TV on the market at the moment (in the UK, and that i know of) that can actually receive a HD broadcast"
Except for all those Freesat HD capable tellys. The Panasonic Viera I installed for my folks this weekend was certainly capable of receiving HD.
Unless somehow you think there's a difference between "aerial - cable - tv" and "dish - cable - tv".
They didn't understand the digital age
So this is a pure BluRay Disk only player which plays nothing else than those disks (and maybe DVDs). Yet it has the hardware to be a fully functional media centre. Who in their right mind would design such a monstrosity?
I predict that, just like with the DVD, BluRay will only get popular once the media can be copied and the players play normal files.
