Six... budget Blu-ray Disc players

LG BD560

The LG may be one of the more pricey players here, but it's impressively well equipped, packing in internet connectivity which brings access not only Blu-ray's BDLive online content, but to YouTube too. Alas, unlike the similarly priced Sony BDP-S370, there's no BBC iPlayer support, but there is plenty of external connectivity, including component video as well as HDMI, plus many digital and analogue options. It'll connect to DLNA sources. Its USB port pumps out enough power to drive an external HDD. The optical drive was far from silent when running, but shouldn;t bother anyone sat on the sofa, watching a movie. The UI's cute, and I had no complaints about the layback picture quality, though spit a disc out mid-play and you'll not be returned to that point when you re-insert the disc. From standby to a playing disc takes 32s.

Panasonic DMP-BD45EBK

The BD45 is a solid machine with an equally solid remote. The price is nice and low, but that means no internet connectivity and few ports: HDMI, analogue RCA audio and optical digital audio. For plenty of folk, that's sufficient, and the Panasonic does provide SD - SDXC-compatible - and USB connectors too. The UI is clean, if spartan - you don't get a chapter read-out when skipping through discs, for instance. Out of all players here, I liked the Panasonic's picture best, but there's very little in it. It'll come out of stand-by quickly. It takes 30-odd seconds to get a disc playing, which is average, but there's a slightly tardy feel to its actions. It didn't remember the pause points on discs I played and ejected, either.