DescentBB

Need to get a new DVD player to hook up to a 50" panasonic tc-p50s60 tv screen. Needs to have HDMI video out put. TV will not be used for internet or cable tv. Only for DVD movies. Since you guys know the best ones for the best price I'm hoping you will give me some suggestions.

HDMI out on DVD players is somewhat uncommon because DVDs have no need for it. However a bluray player is all but guaranteed to have HDMI out (and they can play DVDs/CDs as well), we have a Sony branded bluray player we got on wal-mart special that gets the job done quite well. But definitely snoop the DVD players as well since they should be in the $30 range these days, just check the box to make sure it has HDMI out.

How long does it take for your Blu-Ray player to boot up Krom? I was thinking of eventually getting one, but I've heard they have long boot times just to get it powered up.

First bluray player we had, we booted up the day before we wanted to use it. This Sony one which is really on their cheap end and is already more than a couple years old boots up in about 10-15 seconds tops. 90+ second boot up to playback times used to be an issue with the early players, but that has been pretty much sorted out in the last couple years and even the budget players should come online in just a few seconds now.

Any one brand better than another?

I have 2 Samsung blueray players and 1 Sony

All 3 work exceptionally well, and support DLNA the Sony does have some issues with certain media/avi file formats being played.

DLNA server steams music / video / photos to the players over the network like they are PC's

I've got a Samsung TV, so a Samsung player would more likely play nice with it's brethren. Thanks.

We have a Samsung TV also, it gets along perfectly fine with the Sony player (you can even control the TV through the bluray players hdmi data link, and it automatically switches to the bluray player source when it is turned on).

I'm kinda pissed off at Sony. They quit making their Optiarc Dual Layer DVD drives for PC's.