Where does the money go in a Blu Ray player?

There must be a few review sites that give good in-depth comparisons of video performance between the likes of Sony, Oppo and more pricer ones.

Thinking about 'cheap', I would consider the Sony 595 cd/sacd player. This unit it the refurb market of $60 delivered. I had the opportunity to compare it to a $5K Esotric unit. The 595 blew it away. Who knows

Mitch, I'm sorry if I offended you at all. Maybe inexpensive would have been a better choice. I didn't mean it as a cut, rather, a compliment on your current system. (I still check it out from time to time) You don't strike me as someone who buys an "inexpensive" player to go with that system.

I would agree, $4500 for a player with the same chip you used 4 years ago seems extreme. That price, I would expect, to have came down. I would really think there should be something better, and for less money than you spent 4 years ago. I bought a cheap bluray a while back for by bedroom. I brought it back the next day. The upconversion was REALLY bad, and I have so many DVD's, I need that feature to work well. The bluray was nothing to write home about either, and that's on a 42" plasma.

Bottom line, unless you get a deal on a "good" player, spending $300-$500 on something is probably going to be disappointing to you.

.
Zydo, no offense taken...I knew you weren't taking a dig at me. Since I bought my player four years ago, it was all about the video performance and it was just a Blu Ray player and nothing more. It of course was built like a tank. Now all of the high end video players seem to be bundling SACD, hi-end cd, streaming and a host of other stuff that I really don't need. In other words, everything is a universal player. I just want a killer Blu Ray image. I really don't even need upconversion since I only watch new releases and they are all in Blu Ray.

As Tom6897 mentioned, I'm afraid I'm left not with an outdated paperweight, but a $2k doorstop.
.

I really don't understand the hand wringing when you can buy an Oppo BDP-93 for $500 or a BDP-95 for $1000 if you need analog audio. I'd guess you'd be unable to realize any improvement in video regardless of what you pay.

db